Page 204 - WDT Winter 2018 japan

For some 30 years, Tahquitz Canyon was officially
closed to the public by order of the Agua Caliente
band of Cahuilla Indians, which owns most of this
canyon. Tahquitz Canyon had attracted hordes of
visitors who sometimes abused it. After rousting out
the squatters who had made a mess here, the Agua
Caliente people reopened the area in 2001.
Tahquitz Falls has long been the trail’s desti-
nation. The hike is a 2-mile round-trip loop with about
a 350-foot elevation gain, including several sets of
steep rock stairs, that culminates at the 60-foot-long
falls, featured in Frank Capra’s 1936 “Lost Horizon.”
“Jim Morrison of The Doors stretched out
right on that rock,” our ranger guide, Robert James
Hepburn, told us when we reached Tahquitz Falls.
“Timothy Leary used to hike up here, too.”
Ranger Hepburn also knew the names of
every plant we encountered on the trail as well as how
the Cahuilla used them. In fact, he’s written a book,
“Plants of the Cahuilla Indians” (Enduring Knowledge
Publications), that also serves as an excellent field
guide with photographs of virtually every plant in the
canyon.
Hepburn pointed out many highlights of the
Tahquitz Canyon trail. These included Sacred Rock
where rock art dates back 1,600 years; remnants of
a ditch originally built in 1830 by the Cahuilla to bring
water from the canyon to the village where downtown
Palm Springs lies today; and an ancient rock shelter
where 2,000-year-old artifacts were found.
He pointed out the burro weed, a favorite of
bighorn sheep, which we were looking for because
they’d been seen in the canyon earlier that day. Some
honey mesquite trees near Tahquitz Creek were over
8 feet tall. “They were the most important food plant,”
he told us, “and their branches were used to make
bows.”
California fan palms, aka Washingtonia
filifera, were sources of food and building materials
for the Cahuilla as well, but they are the reason to hike
Indian Canyons.

204 WDT MAGAZINE WINTER 2018