Early this morning, I set out on a hike with my father and a family friend and headed up into the nearby mountains. I have been visiting Palm Desert for 27 years (I was six weeks old on my first trip) but I had never been up that high on foot into the hills. It was absolutely stunning (but gruelling – that is one steep climb!) and it was great to really see the desert up close. The cacti are just a week or two from bursting into bloom so it wasn’t quite as colourful as we’d hoped but I got to see so many plants and animals up close that we certainly don’t have in Vancouver. Thankfully, there were no snakes about (which is something I always worry about) but there were lots of lizards and birds. It really is amazing that so much can live up there, in such inhospitable circumstances.
Here are a few pictures from this morning’s hike!
The Captive Reader 
My husband was watching a golf tournament in Arizona I think it was and I was floored to learn that some of the cacti were over three hundred years old!
So you don’t care for snakes but lizards are okay? You are one brave woman, Claire. Oh, and the sky in your second photo is stunning!
Lizards are more than okay by me, Darlene. They aren’t going to hurt me and most of them are very small – definitely preferable to a rattlesnake!
Stunning photos. Thank you for sharing them. I really enjoy blogs that personalise their book reading with their travels. Pam
Thanks, Pam! I love when other bloggers share travel photos, too.
I live in western New York State-no desert anywhere nearby! BUT, in the mid 1980’s, while living for two years in Dallas Texas, I visited southern Arizona (Tucson, Tombstone, Sierra Vista) and thought it the most beautiful place I had ever been. It’s far from where I live but I would move there in a minute, given the chance.
I’ve never been to Arizona but would really love to visit someday since the scenery there just looks stunning. I would love to see Monument Valley one day.
Thanks for sharing these! My sister lives in El Paso, but I haven’t really gotten out into the desert there yet.
I hope you get the chance to explore it one day, Lisa!
Your photos are spectacular! I’ve only been to Palm Desert once, in August. Hot, hot, hot but the vistas were amazing. Enjoy.
In August? Yikes!!! That would be hot – definitely not weather where you’d want to be out hiking in the mountains!
Beautiful pictures! I don’t even do lizards. You would think living in TX for all of my life that I would’ve gotten a little accustomed to them — nope!
90% of the lizards I see up here are the length of one of my fingers and having been around them all my life I can’t work up much fear of something that small! My brother used to spend all our holidays here trying to catch them. Unsuccessfully.
Beautiful! The view in the last picture is amazing. I’m glad you didn’t see any snakes. Even harmless ones bother me!
I hate snakes, too. I have only stumbled across two in my entire life – both harmless ones, both found while hiking in forests – but my general reaction is to scream and run past them very, very quickly. Very dignified behaviour.
It’s like something from a film, but just shows there is more to a desert than sand. Not sure you would get me there though; snakes, spiders oh no, too many horrid things! Glad you enjoyed it though!
Much, much more than sand! It really is amazing how much life is up there.
I’ve been to Palm Desert! Such a beautiful place especially since I look out my window now and see snow everywhere!
The rock formations remind me of the granite dells in Prescott, Arizona, where I spent some time this past Christmas holidays.
I love the southwestern deserts Claire … have visited them many time and often when the spring colours have been out. They are among the world’s special spots (and I say that as an Australian who loves her own landscape). I’m intrigued that you’ve visited there so frequently — you are your family clearly love it too.