Michael In August, we decided to go to Palm Springs, about 100 km east of Los Angeles, because Angelika had read about it in one of her subscribed travel magazines. Located in the middle of the desert, it offers burnt-out film executives from the studios around Los Angeles the opportunity to hang out by the pool, throw extravagant parties, and cruise around the area in their luxury cars. With our rented Kia Rio, we certainly felt like we were from another planet.
The heat there was brutal. Normally, I can tolerate temperatures up to 40 degrees Celsius quite well, but in Palm Springs, you really couldn't walk 10 meters without breaking a sweat. The restaurants and bars there have adapted to the conditions and blow cold mist on the guests so they can dine outside without overheating.
Angelika In the desert, it is usually hot and dry, but on the weekend we were exploring Palm Springs, the city was dealing with high humidity. It was not only hot but also muggy, so even the locals were groaning. That's why we decided to retreat to higher elevations and enjoy the so-called Aerial Tramway (a type of gondola cable car) to be catapulted from the flat desert landscape to the mountain station at an elevation of almost 2600 meters.
As you know, I'm not really a mountain person and I often struggle with a fear of heights. That's why Michael had to take over the photography, and I preferred to stand a bit further back inside the gondola. The cable car is a masterpiece of engineering. The whole thing actually rotates during the approximately 10-minute ride, so that all passengers can enjoy the panoramic view and no one has to rush to stand at the front of the gondola when boarding.
Once we reached the top, we hiked a bit in the "San Jacinto State Park" located on the mountain. We enjoyed the views of the desert landscape at our feet and the more pleasant temperatures, as the difference in altitude resulted in a 10-15 degrees Celsius difference. Believe me, we were grateful for every degree. In winter, there's even snow on the mountain, and the desert dwellers, who are plagued by the eternal sun, can frolic in the snow. Various restaurants on the mountain invite you to have a snack. This is nothing unusual for you in Germany, but in America, that's quite rare. We dined at the Peaks Restaurant with a beautiful view. Surprisingly, the restaurant offered quite decent food, which is rather astonishing in such tourist hotspots.
On the next day, we set out for the "Indian Canyons," a part of the Agua Caliente Indian reservation. There, you can hike through three spectacular canyons with fascinating palm groves in the midst of the absolutely barren desert landscape. The words shade/water/oasis take on a whole new meaning in the scorching heat. If you're longing for a genuine desert experience, visit in the summer. Otherwise, we recommend the cooler season for this excursion.
We really do enjoy hiking, but we only managed to visit two of the three canyons because the Murray Canyon would have required a somewhat longer walk through sandy terrain under the scorching sun. We didn't want to make headlines as two crazy city folks who succumbed to heatstroke.
But Andreas Canyon and Palm Canyon had us hopping from shadow to shadow. Palm Canyon is 15 miles (24 km) long and, as the name suggests, consists of palm trees as far as the eye can see. The silence in this palm oasis was impressive. To see the canyons, you pay $8 per person, as the Native Americans also need to make a living.