Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

From hippie hangout to Indian natural preserve, Tahquitz Canyon outside Palm Springs remains a popular place to visit.

The Disneyesque guided hiking tour of lower Tahquitz Canyon, right on the edge of Palm Springs, is a far cry from the scene here in the 1970s and '80s, when scores -- sometimes hundreds -- of hippies and impromptu squatters occupied the canyon's idyllic glades. Flush with income from casinos and associated businesses, the canyon's owner, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, turned the situation around during the 1990s. After a massive eviction and cleanup effort, the Indians opened a visitor center at the mouth of the canyon and started offering hiking tours up to as far as Tahquitz Falls. These guided hikes are the only way to visit the canyon today, and they are offered only during the cooler months of the year.

Although "tame" by most hikers' standards, the tour is an excellent introduction to the native riparian and desert flora of the low desert. A great deal of effort has gone into eradicating nonnative invasive vegetation, which had degraded the biological quality of the canyon as much as graffiti and trash had earlier ruined the visual quality of the place.

Sponsored
Sponsored

If enough rainfall arrives this winter season, the 60-foot-high waterfall at the midpoint of the tour could thunder impressively. By March the canyon could be awash in blooming desert vegetation and annual wildflowers.

The Tahquitz Canyon visitor center, starting point for the hike, is located at the west end of Mesquite Avenue, off Palm Canyon Drive in the southwestern corner of Palm Springs. The two-hour hiking tours, offered between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., depart on the hour (or less often, depending on demand). The cost of admission to the visitor center, which includes a video presentation and the hike, is $12.50 for adults and $6 for children.

The route of the tour may vary slightly, but generally covers a figure-eight route along both banks of the perennially flowing canyon stream. Expect to see, sniff, and learn about the Native-American use of several varieties of native vegetation, including the distinctively aromatic creosote bush, yerba santa, and white sage. There's a prehistoric rock-art site along the way, with subtle painted designs and figures. You'll pass a small diversion gate and ditch where water in the canyon stream once flowed northeast toward the valley of Palm Springs. Tahquitz Falls, at the midpoint of the tour, features a shallow pool at its base. With the permission of your guide you many be able to take your shoes off and wade some distance out toward the base of the falls. A hot tip: Store shoes well away from the stream; otherwise they may end up rafting quickly down the canyon.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Kaylee Daugherty, Pinback, Chorduroy, Moondaddy, and Mr. Tube & the Flying Objects

Solos, duos, and full bands in Mira Mesa, Del Mar, City Heights, Little Italy, East Village
Next Article

More on San Diego inventions – Spike Bite and disappearing ink

The scandal of county supervisors at the library

The Disneyesque guided hiking tour of lower Tahquitz Canyon, right on the edge of Palm Springs, is a far cry from the scene here in the 1970s and '80s, when scores -- sometimes hundreds -- of hippies and impromptu squatters occupied the canyon's idyllic glades. Flush with income from casinos and associated businesses, the canyon's owner, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, turned the situation around during the 1990s. After a massive eviction and cleanup effort, the Indians opened a visitor center at the mouth of the canyon and started offering hiking tours up to as far as Tahquitz Falls. These guided hikes are the only way to visit the canyon today, and they are offered only during the cooler months of the year.

Although "tame" by most hikers' standards, the tour is an excellent introduction to the native riparian and desert flora of the low desert. A great deal of effort has gone into eradicating nonnative invasive vegetation, which had degraded the biological quality of the canyon as much as graffiti and trash had earlier ruined the visual quality of the place.

Sponsored
Sponsored

If enough rainfall arrives this winter season, the 60-foot-high waterfall at the midpoint of the tour could thunder impressively. By March the canyon could be awash in blooming desert vegetation and annual wildflowers.

The Tahquitz Canyon visitor center, starting point for the hike, is located at the west end of Mesquite Avenue, off Palm Canyon Drive in the southwestern corner of Palm Springs. The two-hour hiking tours, offered between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., depart on the hour (or less often, depending on demand). The cost of admission to the visitor center, which includes a video presentation and the hike, is $12.50 for adults and $6 for children.

The route of the tour may vary slightly, but generally covers a figure-eight route along both banks of the perennially flowing canyon stream. Expect to see, sniff, and learn about the Native-American use of several varieties of native vegetation, including the distinctively aromatic creosote bush, yerba santa, and white sage. There's a prehistoric rock-art site along the way, with subtle painted designs and figures. You'll pass a small diversion gate and ditch where water in the canyon stream once flowed northeast toward the valley of Palm Springs. Tahquitz Falls, at the midpoint of the tour, features a shallow pool at its base. With the permission of your guide you many be able to take your shoes off and wade some distance out toward the base of the falls. A hot tip: Store shoes well away from the stream; otherwise they may end up rafting quickly down the canyon.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Our riparian woodland begins to look like fall, Orb Weavers help decorate

Comet of the century?
Next Article

Three poems by Oso Guardiola

Conversation in the Cathedral, Schism, Runoff
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader