After a night of glamping on a date farm in Desert Hot Springs (with two mineral pools just to myself!), I had planned to hike at the Whitewater Preserve before heading home. Alas, high winds gave me pause and then a quick check on the Internet showed that they had actually closed the preserve due…

I don’t know how long Ladder Canyon has been an established hike, but I feel like I’ve been wanting to try it for decades. Every time I’m out in the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area, it calls to me. But it never seems to be the right time. This week was finally the right time. I…

East of the Salton Sea, past the small town of Niland, exists an outpost called Slab City. Some call Slab City an off-the-grid haven for artists, snowbirds, and modern nomads. Others see it as a den of homelessness and drug use. I felt deeply ambivalent about visiting: I wanted to see the no-boundaries art created…

If you live in Southern California, you’ve heard of the Salton Sea, that way below sea level, once-glamorous resort turned dead-fish landscape, out in the middle of the desert. But if you did a little deeper, it seems like there might be something to see: a free-wheeling artist community that has sprung up in the…