McCallum Trail and Simone Pond, Coachella Preserve, California

Today we drove back up to Coachella Preserve to do the McCallum Trail because it is supposed to be the most picturesque Oasis in the Palm Springs area.  We had driven up on Monday and the park was unfortunately closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.  On Wednesday, we were expecting it to be open.  Unfortunately, it was closed again due to staff shortages, thank you covid.


All of the cars were parked on the side of the road instead of in the parking lot because the gate was closed but everyone still went into the Preserve, including us.  There is a trail to San Andreas Fault and we started off with that one and then the trail was lost so we are not even sure if we ended up finishing that trail or not.
Then we went the opposite way and did the McCallum Trail even though Simone Pond and the Oasis is closed.


  When it's closed it actually has chicken wire up surrounding the entire Oasis, so you can't get in.  This was disappointing.
If you continue on the trail, there is a viewing lookout at the top of the hill and this has quite pretty views of the Oasis and valley.  We ended up hiking 5.58 km.
Snow-capped mountains in the distance.  



 I have seen youtube videos and researched a lot and McCallum Trail Oasis is supposed to be the prettiest because of Simone Pond and I would still suggest trying to see this.    To the right, you can see the Oasis in the distance and the Pond is in this Oasis.





Because of the staff shortages at the Preserve, the bathrooms were also closed and the trails were not as well maintained as they could have or should have been. 
                        





                    To the right is a baby tumbleweed, ain't she cute?


Along the trail are raised walkways to get you out of the mud.  The water comes to the surface of the soil due to the crisscrossing of Fault lines.

This is as close as we got to the Oasis and Simone Pond due to staff shortages and the Coachella Preserve being closed.

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