Explore desert, San Andreas Fault in a Jeep

INTO THE WILD- The power of the Earth is evident in many aspects of the San Andreas Earthquake Fault tour offered by Desert Adventures in Palm Desert. Guests board bright red Jeeps for the tour through a 1,000-acre private desert reserve that reveals such sights as lush, tree-lined oases to dramatic rock formations. For the adventurous visitor to the Palm Springs area, venturing beyond the luxury resorts and casinos offers a rich experience of a different kind.

Those who choose a Jeep tour of the local desert and the San Andreas Fault are rewarded with a dramatic, educational and indepth exploration of local history, culture, geology, plants and animals.

The fault line is not what visitors might expect. Although the fault is responsible for a number of powerful earthquakes, there's no flowing lava or gaping hole threatening to swallow the foolish who dare to come close.

Instead, the area reveals a lush, stark beauty seen through the evidence of the power of nature- steep canyon walls scarred by the heaving of the Earth; multiple layers of picturesque rock formations that tell the area's tumultuous history; stately California palms rising from cracks in the ground filled with water pushed up from the Earth's interior. There are ancient fossil beds and twisted terrain filled with colorful plant and animal life. Visitors learn how generations of Cahuilla Indians adapted to life in the desert.

Although there are about 100 earthquakes in the area each week, most are too small to be felt, and the ones that are a little bigger are rarely noticed while riding in a Jeep, according to Mary Dungans, who runs local Jeep tours with her husband, Charlie.

"It's not earthquakes that kill people; it's the buildings they're in when an earthquake occurs," she said.

For 20 years the tours have been offered daily, year-round, through a Palm Desert-based mom-and-pop company called Desert Adventures. Guests board bright red eight-passenger Jeeps for the three-and-a-half-hour tour. The Jeeps traverse a 1,000-acre private desert site on the outskirts of Indio, at the southern end of the 800-mile-long fault.

The tour goes beyond sitting in the Jeep. There are several stops, including short nature hikes geared to the ability of guests and a review of earthquakes worldwide in a small but informative museum.

"If you look at a geologic map of our valley, it looks like somebody threw a brick. The whole Palm Springs area is shattered with faults," said Morgan Levine, a Jeep guide who has been with the company since it was started.

Levine and the other guides are filled with facts they impart throughout the tour: It's "only" seven miles to molten earth from where visitors stand on the fault, so it's pretty shallow. Wherever there are palm trees in the desert there's a fault serving as a water source; the Palm Springs-area desert is the hottest and driest in North America.

"Mother Nature did this; plate tectonics and flash floods made this landscape," Levine said.

The desert is home to 58 kinds of mammals, 46 types of reptiles and amphibians, 300 species of birds and a variety of fish, according to Levine. Among them is the 18-inch fat chuckwalla lizard, a cliff dweller that hides in the cracks of the rock, inflating himself to avoid predators once inside. Visitors might spot an endangered desert tortoise, great horned owl, gray fox or bighorn sheep.

These ecoadventures include evening tours where guests enjoy pink and purple sunsets, active nocturnal animal life and vivid starry skies.

"Things in their dens during the heat of the day come out at night," Dungans said. "There's no light pollution in the canyons, so the stars are pretty amazing."

Guides, some of whom are bilingual, undergo at least three months of extensive training that includes cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid, local plants, animals, history, geology and American Indian lore. Among the guides are retirees, as well as doctors, science teachers, firefighters, police officers and lawyers. The ride is not a rough one, but there can be some bumps on unpaved roads. Although Dungans says the tours are not dangerous, any outdoor adventure involves the risk of physical injury, so participants must sign liability waivers.

Guides maintain constant communication with the main office, and vehicles are maintained daily. The Jeeps are stocked with water, granola bars and first-aid gear. Visitors are advised to wear closedtoe shoes, a hat and sunscreen.

The tours are appropriate for ages 6 and older.

For reservations and information about Desert Adventures, visit www.red-jeep.com or call (760) 340-2345 or (888) 440-5337.

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