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An alternative route to the middle section (Palm Canyon Loop parking area to stream crossing) of the Palm Canyon Trail.


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Map Key

1.1

Miles

1.8

KM

88%

Runnable

1,138' 347 m

High

847' 258 m

Low

303' 92 m

Up

47' 14 m

Down

6%

Avg Grade (3°)

21%

Max Grade (12°)

Dogs No Dogs

Features Views · Wildflowers

Description

The Palm Canyon Alternate Trail starts at a parking area at the end of the Palm Canyon Campground. The Palm Canyon Alternate Trail trailhead can be found at the southwest corner of this parking area.

Palm Canyon Alternate Trail is a rock strewn, sandy trail, with a brush covered steep hillside (canyon "wall") rising to the left of the trail. The canyon is wide here, and the area to the right of the trail is relatively flat. One can look back down the canyon, and see the desert plains far into the distance. Here, the desert is covered with low vegetation - a lot of yellow flowered brittlebush and orange-tipped ocotillos in the spring. Green flowering cholla cacti, magenta flowering beavertail cacti, and barrel cacti are also sprinkled around.

After a little over a mile, Palm Canyon Alternate Trail ends at the Palm Canyon Trail.

Flora & Fauna

Brittlebush (yellow flowers), Parish's poppies (yellow), desert dandelions (light yellow), ocotillos, creosote (yellow flowers), common phacelia (little blue flowers), and other flowering plants. Cholla cacti (green blooms), beavertail cacti (magenta blooms), and barrel cacti (dark yellow bloom).

Contacts

Shared By:

Joan Pendleton

Trail Ratings

  3.5 from 2 votes

#26155

Overall
  3.5 from 2 votes
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Trail Rankings

#2,712

in California

#26,155

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2 Views Last Month
204 Since Apr 3, 2017
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Photos

Spring greenery brings color to the Sonoran/Colorado Desert. Yellow poppies grow to the right of the trail here, and yellow brittlebush everywhere else.
Apr 3, 2017 near Borrego…, CA
Numerous ocotillos bloom along the Palm Canyon Alternate Trail.
Apr 3, 2017 near Borrego…, CA
Ocotillo (tall with orange-flowered tips) and brittlebush (yellow bushes) bloom along the Palm Canyon Alternate Trail in the Sonoran/Colorado Desert.
Apr 3, 2017 near Borrego…, CA
The Sonoran/Colorado Desert comes alive in the spring. Orange-tipped ocotillo, yellow brittlebush, and a cholla cactus pose for a photo.
Apr 3, 2017 near Borrego…, CA
An ocotillo blooms in the spring after a winter of heavy rains in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
Apr 3, 2017 near Borrego…, CA
When crossing the stream that runs down Palm Canyon, one can see the palms of the Palm Canyon oasis in the distance.
Apr 7, 2017 near Borrego…, CA

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