Dos Palmas and San Andreas Springs

Come on in! Bob Wick, BLM/CC by 2.0

The oases feel like prehistoric wonderlands. Nanci Hester/Atlas Obscura

You might find traces of the small, black berries in scat, too. Jessica Leigh Hester/Atlas Obscura

Those are some tall trees. Jessica Leigh Hester/Atlas Obscura

Follow the trail. Jessica Leigh Hester/Atlas Obscura

Pedestrian entrance Avoiding Regret (Used with permission) (Creative Commons)

Below sea level Avoiding Regret (Creative Commons)

One of the ponds at Dos Palmas Avoiding Regret (Used with permission) (Creative Commons)

San Andreas trail Avoiding Regret (Used with permission) (Creative Commons)

Minutes from the mightily saline Salton Sea, there are clusters of palm trees swaying in the desert.

Both San Andreas Springs and its neighbor, Dos Palmas Preserve, evoke secret gardens, filled with nothing but native California fan palms (Washingtonia filifera) whose dead fronds fall down like shaggy skirts. They flourish here because of easy access to water from springs and the Coachella Canal.

The 1,400-acre property is under the care of the Bureau of Land Management, but anyone can wander around the groves of towering trees. They’re giant, rustling, and often heavy with the berries that Cahuilla people have used to make jams and jellies.

As you explore the damp, earthy oases, keep your eyes and ears peeled for the Yuma clapper rail and other creatures that call this place home. After an afternoon amid the trees, you may wish you could say the same for yourself.