San Andreas Fault In The Coachella Valley Preserve

From Outdoor Resort Palm Springs, Cathedral City, California     Let's face it; we all want to get an "up close" view of the mysteriously scary San Andreas fault line -- just not when "the big one" hits.  On Tuesday, Pam, Ernie, Wayne and I went to get a personal and first hand look.

Our drive to see the fault

As it turned out, our ride was short -- less than 9 miles from Outdoor Resort in Cathedral City. We were surprised to see several huge stands of fan palms in the desert as we approached the sign pointing to our destination, 100o Palms Canyon Oasis in the Coachella Valley Preserve. This is a unique area that protects all natural features including sand dunes, mesas and palm oases. It is one of the largest groves of Desert palm fans in California.

The daytime high here today would be in the upper 80's; plenty hot to be in the desert, but we don't expect our San Andreas fault line sighting to take long enough for us to become overcome by heat exhaustion or sun stroke.

My comrades prepare themselves what we're about to see.
I take the pictures and let them tell me about it. 

According to the material on the board, "Palm oases are sustained primarily by water made available through faulting and fracturing of the underlying bedrock material. Blow-sand fields are created when sand, washed out of nearby mountains during summer floods, is deposited, forming a broad alluvial fan. Strong winds pick up the sand and blow it into sand dune formations which are home to several rare animals. One hundred, eighty animals species inhabit the preserve, including resident and migratory birds. Five rare animals, the Coachella Valley Fringe-toed Lizard, the Flat-tailed Horned Lizard, the Coachella Round-tailed Ground Squirrel, the Giant Red Velvet Mite and the Giant Palm-boring Beetle, live in the preserve."

The Wayner and me (with a bottle of water in my pocket)
ready to march right into the giant jaws of the great San Andreas! 

This oasis was so inviting from the dry desert all around. The giant fan palms create great shady areas and they seem to draw you into the shade and cool.

There's a tiny visitors center for 1000 Palms Canyon in a house that was, at one time, a personal residence.

There goes Ernie into the Visitors Center for all the information we're going to need. 

Pam and I busied ourselves positioning the husbands and taking pictures of anything we deemed "photo worthy" -- like the directional sign below. Very important. How many of our friends have this picture?

Still with the bottle of water weighing heavily in my shorts pocket. 

So after proper study at the Visitors Center we started down one side of the loop trail into the fault. The following pictures tell the rest of the story...

Factoid:  The San Andreas fault is created by moving tectonic plates beneath the earth's surface. It stretches 1,000 miles across California, the most heavily populated state in America. San Andreas is a "strike-slip" fault and separates the large Pacific Plate with the large North American Plate. It has caused some of the largest earthquakes in the western United States.

Water springs from the fault, making the oasis in which the great palms grow! 

Pools of water on both sides of the walkway! 

We went just a short distance along the short 2.4 mile loop and then turned around after seeing what we wanted to see -- didn't even break a sweat.

Upon return to the Visitors Center area, the husbands collapsed into the nearest park bench.

Ernie             and             Wayne 

I am happy to report that our fearless group of fault line explorers showed no signs of weakness during our exploration of this dangerous and terrifying area.  However, according to a report by UMass Amherst, "The Coachella Valley segment of the San Andreas Fault has a high likelihood for a large rupture in the near future, since it has a recurrence interval of about 180 years but has not erupted in over 300 years."    Yikes! It's way overdue!

Joshua Oh! Joshua

From Outdoor Resort Palm Springs, Cathedral City, California     Spectacularly good weather found us here in the Coachella Valley with daytime highs in the 70's and cool, sometimes downright cold nights. Pam, Ernie, Wayne and I took advantage of this weather blessing with a 150+ mile ride to and through Joshua Tree National Park last Saturday. We started with a Panera Bread breakfast before jumping on I-10 west to CA 62 through the Morongo Valley and then to Yucca Valley where we stopped by the Ford dealer to see a particularly nice lipstick red F-150 pickup truck.  More about that later.

Wayne and I visited Joshua Tree National Park Visitors Center on Twenty-Nine Palms Highway during our first visit to this area in early spring 2011. On that day, though, we were finishing out a busy day trip and didn't have time to explore the park. I'm glad we've returned and can check another of America's many beautiful national parks off our list.

A well-informed Joshua Tree National Park ranger offered suggestions for sights to see in the time we had allotted today. Pam and I gathered a few brochures and maps of the park.  Conveniently, a sweet little deli was operating in the building adjoining the visitors center. A sign outside advertised a choice of sandwiches, chips, fruit, cookie and drink for $12. The four of us selected our individual lunch and then were on our way. The day was perfect.

Outside the Visitors Center.  I love these succulents.

On a warm February Saturday, it came as no surprise that we would encounter slow traffic going into Joshua Tree National Park. Wayne noticed the rattlesnake warning sign on the property along the road where we were stopped. Comforting.

Named for an iconic plant of the Mojave Desert, Joshua Tree National Park isn't the only place this strange looking agave plant is found. As a matter of fact, there are parts of the National Park where Joshua trees don't grow at all.

As always is the case, I took several dozen pictures of pretty much the same scenery -- all trying to capture the very best shot of the most nearly perfect Joshua tree. Here are a few of my favorites. Pam has a couple dozen favorites of her own.

Joshua trees might have been named by have been named by Mormon pioneers who, it is said, felt the upward reaching tree branches to be the arms of Joshua leading them to the Promised Land.

Following the suggestion of the park ranger, we detoured from the main road toward Keys View. From here, we can see the Mojave and Colorado Deserts, great piles of giant boulders, the frighteningly real San Andreas Fault Line, the Salton Sea and the Coachella Valley.  An bonus today, we saw several mountain goats along the nearby hillside. (They didn't show clear in the photo, so I didn't include it here.)  In exchange for the awesome views, the 5,185 foot elevation presented us with a burst of cold air that we weren't prepared to receive as we stepped out of the truck.

Looking across the Hexie and Cottonwood Mountains and the Pinto Basin.
The Salton Sea can be seen in the far left of this picture

From the parking area to the viewing summit was about 20 yards of crisp, bone chilling cold wind. When I reached the summit, a young man suggested I hop the rock wall and sit on the other side where the wind would be blocked by the wall.  He was right -- I was warm enough to sit comfortably and take a few pictures.  Afterward, the four of us ate lunch in the truck with one hand while holding little white dogs at bay with the other.  Much too cold to eat outside but lunch was especially good despite the inconvenience.

Little San Bernadino Mountains, the Indio Hills, a strip of the Mojave and/or Colorado Desert.
I was told that the thin dark line is the San Andreas fault line which can easily be seen in many places here. 

In certain places within Joshua Tree National Park, the area's giant piles of boulders and the rather fragile looking Joshua trees share space.  A Joshua tree may have spiky succulent leaves but it is not a cactus. They are agave plants. The trees are fibrous inside and they have no growth rings so it's tough to estimate their age.

From Keys View we returned to the main park road and then into several areas of giant boulders and broken rocks. Lots of Joshua Tree park visitors come here to climb these giants.

Rock climbers giving it their best shot. 

Pam and I braved the rattlesnakes to get into the heart of Joshua Tree National Park.
Ernie and Wayne sat in the truck while we explored and took selfies.  Girls are tougher than boys. 

Farther into the park we came upon areas named Cap Rock, Split Rock and then Skull Rock where, once again, Pam and I left the husbands to keep the truck seats warm while we posed artfully among the boulders. My favorite photo isn't included here as I don't have a copy of it, but Pam is striking a Pilate balancing stance among the rocks. It was cool.

Feeling a bit like an explorer. 

There was simply not enough time to see all the sights of Joshua Tree National Park. We missed the Geology Tour Road and the Cholla Cactus Garden altogether. When the sun began sinking behind the mountains, the air temperature fell like a rock (ha ha ha)... and I was downright cold taking Ozzie and Lexie for a short walk around the parking area of Cottonwood Visitors Center.  Soon after this photo, we were back on I-10 in route home to Outdoor Resort.  What a great day. What a great life.

Ozzie on the left, Lexie on the right. 

Postscript: The cover photo for the 1987 U2 album "The Joshua Tree" was not taken in Joshua Tree National Park. It was taken somewhere near Death Valley.

First Days at Outdoor Resort Palm Springs

From Outdoor Resort Palm Springs, Cathedral City, California    From Wednesday, January 20th until Saturday, January 30th, while Pam and Ernie were at San Bernadino, Wayne and I relaxed at Outdoor Resort Palm Springs.  While we missed our travel partners, we hoped they were enjoying time alone and visiting the Los Angeles area. Meanwhile, we had sunny weather every day with afternoon temperatures in the mid 70's.

Ozzie and Lexie enjoyed the warm sunshine. The property is covered in citrus trees. 

The folding bicycles and dog carrier came out of the truck by Day 2 so Lexie and Ozzie could enjoy some outdoor time. Every day we took bike rides through the campground.

Nearly everyone here has a golf cart -- with good reason: more than 1,200 sites spread among 27 golf holes make for a pretty large area to explore. In this good weather, a golf cart, along with the bicycles, will get us out a bit more. I began looking for a rental cart on Thursday after we arrived, but it took until Monday to find one at Golf Carts of the Desert. They agreed to deliver it by 2 p.m. the same day. Cost was $325 per month plus tax, pro-rated for January plus $25 one-time delivery and pick-up. The cart arrived early in good condition.

Now to get Lexie and Ozzie comfortable riding on a golf cart. 

Desert Memorial Park is a Palm Springs Cemetery District graveyard that's located across the street and in the next block from Outdoor Resort Palm Springs.  Wayne learned that several well-known entertainers are buried there. One afternoon we drove by to see grave markers of a few of them.

One of our favorites: Actor William H. Powell of the Thin Man movie series

Frank Sinatra is buried at Desert Memorial Park alongside his mother who died in a plane crash near here. The day we visited, an empty Jack Daniel's bottle was on the headstone (hard to see) along with some other mementos and a few coins. Two American flags and several bouquets of live flowers had been placed on the grave. Wayne said packages of cigarettes are often left there too.

Headstone of Ole Blue Eyes, The Chairman of the Board, Francis Albert Sinatra 

Many of the headstones in this cemetery are barely legible. Strangely, they are made in an unusual fashion for a desert setting: Raised lettering instead of engraved. Wind blown sand has etched away many of the writings. Wayne and I both wondered why anyone would choose that particular type of identification on a headstone.  In a few years, Frank Sinatra's headstone will be completely illegible.

Sonny Bono is buried in a different section of the cemetery.

Motion picture director  Berkeley Busby was a director and choreographer of film musicals. He is considered one of the greatest in the media. Ironically, he was a self-taught dancer, having no formal lessons. In his early years, he was constantly afraid that people would find out. 

Singer and actress Betty Hutton

The flag and pole Wayne bought at Quartzsite was a project for an entire afternoon. He and I spent hours on the ladder attaching the brackets, which we never got aligned to suit him. While he became discouraged at the installation, I did not and I think we will enjoy flying the flag and using the solar light for nighttime.

Watch out for that sticker bush! 

Another day we drove into Palm Springs and a few other surrounding areas, finding the subdivision in which President Gerald Ford and his wife, Betty, lived near Thunderbird Country Club. Naturally, the home was protected from the prying eyes of tourists by a gated guard house.

We spent time another afternoon looking at new Newmar coaches but not feeling the urge to buy. We also came upon an area of giant wind energy machines (killers of great numbers of American eagles, I'm told). The ones we saw today killed nothing as they certainly were "on strike" --  not a one was turning.

With putting and chipping greens readily available for practice here at ORPS, I spent an afternoon working toward improvement in both areas.  While my putting was okay, my chipping failed miserably today. I promised myself to practice more.

Golf in this area is plentiful and not terribly expensive... especially now with the exchange rate so unfavorable for Canadian visitors, many courses are drastically discounting play.

These three pictures are taken from the putting and chipping areas here at ORPS. I continue to love being here and will, no doubt, encourage Wayne to return to this resort area next winter.

Looking across from the putting green.

From the chipping area. 

These and other housekeeping chores kept us busy during the first ten days here at Outdoor Resort Palm Springs. On Saturday, January 30th, Pam and Ernie joined us for February. We missed our friends and are glad to have them near us again.

Coachella Valley and Outdoor Resort Palm Springs

California Here We Come!      We left Quartzsite and drove west into the Coachella Valley of southern California headed to Outdoor Resort Palm Springs (ORPS) in Cathedral City. Our travel partners, Pam and Ernie went to San Bernadino for the last days of January and will meet us here for February.

We rounded a curve to first glimpse the desert floor and this view of snow capped Mount San Jacinto with a small stand of palm trees all in one view. Oh what a nice refreshing sight.

Parts of this Riverside County California desert valley is also known as the "Inland Empire" and is southern California's second largest metro area. The Coachella valley is about 45 miles long with the Little San Bernadino Mountains to the north and the Salton Sea to the south.  The valley is about 15 miles wide and bordered by the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Mountains. Joshua Tree National Park is to the east.

Included along this string of desert towns is Indio, Palm Desert, La Quinta Desert Palm Springs and Cathedral City, where we're scheduled to spend six weeks at ORPS.

Palm Springs, about 100 miles east of Los Angeles, is the principal city of the Coachella Valley. It's the 1950s and '60s getaway place for many celebrities including Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack. Elvis and Priscilla Presley honeymooned here. These days, the area is mecca for snowbirds, retirees and golfers. Here's a link for more  Palm Springs History and life.

Originally called Conchilla, meaning "Land of the Little Shells" the name change was forced when a printers error caused a brochure to contain to the misspelled word Coachella and the name stuck.

Palm trees and snow capped mountains one minute and arid desert floor the next.

Roadside sand looks like snow. 

Our travel day had been a good one and we would be at ORPS within minutes when we came upon a short string of stopped traffic along the road in the picture above. Turns out a gunman had shot someone near the high school ahead of us. The school was put on lockdown and the road was closed. Helicopters flew overhead and police cruisers blocked the intersections. ORPS entry was less than a mile ahead.  The vehicles ahead of us were easily turned around to find a detour.  We were too little large for a u-turn though, so several barricades and police cruisers had to be moved to allow our 66+ foot rig a large enough area to turn around.  Wayne drove to a nearby Flying J for fuel and a chance to find another route into ORPS.

It's always interesting to take the rig through the suburbs and today was no different. The streets here are quite wide and smooth.

A half-hour later, we arrived at our Outdoor Resort Palm Springs. From here, I'll  let the pictures talk.

Referred to by the residents merely as ORPS

Both sides of the entrance have nice fountain pools and colorful flowers.

La Paloma Club House at ORPS. There are two large clubhouses, a dozen swimming pools with hot tubs and an equal number of tennis courts. The property has 27 golf holes on a short par 3 course. 

Entry drive to ORPS 

Typical street scenes in ORPS 

Down this street and to the right is our street. 

While we are in the desert, ORPS allows unlimited use of water. It's one of the few places we've been that allows guests to water their lawns, wash RV's and cars and about anything else. I don't get it but it's nice to see everything so green and clean.

During any given day the streets here carry about an equal number of bicycles, walkers and golf carts as automobiles. Wayne and I would rent a golf cart for our time here and use the bicycles regularly too. It's the only way to get around as there are very few parking spaces for them. Lots of golf cart parking spaces though.

Across from the golf starters shack and the putting green.
To the right is El Saguaro Clubhouse. 

Outdoor Resort Palm Springs has over 1,200 privately owned sites. We rented through a real estate agent and pay $4 per day to the owners association as a resort fee. There is a daily pet fee of $2 per day too.

This resort is a walkers paradise with asphalt streets and pedestrian walkways everywhere.  The activities calendar is pack-jammed with everything from aerobics to zumba.  The property has a convenience store, a coffee shop and at least one restaurant open daily 6 - 8.

A few golf course shots....

We met many of neighbors the first day here. Most of the vehicles we see that aren't from California have license plates from Oregon, Washington, Utah and western provinces of Canada.