Thousand Palms, California

A protected natural refuge
in the burgeoning urban desert
features Washingtonia filifera,
otherwise known as the
California fan palm.

Along the edges of the San
Andreas Fault, impermeable
soil acts as a water trap
and sustains these rare oases.

The six-mile Pushwalla trail
ends at a large, thriving grove
of America's only native palm.
It follows a steep climb along
the uplift of the Mission Creek
fault, a fragment of the San
Andreas Fault System
that cuts a diagonal line
from Southern California toward
San Francisco and beyond.

Click on the photographs to follow
in sequence a late-afternoon hike.