Since it was Claire’s last day here in Palm Springs, Paulette and I decided to save the best for the last – a hike across the desert from Thousand Palms to the McCallum Oasis in the morning and then we simply had to take her to Sherman’s Deli for dinner and one of their special desserts. The photos from Sherman’s will have to wait until my next blog because I’m so full I couldn’t bear to see pics of food!
McCallum Oasis
We headed out pretty early for the Thousand Palms Preserve and both Paulette and Claire were dressed like we were going to the North Pole! It was nice and sunny but there was a cold wind blowing down off Mt. San Jacinto and Mt. Gorgonio.
The San Andreas Fault Line is the high ridge in the background
Looking at the high ridge that forms the San Andreas Fault line in this part of California shows just how powerful previous earthquakes have been. I don’t know much about this stuff except if these are what are called ‘shifting plates’ then they shifted mightily eons ago.
Claire tempting fate on the San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault line happens to run right through this park so getting a picture taken by the sign, just to tempt fate, is almost a tradition with us.
The long desert trail
After taking the small loop trail around the Thousand Palms park amidst all the giant Palm Trees, we found the sandy trail that heads out across the desert towards the McCallum Oasis. It was mostly level but the sand was kind of deep in spots so it was heavy walking for the 30 minutes or so it took us to get there.
Walking out of the desert into the Oasis and McCallum Pond was quite an experience. One would never know that even a small pond like this existed in the middle of this barren area.
At the McCallum Oasis, there was a nice trail that took us all around the pond and it included some wooden bridges to take us over a few swampy areas. After exploring the oasis for a while, we found the trail that would take us back across the dry desert to the main park at Thousand Palms.
We enjoyed visiting Thousand Palms again and Claire managed to get her first desert hike even if it was a relatively short one. But, Paulette and her had other plans for the afternoon so we headed back to the Sands to rescue Molly and Rylie who had to stay home because there are no dogs allowed at Thousand Palms.
After a quick bite to eat, Paulette took Claire to JoAnn’s Fabrics for one final foray. That took about 3 hours so I don’t really know what else they got up to. Later, as I said earlier, we went out for dinner at Sherman’s but that will have to wait for another blog.
Have a great Tuesday, and thanks again for visiting!
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