In September I had the opportunity to attend a conference in Palm Springs, California. Despite not being a destination I would normally choose to visit, it was a great chance to escape the New Zealand winter for a few days and see some different landscapes.
Before the conference started we had time to take the cable car up to the nearby Mount San Jacinto State Park. The Aerial Tramway is quite unique with a round car that rotates slowly whilst making the two and a half mile acescent. Luckily we had almost perfect conditions with not even a slight breeze so the ride up was nice and smooth.
The top of the cable car provides access to the trails in Mount San Jacinto State Park, and after signing in at the trailhead, we set out to explore the area. Almost immediately it felt as if I was back in the Colorado Rockies, and the landscape could have been any number of places in Rocky Mountain National Park.
We hiked out to an overlook which gave us great views across the mountains. Although it lacked the big peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park, it certainly felt like parts of the foothills.
With the clouds continuing to build, we returned to the cable car and dropped back into Palm Springs in time for the start of the conference. Even knowing that the cable car had climbed over five thousand feet, it was incredible to notice the change in temperature as we got back to the valley floor.
After the conference we had an extra day and decided to explore nearby Joshua Tree National Park. The park had a driving loop that would allow us to see lots of the main sights and do a few short walks which would allow us to spend some time in the sunshine, with a few welcome breaks in the air conditioning of the car too.
Our first stop was in the Twin Tanks area, where a short trail across the dessert took us to a boulder garden full of rounded rocks. The orange tinge to the rocks made it feel as if we had been dropped back in Utah or Western Colorado.
After wandering around the rock formations for a while, we headed back to the car to continue our driving loop, making a quick stop at the rather appropriately named ‘Skull Rock’.
Our next stop took us out to the edge of the park, where the overlook provided us with great views out over the Coachella Valley. From the lookout, which was over 5,000 feet above sea level we could see the valley and the San Andreas Fault running through it. After having spent a week at the conference, it was a nice chance to actually get to see the geology we had been hearing about in person.
We made our way back into the centre of park and finally got into the section of the park that contains the namesake Joshua Trees. Seeing the trees up close, it is easy to see how they are actually a species of yucca and even vaguely reminded us of the Cabbage Trees back in New Zealand.
The contrast of the spiny trees and smooth stacked boulders made for a fascinating landscape with everything looking even more dramatic against the beautiful blue desert sky.
Our final stop was an area called Hidden Valley, the valley is rumored to have once been used by cattle rustlers and after passing through a narrow opening in the rocks and dropping down into the small basin, it was easy to see how the story could be true. The basin appeared to be surrounded on all sides by stacks of rock boulders, leaving just the valley floor exposed with a few desert plants.
With the day really starting to heat up, we decided to head back to Palm Springs to take advantage of the air conditioning. We had time for one other quick hike in the hills above the town the next morning before heading out to the airport to start the long trek back to New Zealand.