Walk About

7:00 AM and it's already 85 degrees as I headed up the Linkin Trail into the canyon. The city of Palm Springs lies below. All the green in the picture are palm trees (hence the name...) looking across the valley toward Palm Desert.


On the trail there are lots of small lizards and a few monsters. Chuckwallas, they call them.

Harmless to humans, these lizards are known to run from potential threats. When disturbed, the chuckwalla will wedge itself into a tight rock crevice, gulp air, and inflate its body in order to entrench itself.

Males are seasonally and conditionally territorial; an abundance of resources tends to create a hierarchy based on size, with one large male dominating the area's smaller males. Chuckwallas use a combination of color and physical displays, namely "push ups", head-hobbing, and gaping of the mouth to communicate and defend their territory

The reward at the top was a spectacular sunrise view of the Talquitz Canyon. Well worth the sweat...
At the base of the canyon is a spectacular oasis in the desert, run off from the snow covered peaks above. A land of extremes.