NOT a spa weekend in Palm Springs

Head east out of LA on the Transcontinental Highway (by way of the Pamona and Moreno Valley Freeways), and just beyond Gorgonio Pass cut right through the wind farms onto North Palm Canyon Drive. You'll hug the mountain until eventually shooting straight through the heart of "main street" Palm Springs, as the name of the street you're on turns to South Palm Canyon at Tahquitz Canyon Drive.

Turn left here and you'll hit the airport. Continue on, and you'll reach a sharp left bend that would take you down 111's canyon-cutting push through Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert en route to Indio. Here, though, go straight, to where South Palm Canyon Drive ends at the Indian Canyons trailheads. Pay the Cahuilla Tribe rep at the toll booth (it costs a little less than 10 bucks) and hike as far as you like, up through Palm Canyon itself, taking the wilderness roads and trails from canyon floor to high desert until reaching highway 74 somewhere in the Piñon Flats.

Imagine cutting through wind farms, NOT on a spa weekend in Palm Springs

You'll need to camp somewhere along the way before hiking back to your car - or hitch a ride I suppose. So while I realize logistics may keep you from actually doing this, I hope if you do that you'll post a comment about your experience with attempting it on HikeyHikey or at my HubPages. If you think I should figure it out and report back to you, let me know that, too.

NOTE: This post is the first of 30 in 30 days I'll be making to the MyLifeinMegalopolis blog that I'll be using as fodder for my upcoming book, My Life in Megalopolis: At the intersection of geography and human propensity.