High Desert Hike In Morongo Valley

(4 Reviews )

Duration

2 hours 30 minutes

Overview

This unique location is 30 min north of downtown Palm Springs & halfway to Joshua Tree National Park. Since it's high desert it's about 10 degrees cooler than Palm Springs. The Big Morongo Canyon Preserve is one of the largest cottonwood and willow riparian habitats in California. It's an oasis located in the Sand to Snow National Monument in the Mojave desert town of Morongo Valley. The Morongo Valley fault runs through the preserve, don't worry the fault has not moved in over 20,000 years. Some of the oldest rock formations in North America at approx 2.7 Billion years old can be seen here. The preserve is also an internationally known birding site. It's on the fringes of the Mojave and Colorado deserts. Sand to Snow National Monument extends to the western border of Joshua Tree National Park, where elevations are as low as 600 feet to the eastern summits of the much higher San Bernardino range & the tallest peak in Southern Cali being the 11,503 foot San Gorgonio Mountain.