Indian Canyons- December 1

There are three canyons located on the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation. Centuries ago,ancestors of the Caliente Chuilla settled and thrived in the Palm Springs area. There was an abundant water supply because of the presence of an large oasis;plant and animal life flourished here. In 1876,the U.S. government deeded in trust to the Agua Caliente people 32,000 acres for their homeland. At the same time they gave Southern California Railroad ten miles of odd sections of land to induce the company to build the railroad. Of the reservation's 32,000 acres,some 6,700 lie within the Palm Springs city limits. We first hiked in the Andreas Canyon. We followed a scenic foot trail,passing unusual rock formations. The babbling Andreas Creek and chirps of many songbirds were the only sounds heard-what a serene place! In this canyon we also saw bedrock mortars and metates used centuries ago by the Indians for preparing food. In Palm Canyon we saw an abundance of the fan palms-in fact,Palm Canyon is considered one of the world's largest fan palm oasis. One interesting phenomenon we discovered in walking through this canyon was a occasional feeling of a warm breeze. The sun had been sinking behind the mountains and the air had started to feel cool. So I doubt that the occasional warm feeling was not in our imagination. Looking at a map of the area later we discovered that a warm springs was located in this area.