Native North American Palms

Andrea's Canyon trail head, Indian Canyon

A few weeks ago Nate, the kids and I went to Palm springs. 


Say it again.


Palm springs. 


I know! It sounds wonderful doesnt it?

There is a city near Palm springs called 29 palms, and a canyon called 49 palms, and another canyon called palm canyon. From the names, it would seem that palms are pretty important to this area. So I started asking people about the palm trees.

“Are they native?”

Murray Canyon trail, Indian Canyons

  I got a variety of answers but in the end Wikipedia solved it.

“Washingtonia filifera (filifera - Latin "thread-bearing"), with the common names California Fan Palm, Desert Fan Palm, Cotton palm, andArizona Fan Palm. It is a palm native to southwestern North America between an elevation range of 100–1,200 metres (330–3,900 ft), at seeps, desert bajadas, and springs where underground water is continuously available."

Just in case you wonder about Palm trees too.

 Seems like those that discovered the Palm springs area really liked the Palm trees. They liked them enough to count them** and name their city's after them. I guess if you live in the desert, a tree (any tree) would be pretty spectacular. 
And trust, the native “oasis” Palm stands are pretty incredible.
 
** 29 palms is a palm oasis, that when discovered had 29 palms in it. (I looked that up too. The locals, I asked, didn't know shit about their area.)

Casi taking a dip in the waterfalls at the top of Murray Canyon trail.

The other thing I found out about Palm springs - it has a HUGE wind farm. Do you know what that means? IT’S WINDY. so windy. so very, very, very windy.