Palm Canyon

We visited the Palm Canyon which is part of the Indian Canyons of the Coachella Valley.
Centuries ago the ancestors of the Agu Caliente Cahuilla Indians settled in this area. The valleys provided abundant water for the animals and crops the Indians grew. With all the faults in the area water percolates to the surface to create an palm jungle next to the desert cactus.
Palm Canyon is one of three valleys with developed trails and other facilities for tourists or locals that want to hike in the area. The Palm Canyon is fifteen miles long and has numerous Washingtonia filifera (California Fan Palm) along the small stream. This palm is unique. It is the only palm native to western United States and is the largest palm in North America. It is the most cold tolerant palm in the world and the dead fronds remain attached to the trunk throughout its hundred-year lifespan. The skirt of fronds makes the palm trees very susceptible to fire. When lighting strikes a tree it will explode sending flaming leaves in all directions, however more fires are caused by human than lighting. In 1980 two small boys playing with matches started a fire that burned some 60,000 acres. The fire does not kill the palm tree because the only the skirt and green crowns are destroyed. The outer part of the tree will be charred but the palms are monocots which means the sensitive vascular tissue is strewn the moist trunk and not confined to the thin outer layer like most trees. So within a short time the palm have their green crowns with a black trunk. There are over 2,000 palms in this one valley.
We only hiked about two miles from the trading post and then back to and area below the trading post to have a picnic by the stream under the palm trees. The trading post sells all the wonderful things you would expect at a tourist area but the most interesting was the five hummingbird feeder they had place in what once was the information booth. At time five hummingbirds would all be feeding at one time at one of the feeders. This provided a real challenge for me to attempt to get a good picture. I took at least fifty pictures of the hummingbird and did manage to get a few good pictures.

Hot Air

For the second year the Balloon Festival held in Indio was a bust. Many of the larger balloons didn’t fly because of the wind and then nobody even unpacked their balloon the next day because of the threat of rain and a few drops falling. There is not an easy way to dry out your balloon before you put it away if it gets wet and nobody likes a wet balloon.
I did get to walk the 300 yards from our resort to the place they launch and got to see many of the balloons even if they didn’t fly. It is always a letdown to see them inflate the balloon and then take it down without leaving the ground. Many of the balloons that did fly did not go far and stayed very close to the ground.
More pictures can be seen at my Flickr Account.

Salton Sea

Well we are now settled in our Indio home and getting a chance to enjoy some of the reasons we come here. First of course is the weather. It is 60-70 and sunny during the day and only a little wind. We both have been playing tennis and I have been walking most moringins. Marilyn has joined the putter group again this year and enjoys meeting a different group of people from the tennis crowd.
We had our first opportunity to take a trip out of the part last Sunday to the Salton Sea. We just made a short trip to the North Shore area and the State Recreation Area. But did get to see a number of birds and it was good to get out.
Of course the sea gulls were the most abundant but we also say ducks, pelicans, stilts, and my favorite the white-feathered snowy egret. We did not take the time to really get the great photographs of the birds but did enjoy the walk around the shore.
We also took a drive to visit the Dos Palmos Preserve Oasis. We ad never been to a true oasis before and it was interesting. We met one young man leaving the area as we were going in and he said he had seen a cyote but we didn’t see one. It is interesting to see an area that always has water in the middle of the dry desert. The thick growth of palm trees created a dark covered pathway that we walked through the loop trail.
Just the first of many short day trips we hope to take this year to expand our enjoyment of the Coachella Valley.