Back to Desert Hot Springs Part 1

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There are several routes from Barstow to Desert Hot Springs. Taking the interstate highways was probably the surest bet but is 25 miles longer and would possibly get us into some heavier traffic in San Bernardino. California route 247 was listed in our trucker atlas as suitable for trucks and looked to be much less busy and possibly more scenic. This route would put the drive to our next campground at 115 miles. We were definitely right in terms of less busy and scenic. As we approached Lucerne Valley, the snow capped mountains of the Big Bear Lake Resort area were rather pretty. It’s then a downhill drive into Yucca Valley which is near the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. There was a fair amount of traffic from here down to Desert Hot Springs but nothing too bad.

Our destination for this stop was Sam’s Family Spa. We had stayed at this campground two years ago and really enjoyed it. We were looking forward to another visit. What’s special about Sam’s? They have four mineral hot tub pools that make for excellent soaking. Prior to staying here the first time, we wouldn’t have considered ourselves to be into hot tubs, but we found these to be so relaxing. They also have a large pool, steam rooms and a sauna. Maybe not quite the “resort” that some RVers want but this tends to be as extravagant as we go.

Sam’s only takes reservations for stays shorter than a month. The nightly rate for camping isn’t cheap - $60. The weekly rate is a bit better at $360. The monthly rate though is quite reasonable at $605 plus electric. Once a guest stays for over a month, they get the monthly rate for any additional days over a month. This works outs well since we plan on staying nearly 6 weeks. Our cost per day after including our electric usage comes in at $22.16. The hot tubs and spa facility also has a day use pass which comes in at $18 per person during the week and $25 on weekends. Since we will end up using the facilities nearly every day, you might even look at this stop as saving us money!

When we arrive at Sam’s, we get out and walk around the campground and determine which site we want to stay in. Being early December, there are plenty of sites to pick from. Once we get situated, Chris goes in to register. This time we decided to get the four day use wristbands allowed per site figuring we might invite some friends over during our stay. It must have been slightly colder and wetter than two years ago because the nearby mountains already have snow covering the peaks. It’s kind of pretty to be able to see the distant snow yet have generally pleasant temperatures and wear shorts most of the time.

San Jacinto Mountain from Sam's

San Gorgonio Mountain

Our Camping Spot

Having stayed here for over five weeks before, we had already done a majority of the tourist type activities that appeal to us in the general area. This time we plan on taking it easy and just relaxing after what turned out to be a rather busy summer and fall this year. If you’re reading this looking for ideas of what to do in this area, it may be worthwhile to look at the several blog posts from our prior stop where we seemed to cram in a lot of hiking, biking and sightseeing. First Blog Post from Desert Hot Springs 2017

We did manage to fit in some hiking during our stay. The Thousand Palms Oasis in the Coachella Valley Preserve is only about a 10 mile drive from camp. We had visited it before but had enjoyed it enough to take the short drive a couple of times during this stop. Our first hike was the Willis Palm Loop. The trailhead for this hike isn’t at the main entrance but rather about 1.5 mile south in a small parking area big enough for 4 to 6 cars. It’s just over a four mile hike, assuming you don’t get lost or side tracked along the way. We had planned on doing the loop in a counterclockwise direction, but missed the sign for the turn about a quarter mile along the trail. By the time we realized we missed the turn, we decided to just continue and not worry about it.

Starting Willis Palm Trail

About a half mile into the hike, we come across the large cluster of palm trees that form the Willis Palm Oasis. These palms are neat because as the palm fronds die off, they drape down along the trunk of the tree giving them the look of a grass skirt. Of course, these dried out fronds are quite flammable as was evident in the one section of the oasis where the skirts are burned off leaving the charred tree trunks. The fire had struck here back in late 2010. Nine years later, the trees seem to be recovering fairly well and have a unique look to them.

Palms at Oasis

Burned Palms

As we continue on the trail, we start up a wash in between a few hills. The trail isn’t marked very often but we figure if we just follow the wash, we might eventually hit the trail up to the ridge line of the hills to the east. We run into another couple heading the other way and stopped to chat with them for quite a long time. They are from Canada and down here for the winter months. At least we knew were were on the right path and it wasn’t long before we spotted the sign for the trail up. Once on top of the ridge, the views were pretty good. We managed to find the geocache that was hidden up here before following the trail back down to another wash that led back to the intersection we had originally missed. It was a pleasant hike.

Heading Up the Wash

View from Ridge

A couple days later, we headed back to the Preserve to join in on a free guided walk. We arrived a little early so we managed to check out the small visitor center that we hadn’t bothered with before. Our tour guide was quite entertaining and had a vast knowledge of the oasis and the surrounding area. Our group was about a dozen people and the actual hike was probably less than a mile. Jack, our guide, had us eating and sniffing various things along the way. Even though we had checked out this place two years ago, we learned a lot in our 90 minute walk.

Preserve Visitor Center

More Palms with Skirts

Overlooking Oasis

There tends to be a fair amount of hiking in the hills next to the numerous cities in the Coachella Valley. One day we headed into Palm Desert and parked along a street just behind a shopping center. There were dozens of cars, so we knew we were in the right spot. We had picked a trail named “Bump and Grind”.  It wasn’t clear where the name came from but it was a 4 mile hike with 1100 feet of elevation. This area has quite a few trails so we really needed to pay attention at intersections. Even with our GPSr and apps on the phone, we occasionally found ourselves heading along a trail that wasn’t part of our intended loop. As we gained elevation, the view over the cities in the valley and the surrounding mountains was pretty nice.

Overlooking Palm Desert

We had a handful of geocaches to entertain us besides the nice hike. We ran into other hikers but I wouldn’t consider the trails as too busy. There is one short spur trail that is not open year round due to the area being a spot for bighorn sheep having their babies. We were allowed to go up the trail which takes us to even a higher point with a better view. As we were heading back to the car, we saw a guy on a mountain bike attempting trails that seemed way too challenging for us to even contemplate. It was a nice hike and may want to consider other trails in this area of town.

Golf Course

Another hike on the outskirts of Coachella Valley was in the city of Indio to the east of our campground. The Indio Hills Badlands hike is just over a 5 mile loop trail. It starts out a just a mediocre hike that goes thru the desert next to a golf course. It’s strange to be walking in an area with minimal plant life, only to see vast swaths of green grass. Once we got to the actual “hills” portion of the trail, it started to get much more interesting. This trail is right over the San Andreas Fault!  Now admittedly the area “over” the fault is several miles wide. It’s not like there is a distinct line in the earth denoting the actual fault but the rock formations do have a tortured look to them.

Indio Hills in Distance

We had opted to take the loop in a clockwise direction after investigating the terrain profile and were glad we did. The first section of the trail goes up and thru some slot canyon features. At some of the narrow sections of the slot, it was fairly easy going up but may have been more of a challenge had we been heading the opposite direction. Lots of the rock formations have small hollowed out holes giving the hills a Swiss cheese look. Where other areas had the layers of rock pushed up so they were nearly vertical. Once we got up to the top, we had some great views all around. The fun part of this hike makes up for the more mundane section at the start and end.

One other hike we did in mid December was one over at the Whitewater Preserve. We had visited this place during our first trip and really enjoyed it so we headed back for another trail. The Red Dome Trail sounded interesting. It’s an out and back hike of about 4 to 5 miles depending how far you go. The initial portion of the trail starts from the preserve’s parking lot and heads across a wash from the San Bernardino mountains. It’s called the Whitewater River but at least right now calling it a river is a bit of a stretch. The water level wasn’t too bad although a park Ranger was out doing a little trail maintenance. He said that each storm that passes thru tends to change where the best path across the water is. It’s a pretty area and even has some larger trees that had some late fall colors.

Whitewater Preserve Hike Beginning

Once across the water, we only have a short distance before we intersect with the Pacific Crest Trail. This is a rather famous hiking trail - sort of the Appalachian Trail - but on the west coast. It goes from Mexico to Canada and is over 2650 miles long. We don’t have the energy for that today but will get in a mile or so! As we approached what is to be Red Dome, it wasn’t at all clear what we were looking for. There were some reddish rocks and hills but nothing that stood out as worthy of being named. The PCT crosses back over the Whitewater River and at this area its is a bit more challenging. We opt to just stay on our side and head upstream. It was a pretty area with the snow capped mountains in the distance. We eventually turn around and make our way back to the parking area. It was a nice hike.

Whitewater River in Action

Our main activity tends to be hiking with geocaching sprinkled in, but we do actually take time to see other things in the area. We knew about the Walk of the Inns in Palm Springs from our last trip. We hadn’t gotten to get all of them in two years ago. So this time we headed to town for a quick dinner and then went to the area where the event is held each year. Eight to ten small boutique hotels in the very upscale area of Palm Springs open their doors once a year for visitors to walk thru and check out the often very fancy and likely very expensive rooms.

Palm Springs at Night

Well Lit Entrance

It’s an interesting event since it takes place after dark and hundreds of people are attending. It can be a challenge to not run into people without flashlights on the very dark sidewalks. The drivers that are passing by do seem to be very aware of the crowds and we had no real incident as we made our way around. I think we managed to see all but one inn that was on the outskirts of all the others and wasn’t worth the longer walk.  Most of the inns have small individual cottages that are all uniquely decorated. There is also usually a common pool area although some of the suites have inviting outdoor hot tubs. A few of the inns open this year were larger more conventional hotels that didn’t seem to fit in with the boutique inn theme although they often had some Christmas cookies out for the visitors which helped to make up for that fact.

Perfect for a Dip

Cool Lizard Stone Floor

Stained Glass

Unique Inn Name

Lobby of Larger Inn

Another Pool

After our inn tours, we walk a couple blocks down to the Palm Spring Villagefest. Every Thursday evening they close off several blocks to cars and have all sorts of street vendors come in. We enjoy walking around and checking out some of the very creative works of art. There are also plenty of food options and several performers. 

Kilted Cello Player

With Christmas just around the corner, there were a few events in the local communities. We headed to Rancho Mirage one evening to take in a free concert. “A Big Band Christmas” was put on by the town in one of its parks. Although free, we did need to register for tickets online in order to assure we would have seats in the amphitheater that even had a stage and professional lighting and sound. Santa made an appearance and most of the staff were dressed with Xmas theme costumes.

Santa Knows if You've Been Naughty or Nice

There was a nine piece band - “9 Carat Gold” - to provide the music for the show. It included 6 brass musicians, a drummer, guitarist and pianist. Two men and women were the main entertainment for the evening. They did a wide variety of singing,  dancing and comedy skits. It was staged like a radio show set in World War II 1940’s. While a bit ahead of our time, it was still thoroughly entertaining.

Great Seats for Concert

Santa Greets the Crowd

We also got to attend another RVillage get together at a microbrewery in Palm Springs. There was a pretty good turnout with nearly twenty people. It was organized by friends (Gina and Chris) we met this summer up in Grand Teton National Park. Also attending were some other friends we met over two years ago at a casino in Tucson. Debbie and Kent had seen our geocaching trackable license plate and we have run into each other several times of the subsequent years. We enjoyed the evening chatting with old and new friends.

Chris had also discovered an area in Cathedral City where a whole neighborhood gets into the Xmas spirit by putting up lots of lights. We decided to enjoy one of the pleasant evenings after dinner by walking the several blocks of decorated houses. I suspect it has become a bit of a contest between the neighbors over the years as to who can put up the most elaborate displays. The family with a large Santa’s workshop complete with train circling the two car garage was probably the most impressive. There were hundreds of others out enjoying the sights and sounds that this neighborhood produces each year.

Decorated Motorhome

Santa's Workshop

On Dasher, On Dancer ...

Sam’s puts on a Christmas dinner each year. Last time we were here it was a potluck but this time they had the staff prepare turkey, ham and a great many sides. It was nice to have a good meal so close to home and get a chance to meet some of the others staying in the park for the holidays or the whole winter.

Hummingbird at Flowers at Our Site