Top Palm Springs Hiking Tours

Explore the geology around California’s legendary San Andreas fault during a Jeep tour from Palm Desert. See a desert oasis fed by an underground spring as your naturalist guide describes how the Native American Cahuilla tribe used the desert's plants for food, medicine, and shelter. Marvel at steep-walled canyons and tall twisted rock mountains, and learn about the plant and animal life of the area. Choose from a morning or afternoon tour that includes light snacks, bottled water, and round-trip transport from Palm Desert.

I am a 20 year resident of the Mojave Desert and log 200 miles annually on foot within Joshua Tree National Park. Over the years and miles I've cultivated an awareness of landscape, ecological systems, and local culture that when contextualized by the trail becomes a narrative experience I'm eager to share. I landed in Joshua Tree after dropping out of college in 2001. Back then you arrived by chance or a friend of a friend said you had to check out the rocks, feel the energy, and camp under the stars. I fell in with the gathering characters, an assortment of dirtbag climbers, avant artists, practical new age visionaries, and entrepreneurs...an amalgam of identities that would go on to create the image of the High Desert that is so coveted today. I am legally permitted to guide within Joshua Tree National Park and happy to host you. I know my stuff and I want you to know it too.

The San Andreas Fault is one of the world’s best-known fault lines—and this small-group tour will help you discover it up close. Pick between morning and afternoon start times, make your own way to the Indio departure point, and set off via open-air Jeep. You’ll discover the region’s dramatic scenery, will learn about desert habitats and the local Cahuilla people, will visit a desert oasis, and much more.

Explore Palm Springs and Indian Canyons by bike and on foot during a half-day tour from downtown Palm Springs. With guide, bike rental, and snacks included, it’s easy to discover one of southern California’s most scenic city and desert landscapes. You'll ride through Palm Springs on a 10-mile (17-km) loop to Indian Canyons, then hike in the canyon at a leisurely pace suitable for reasonably active people.

A sunrise meditation hike along the San Jacinto Mountains steps from Palm Springs to a resting spot with dramatic views of the Coachella Valley. You'll watch the sun rise over Indian Canyons and come together in guided meditation setting a grounded intention for the day. We'll greet each other at the South Lykken trailhead. As we hike the trail about a mile to our meditation spot, we'll listen to the natural beauty of Oswitz Canyon. I'll lead you through a grounding meditation to help you set your intention for the day, acknowledging your connection to the Earth and the universe. Guests will walk away with stunning photos. Feeling relaxed and rejuvenated, you'll have a grounded connection to the environment, a clear mind, and an open heart. We will hear the sounds of the earth. We will see the colors of the planet. We will breathe the essence of being. We will see the universe in motion. The morning sun will expose our shadows. If the stars agree, we will see big horn sheep.

Enjoy the adventure of hiking around Palm Springs without the risk of getting lost on this guided hike. With a small group of like-minded travelers you'll be taken on a three-hour loop that includes fantastic viewpoints across the desert and canyons. The hike will be at a leisurely pace but it's best suited to moderately fit hikers with outdoor experience.

Learn about the natural history of the Indian Canyons area from a professional naturalist guide with this tour from Palm Springs. You and your small group of fellow explorers will head out in an open-air jeep, with a break along the way to take an easy, one-mile walk up the Andreas Canyon.

I am a 20 year resident of the Mojave Desert and log 200 miles annually on foot within Joshua Tree National Park. Over the years and miles I've cultivated an awareness of landscape, ecological systems, and local culture that when contextualized by the trail becomes a narrative experience I'm eager to share. I landed in Joshua Tree after dropping out of college in 2001. Back then you arrived by chance or a friend of a friend said you had to check out the rocks, feel the energy, and camp under the stars. I fell in with the gathering characters, an assortment of dirtbag climbers, avant artists, practical new age visionaries, and entrepreneurs...an amalgam of identities that would go on to create the image of the High Desert that is so coveted today. I am legally permitted to guide within Joshua Tree National Park and happy to host you. I know my stuff and I want you to know it too.

The best part about walking out into the wilderness is the feeling you get when you realize you are not racing the sun to be back to the car before dark. It's a sense of being liberated from life's daily trappings. You will not be able to check your email, post to Instagram, or be stuck in traffic. To spend 24 hours in the Mojave Desert is an intimate experience in the changing of light and the rhythm of desert life. Depending on what you and I decide, we might opt for continuous motion, wherein we start in one location and hike until it's time to set up camp, or we can do it basecamp style where we pick a location and spend all of our time bouncing back and forth between camp and whatever peak, canyon, or rock feature your eyes and ambition are drawn to.