Linda Mullally (author of several Best Hikes With Dogs books with husband David) writes in this Monterey Herald Travel article about discovering the Whitewater Preserve, Shield’s Date Farm and the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument while on a trip to the Coachella Valley.
Linda starts with the Whitewater Preserve, established by the Wildlands Conservancy, which is one of 15 in the 147,000-acre nature preserve system, the “largest nonprofit nature preserve system in California.” The portal to the preserve is a 291-acre former trout farm in the shadow of a sandstone bluff at the end of the canyon road, where a historic wooden farm building houses the Ranger Station/Visitor Center. The Conservancy’s long-standing campaign for increased protection of the land came to fruition last month, when President Obama announced the creation of the Sand to Snow National Monument. Whitewater Preserve is the gateway to the newly designated national monument.
Linda and David hiked along Canyon View Loop up to the Pacific Crest Trail cradled between the sandy canyon floor and the snow-dusted ridges. The Whitewater River, more of a stream than a raging torrent, had a fresh ribbon of wet fed by the snows of Mount San Gorgonio (11,503 feet) in the Transverse Range, the highest peak in Southern California. The Preserve is a small but vital stitch in the river’s long journey toward the Salton Sea.
The next day, Linda and David biked a loop around Old Town La Quinta by way of Shield’s Date Farm in Indio, started by Floyd and Bess Shields in 1924. The 17-acre organic date farm has grown into a business with a store bursting with a variety of products for date lovers including frothy date shakes. Sun umbrellas and linen tablecloths enhance the courtyard café’s idyllic setting. A palm garden was completed in 2013 to accommodate 23 biblical statues acquired from a family in Vancouver, Canada.
On their last day in the desert, Linda and David hiked the arid Araby Trail in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument for views of the Coachella Valley contrasted against Mount San Jacinto’s gleaming snow-draped peak (10,834 feet) and Bob Hope’s 1970s home in the foreground. The celebrity’s 23,000-square-foot mansion with flying saucer-like architecture remains one of Palms Spring’s unique landmarks.
Curious to learn more about the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument created in 2000, Linda and David visited the National Monument Visitor Center on CA-74/Palms to Pines Scenic Highway in Palm Desert to explore exhibits about desert wildlife, vegetation and cultural history.
A farewell dinner in the classy courtyard at Spencer’s Restaurant in Palm Springs, complete with a canopy of trees, mood lighting and heaters, inspired Linda and David to put a desert date on the calendar for next year.
To read the article and view the accompanying pictures, courtesy of the Monterey Herald, please visit: http://www.montereyherald.com/article/NF/20160306/FEATURES/160309852