Are you looking for a fun outdoor activity in the Palm Springs area? I highly recommend taking a tour of the San Andreas Fault with Red Jeep Tours in Palm Desert.
Desert Adventures Tours
I went on a tour a few years back and I still recall many of the interesting and significant facts that our tour guide told us about the area while on a two-hour tour.
After our tour guide picked us up from our hotel, the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa, she took us on a 30-minute drive out into the middle of no where! Well, at least it felt that way!
While on our way out to the desert, she told us all about the world famous landmarks in the Greater Palm Springs area including the Elvis Honeymoon Hideaway and Lucille Ball statue.
Then we arrived at the company’s exclusive and pristine 800 acre preserve that features a private Palm Oasis. Our tour guide was very knowledgable about the area and told us about the different shrubbery and plants on the oasis, including the age old palm tree.
Palm trees are indigenous to the Southwest United States and spring up where water bubbles up from a crack in the ground, also know as the fault-line. The San Andreas Fault has a year long underground aquifer feeds the Palm Tree Oasis.
The water seeps up from the ground and feeds the trees as well as other wildlife that lives in the ecosystem provided by the oasis. New palms are also easily started from seeds falling on the wet ground.
I found the palm trees fascinating with the shaggy skirt of dead leaves that extends naturally from the top of the tree to the ground. Native Americans had many uses for the California palm oases, as they supported enough necessary elements of life to enable the creation of a village or home base. Miners and other early settlers also found the palm oases invaluable.
San Andreas Fault Tours
After walking through the Palm Trees Oasis, we got back in the jeep and headed out to explore the many amazing slot canyons created by uplift and carved by erosion. It was like a mini Grand Canyon with lots of places to take pictures and enjoy the dry heat of the desert on a cool winter day.
At the end of our tour, we visited a recreated Cahuilla Indian Village that sits on a historic site of an ancient village. With the help of our guide, we experienced what it was like to not only live, but to thrive in the harsh desert environment of our Native Americans 2000-3000 years ago.
I am in awe of how innovative and resilient they were living in the midst of such harsh conditions.
Desert Adventures Tour Offerings
Desert Adventures offers a large array of activities including jeep, hiking, and sightseeing excursions and team building programs.
Red Jeep Tours in the Greater Palm Desert area offers the following amazing adventures:
- San Andreas Fault Jeep Tour – To Desert Adventures Exclusive Metate Ranch location
- San Andreas Fault Sunset Jeep Tour
- San Andreas Fault Nightwatch (Stargazing) Jeep Tour
- Indian Canyons Jeep & Hiking Tour
- Painted Canyon / Mecca Hills Wilderness Area Jeep Tour
- Joshua Tree National Park Tour (offered in a climate controlled Van) – Lunch Included!
To learn more and book a tour, visit red-jeep.com.
Happy Field Tripping!
Jilleen