Hiking in the Mecca Hills....

This year’s hike during the May Naked Yoga Retreat may have been our best ever! An energetic (albeit small) group of us went down into the Mecca Hills (the Painted Canyon area to be exact) on a beautiful cloudless day in May, and enjoyed one GREAT hike on the Painted Canyon/Ladder Canyon Loop.

The Mecca Hills sit directly above the San Andreas fault, at the very edge of the North American plate. As a result, the earth, rocks, and mineral deposits in the area have been squeezed, compressed, contorted, and pushed up to the surface many times over the past Millennia. 

This almost continuous upheaval, has created a profusion of shapes and colors in the stone and earth that make up the hills - red abuts tan, dark gray abuts pale lilac, orange abuts dark purple. 

Add to all that activity, the action of rain and water over hundreds of thousands of years, and the result is a beautiful, if somewhat otherworldly desert landscape with a plethora of deep vertical canyons, sharp cliffs, soft-edged caves, and spectacular rock formations.

Access to the area is relatively easy, and as long as you don’t mind dirt roads, you can get pretty close in to the camping and hiking areas. Our trek took us into the Painted Canyon, where we parked the car, then continued on foot. I saw one snake (nonpoisonous) less than five minutes after we got out of the car. It was seeking the same shade that I was! I let the snake have it....

We continued on into the Canyon, which had several large groupings of shrubs, grasses and small trees (mostly Palo Verdes), and saw quite a number of Hummingbirds, as well as several Western Tanagers (that were clearly dressed in their Spring mating colors).

The males were beautiful – bright red heads, yellow bodies, black tails, and wings that were yellow with black stripes. Females were less colorful – mostly soft yellow and gray. 

Tanagers are song birds, and these were singing joyfully. The hummingbirds were raucous as well; chattering after us to keep moving and leave their small hidden nests alone.

Following the stone arrows on the ground, we entered the ladder Canyon – a deep vertical canyon carved out of the solid rock by water. 

The way is steep in places; so steep in fact, that you have to climb a series of ladders to access the trail. Portions of the trail are just wide enough for one person to pass, and the walls on either side rise up hundreds of feet above you. Pretty amazing!

After some rigorous walking (they said this was an easy/moderate hike, but I’d hesitate to take just anybody on it), we came back out into the open at the top of the hills above the Painted Canyon.

The view was spectacular. You could see the Salton Sea to the West and South, as well as the surrounding Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains. 

Our descent was a loop trail that eventually brought us back to the ladder Canyon, where we crawled back down the ladders and back into the Painted Canyon. 

I highly recommend this hike, and am looking forward to exploring the area further. 

Joshua Tree National Park - A New Adventure!

The other day we took a ride up to Joshua Tree National Park with a couple of new friends who had never been to the park before. It’s always fun to introduce people to Joshua Tree, both because it’s one of our favorite places, and because people are always so amazed by it. 

The park is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. It was first established as Joshua Tree National Monument in 1936, and was elevated to National Park status on October 31, 1994. It’s definitely a study in contrasts. Elevations in the park range from a low of 536 feet to a high of 5,814 feet and encompass almost 800,000 acres.

 

It’s hard to pick a favorite area within the park, but if we just had to, it would probably be (at least for me) the Jumbo Rocks area near the 29 Palms Entrance. This area, punctuated by boulders the size of office buildings that are piled up on top of each other, look like nothing so much as a set from the Flintstones (maybe that’s even where the animators got their inspiration for Bedrock).

In any event, geologists believe these giant granite boulders were born more than 100 million years ago, and slowly emerged from the earth as wind and water eroded the soil around them. Seems like a plausible explanation, especially when you look at other areas of the park where the process exists in less finished stages, but it’s hard to imagine the amount of time required to change a landscape so dramatically.

The Joshua Tree forests themselves also tend to amaze people - especially those from the East Coast. Joshua Trees, for anyone who hasn’t seen them, look like giant Yucca plants that have grown up to be tree-size, with multiple branches coming out of a single central stalk. There’s just nothing quite like seeing an entire landscape filled with thousands of Joshua Trees, especially when they are blooming (which has, by the way, just begun).

Wildflower season is still a couple of weeks away this year in Joshua Tree, but you can already see the signs that it’s going to be a great wildflower season. The ground is still damp, and all sorts of green plants have emerged. Desert blooms are always spectacular, and the ones in the Joshua Tree National Park are no exception. For the best wildflower watching, we generally recommend that people enter at the Cottonwood entrance (East of Palm Springs on Interstate 10). Cottonwood starts out in the low desert and climbs up gradually. Each new elevation brings a new group of wildflowers and cacti, along with a new and often vibrant color palate.

Each time we visit Joshua Tree National Park, we try to check out a new turn-off, and there are hundreds of them. We also like to visit favorites like Split Rock, Skull Rock, Hidden Valley and Key’s View (where, if it’s really clear, you can see the Salton Sea, and all the way to Mexico). Makes it tough, because as we add new favorites, each visit takes longer! :)

Winter Weather...a Study in Contrasts...

One of the amazing things about living in the desert during the Winter months is getting to see the snow at the tops of the mountains and the flowers blooming here in the valley.

We've had several heavy snowfalls this year, but thankfully, none of the white fluffy stuff has come down below 4,000 feet. That means we get to enjoy it from afar (unless we get adventurous and ride the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway to the top of Mount San Jacinto or drive up to Big Bear for some skiing).

Better yet, lots of snow up there and a little rain down here means we'll have water to replenish our water table and Spring Flowers blooming all over the desert in just a couple of weeks.

Not to say we don't already have some flowers. We do. The citrus trees are already blooming and their scents are wafting through the air, the jasmine (my favorite) is beginning to bloom, and the flowers in the gardens are up and in full bloom.

We've also been busy in the vegetable garden - enjoying fresh lettuces, beets and carrots while anxiously awaiting the potatoes, squash, beans and tomatoes! We can grow some sort of veggies pretty much year-round, and do pretty well, despite limited space, thanks to David's diligence and green thumbs!



Not to say we don't have seasons either. We have them too. There's a definite change in the air already, and lots of the bulb plants are coming up now that the night-time temperatures are getting warmer and the days are getting longer. 

This week, the weather is particularly nice with daytime temps in the low eighties and  nighttime temps in the high fifties.

Lots of events are coming up. Springtime in Palm Springs is filled to overflowing with things to do, both in terms of special events, and in terms of just being able to enjoy the natural surroundings. Life is good, and it's a great time to be here!

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with us at our May Naked Yoga Retreat!

Join us May 5th through May 10th, for our Spring 2011 Naked Yoga Retreat.We’ll celebrate Cinco de Mayo Yoga-Style with two of our most popular Yoga Instructors – Ken Breniman and David Oliphant.

 

Enjoy up to five days of yoga magic, hiking, swimming, sunning, mingling, and making new friends. Choose from three day, four day or five day packages that include lodging, classes, some meals, and lots of fun!

Complete details, including the schedule and pricing packages are available at: www.triangle-inn.com/may_yoga

Time Machine: 1987

Long after it opened as the Impala Lodge, and long before it reopened as the Triangle Inn Palm Springs, the Inn was converted into apartments.

The Triangle House was rented as a separate home, and units in the two hotel buildings were turned into eight separate rental units. Lots of changes, including the addition of the mailbox unit (still in place as you enter the Inn), and the installation of separate phone lines and separate electric meters were made in order to accommodate individual renters.

We don't know exactly when the Inn was converted into apartments, but our good friend Bob Hoven (the now deceased publisher of MegaScene), told us that it was definitely rented as apartments throughout most of the 1970s and 1980s when Palm Springs, like Las Vegas, Reno, Atlantic City and other resort destinations that had seen their heyday in the 1950s and 1960s saw significant declines in their popularity.

Bob told us he had wonderful memories of visiting the then-owner of the property, who lived in the Triangle House for a portion of that time. Bob said he held wonderful parties, although Bob was quick to admit that many of this memories from that time were a bit foggy, not because of his age, but rather because of the variety of recreational drugs available at those parties!

We still don't know too much more about that period of time than Bob told us, but we were fortunate, about a two years ago, to come into contact with a fellow who rented the Triangle House in the late 1980s.

He, and a couple of elderly (and reportedly highly eccentric) ladies were, in fact, the last renters to occupy the property before Matthew and Kevin (our predecessors) purchased it, rehabbed it, and opened it as The Triangle Inn. We asked lots of questions about the property, and he shared what he knew with us.

He also promised to return with some photos he had form when he lived in the house, and, in fact did so a year later.

The photos in this blog are from 1987, two years before the property became the Triangle Inn, and although you'll find some of them to be very different, you'll also find a number of quite familiar things that are still very much a part of the Inn today. We hope you enjoy this glimpse into our past!

Happy Birthdays Joel and Jonathan!

The year was 1971....

Seems like a long time ago at this point, but it was only 40 years ago that the mothers of Joel Markovits and Jonathan Keiser found themselves in the process of giving birth to two young men who would eventually become friends and celebrate the date in Palm Springs with a Disco Birthday Extravaganza!

We were thrilled that they chose the Triangle Inn Palm Springs (actually, the Desert Dream House) as the site for their birthday celebration.

Joined by friends Brian Monroe, John Hausman, Michael Smith, David Salinas, Allyn Miller Chris Gent and Sergio Nunez, they celebrated in style the entire weekend (even discovering in the process that we had yet another birthday boy staying here at the hotel).

A great time was had by all, the decorations were amazing, and the outfits were, well, it was a celebration of the seventies, after all! :)

December (and Christmas) 2010

Hi everybody! 

Hope you all had a GREAT holiday! We had a nice quiet Christmas Day here at the Inn (lots of food and a little napping!). We've also had a nice December overall, made better by some wonderful weather the second week of December (highs in the 80s), and our second annual Winter Yoga Retreat!

On December 17th, we welcomed back our great instructors, Ken Breniman, David Oliphant, and Tim Nguyen, for a reprise of their incredible Summer 2010 Retreat, and although we had some mighty strange weather during the retreat (can you say lots of rain!?!?!), I think everyone had a great time. Our own David (Scheide) took a bunch of the guys up to Joshua Tree for a hike (as we did last Summer), and from all reports, it was also a lot of fun!

I, of course, got to do no yoga this round, because I was producing a local holiday event for my clients at the Palm Springs Cultural Center - The Magic of Christmas, starring The Young Americans. It was an amazing show - three sold out nights - and everyone from the retreat got to come see the show on Saturday night! 

This project has been keeping me busy since this Summer - a major production, and enough to tell me that I don't ever want to get into the business of producing shows. What an undertaking! Whew!

I marched with The Young Americans in the Festival of Lights Parade this year as well (after a generator disaster in which not one, but two generators failed on us).

A quick Plan B got us into the parade, albeit a bit later than planned, and with a new, mostly undecorated truck (but with lights and sound for the performers).
I learned a lot about Fire Marshals during this process too - more than I probably ever wanted to know, but you live and learn, and now I know several things I never knew before! 

Stephen's been busy, as usual, with this year's Film Festival (which opens January 6th). It's been harder this year than ever, mostly because the film selections and information has been coming in so late. Stephen ended up working all through Christmas eve, Christmas Day, and is still tied to his desk even as I write! :)

My other December project (and Stephen's, since I have this tendency to volunteer him for things sometimes), was Coyote Stagecoach's production of A Tuna Christmas. It was also a lot of fun, and although not as commercially successful, was still a wonderful experience. 

The guys are great, and their goal of creating a new equity theatre in Palm Springs is to be lauded. It's tough to do in a small town, especially given our seasonality, but they are well on their way! (They also made the run a benefit for the Palm Springs Animal Shelter - a project which most of you know is near and dear to our hearts).

And, before I forget, there was another really BIG thing this December. Well, really things. David grew some of the BIGGEST sunflowers I think I've ever seen, and, of course, I had to capture them. 


It took some major coaxing (alright, begging), but I did finally get him to pose with one of the sunflowers just to give a perspective on how tall they actually grew. To say the boy has a green thumb is an understatement!

Lots more coming up as we move into the new year - 2011! 

Time definitely flies....