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Located near Palm Springs, Desert Hot Springs is indeed home to quite a few natural mineral hot springs.  We stayed at Caliente Springs Resort which has a large pool, several spas and showers all of which are fed from the mineral springs.  The water from the Desert Hot Springs Aquifer continues to be heated by ancient geothermal forces thousands of feet below the earth’s surface.  Naturally heated to temperatures as high as 180 degrees, the waters are thought to have curative properties.

In addition to spending time in the mineral pools, we visited the nearby Coachella Valley Preserve, also known as Thousand Palms Oasis Preserve.  The following is from their website:

The Preserve contains a rare and fragile habitat type ˗˗ palm woodland oasis and desert wetland. Water from the springs along the San Andreas earthquake fault feed perpetual water features in the form of seeps, creeks, and ponds. A rare resource in the desert, the water feeds the majestic California fan palm which creates a cool and shady respite from the hot summer sun. Wide sweeps of desert wash, dotted with smoke tree and indigo bush, feed into the oasis, and tucked around the oasis lie the rare desert wetlands, lined with arrowweed, willows, cattails, and cottonwoods.

Our friends Tim and Dinah have recently purchased a really beautiful Airstream travel trailer and their second outing in it was to Desert Hot Springs.  Since our schedules overlapped for 2 nights we were able to spend some time with them.  They took us out to a hike they were familiar with, Ladder Canyon.  It is a beautiful hike through an area with slot canyons and with colorful and interesting rock formations.  We had an enjoyable day of hiking.

Next stop:  Redlands, CA