Things to do Around Palm Springs

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AppleTech

AppleTech

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Nov 11, 2007
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Nashville, TN
The wife and I are considering going to Palm Springs in August
and wondering what there is to do there. We were thinking about spending a couple hours to a day in Joshua tree. Any good things to do or see there? Any picturesque drives? We can take the Cruiser if need be.

Any advice on this or anything else to do in Palm Springs would be great!

-Phil
 
It's going to be hot as hell in August, but there are still things you can do. The PS Aerial Tramway goes up San Jacinto Mtn. Joshua Tree is always nice IMO. You can take a guided tour into J.T.N.P. as well. Elite Land Tours, for instance, takes a back country tour into the park as well as a killer 'night tour'. There is also Indian Canyon and the Living Desert. Most folks will swim and do their best just to stay out of the summer heat.
 
Chill by the pool and sip on mojitos all day long.
 
I noticed the Elite Land Tours for Joshua Tree - looks kinda cool but I would really rather drive myself. Does the Park Service @ Joshua Tree provide any self-led tours or can anyone recommend anything?

-Phil
 
I think I found one thing we are going to do. The JT park offers a self-led auto geology tour on a "rough" dirt road that leads south from the main entrance and then intersects with Berdoo Canyon Trail which runs all the way to the south side of the park. Should be about a 4 hour run. Anyone take this route before? Will be going alone so we will not be attempting anything crazy or hairy, especially out in the desert in August. I'm going to do a cooling system refresh with new coolant and all new hoses before we head out on this trip as well. Scenery is supposed to be beautiful though!

-Phil
 
AppleTech said:
I think I found one thing we are going to do. The JT park offers a self-led auto geology tour on a "rough" dirt road that leads south from the main entrance and then intersects with Berdoo Canyon Trail which runs all the way to the south side of the park. Should be about a 4 hour run. Anyone take this route before? Will be going alone so we will not be attempting anything crazy or hairy, especially out in the desert in August. I'm going to do a cooling system refresh with new coolant and all new hoses before we head out on this trip as well. Scenery is supposed to be beautiful though!

-Phil
Click to expand...
I alway drove up Berdoo from Dillon Road to get into the park. I lived just off Dillon for a while. It's about a 45 minute drive to the "top" and does connect to the Geology Loop. The loop itself is not all that rough. The loop is one way for the most part. There are a couple of mine shafts and old cyanide tanks for leaching the gold out of the ore. The road to the Geo Tour also take you past Squaw Tank.

The park has lots of old mining camps and mine shafts to see. Just across the main road from the Geology loop is (IIRC) the Queens Valley mine. You can hike around this small canyon and check out all the mine shafts.

BTW: JTNP has/had over 2k gold mines.

There are lots and lots of places to explore in JTNP. One spot you should hit is Keys View. It's a spectacular view point looking over the valley.
 
LandCrusher'70 said:
I alway drove up Berdoo from Dillon Road to get into the park. I lived just off Dillon for a while. It's about a 45 minute drive to the "top" and does connect to the Geology Loop. The loop itself is not all that rough. The loop is one way for the most part. There are a couple of mine shafts and old cyanide tanks for leaching the gold out of the ore. The road to the Geo Tour also take you past Squaw Tank.

The park has lots of old mining camps and mine shafts to see. Just across the main road from the Geology loop is (IIRC) the Queens Valley mine. You can hike around this small canyon and check out all the mine shafts.

BTW: JTNP has/had over 2k gold mines.

There are lots and lots of places to explore in JTNP. One spot you should hit is Keys View. It's a spectacular view point looking over the valley.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the details - this sounds like a great time. We were going to come down from the Joshua Tree Visitor center to the north and come down the Loop and then take Berdoo - will we miss anything good of the Geology loop if we take Berdoo before completing the loop portion? -Phil
 
AppleTech said:
will we miss anything good of the Geology loop if we take Berdoo before completing the loop portion? -Phil
Click to expand...
No, not really.

If your coming up the 62 to JTNP, you can take a nice drive to a not-so-well-known part of the park. The area is called Covington Flats. The parks largest Joshua Trees (12 to 1500 years old) are up in this area, as well as a phenomenal view from Eureka Peak. Plus your chances of seeing wildlife are greater in this area.

This area is solely backcountry dirt roads. To get there, you take a right on La Contenta Rd. just past the Home Depot in Yucca Valley, cross Yucca Trail Rd. onto the dirt, eventually taking a left at the 'Covington Flats' sign. Then off you go. No way to get lost as there is only one way in, one way out.
 
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If you're looking for a good hike and it's mentioned above, go up the tram to Mt San Jacinto. If you do the peak, it's about 8 or so miles round trip. Spectacular 360 view of Socal at 10,400 ft. Make a day of it and you won't regret it at all. We were going to back pack up there this weekend, but didn't get our overnight permits in on time and the camp sites filled up. Day use is still ok. If you do this, bring your own water and lots of it. Streams and the one spring fed spigot at Round Meadow will be dry as a bone in August.

Lots of golf courses. :D

You can always sweat a lot too. :p
 
Brentbba said:
Spectacular 360 view of Socal at 10,400 ft.
Click to expand...
10,834 ft. at the peak.
 
Yep - Mt. San Gorgonio is the highest...over 11,000, which you can clearly see atop San Jacinto!
 
Brentbba said:
Yep - Mt. San Gorgonio is the highest...over 11,000, which you can clearly see atop San Jacinto!
Click to expand...
11,499 ft. at the peak :flipoff2:

I had to know these stats as part of the tours I used to do.
 
I've been to the top of mt. San Jacinto.
IMG_0024.jpg
Elevation 10,834 ft. Great hiking trails above the tramway station on top.

You will have more fun taking the tram than driving thru JT in August. It will get 120+ day temps. Crazy hot, unless of course you get up early and do the park very early in the day.

The Palm Springs Air Museum is also a nice way to spend some time, and increase your knowledge of WWII history.

The local casinos will likely have some live events for entertainment, I don't do the gambling thing, but t is always there, along with every smoker in Cal.

Search for natural spring spas, your wife may enjoy that, there are a few in town, and Desert Hot Springs.

A drive up the Palms to Pines hwy (74) makes for a nice drive. You can spend some time away from the oven around Idylwild, A nice mt. town with enough going on to make you stay for a few hours.

Golf courses gallore, and cheaper that time of year. but you're better teeing off very early in the morning before the irons get too hot to handle.....
 
Thanks for all the tips. Based on everyone's assumption of the heat and such, we have decided we should probably go visit JT/PS another time when it is cooler. We are now thinking about maybe going to Yosemite or another park. Basically, what we want to do is take a nice 3 day weekend where we can spend at least a day in a park or off the beaten path - a nice drive in the 80 that will afford us some nice views and be a bit more fun than a paved road. That was my goal with the Geology tour in JT - sounded fun and interesting and the fact that we could lead our own tour and do things by our time is what we are looking for. The rest of the weekend we would probably just like to hang out at a hotel, walk around town, shop, sightsee, etc. Any other suggestions of stuff to do within 5 hours of LA are welcomed!

-Phil
 
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