One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Photos: The Under-The-Radar Desert Oasis Where You Should See The Super Bloom, Stat
Attention super bloom seekers: it's not just Anza-Borrego. To the north and over the Santa Rosas, stretches of the Coachella Valley are in full bloom. Carpets of desert sunflower, accentuated by the pinks and purples of sand verbena and phacelia, are lining streets and filling open spaces.
As I drove a dozen or so miles through the communities of Desert Edge and Sky Valley, I kept wanting to pull over and get out, just like thousands of tourists are doing right these days at Henderson Canyon in Anza. But it was not parkland. It was lots of private property (for sale!) and I knew something was better to be found down the road anyway.
Thousand Palms Oasis is a quiet nature preserve tucked into the Indio Hills north of Interstate 10. It's namesake is the main attraction: cool, shady palm groves nurtured by natural springs, products of the San Andreas Fault. Even without wildflowers, it's worth adding to your Palm Springs trip itinerary, especially if you've already done Indian Canyons. Stepping into one of these groves on a hot day approaching three digits overwhelmed me with calm.
But the free preserve, one of 75 or so in California operated by the Center for Natural Lands Management and acquired a few years ago, is more than just oases. There are hundreds of acres of other desert habitat types—and that's where the wildflowers are.
Park in the free parking lot off Thousand Palms Canyon Road and head to the visitor center in the first grove for maps, information, bathrooms, and the such. Walk a mile through a desert wash to the serene McCallum Oasis (see above photo) and then to the Moon Country Trail, which should perhaps be temporarily changed to Bloom Country (har).
Almost immediately, color flanks the sandy trail. Head to the vista point first, about a quarter-mile in, affording you 360-degree views (to the north are the Little San Bernardino Mountains, which are the southern border of Joshua Tree National Park). Many use this as a turning around point, but there's so much more. Continue northwest where you'll gain views of flowers framing snow-capped San Gorgonio, the tallest peak in Southern California. And keep your eyes open for lizards. I saw a handful of desert iguanas, a horned lizard, a zebra-trailed lizard, and a couple side-blotched. It could have only gotten better if I came upon a desert tortoise munching on a flower petal.
Sponsored message
Beers at Coachella Valley Brewing Company. (Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist)
Moon Country is a loop trail, but there is an option to do 1.5-mile roundtrip spur into Moon Canyon or do a larger, more intensive 7-mile loop by adding Herman's Hike (consult the preserve's map brochure). But on a hot sunny day, the four-mile round trip, two filled with wildflowers, was perfect for me. And then topped off by a beer 15 minutes down the road at the Coachella Valley Brewing Company? I couldn't ask for more.
Thousand Palms Oasis is located at 29200 Thousand Palms Canyon Road in Thousand Palms, California.
Related: Map: Where To See Southern California's Super Bloom This Weekend
Zach Behrens is an adventurer and botanizer based in Los Angeles. Follow his hikes on Instagram.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
