Coachella Valley by Covered Wagon

What was it like to be a pioneer in the Southwest more than a century ago?

You can get an idea by traveling in a covered wagon across the desert that is now part of the Coachella Valley Preserve, where the scenery hasn’t changed since the days of the settlers.

You’ll be spared a body-jolting ride, however, thanks to the wagon’s rubber tires and padded seats. More true to history is the pair of mules, not horses, that pull the wagon.

Handling the reins is mule skinner Neil Fawcett. He began the tours last November with Craig Allen, who tags along on another mule as the outrider.

The pair, who shoe horses for a living, wanted to make it easy and enjoyable for visitors to get a close look of the desert. A guide rides along to identify plants and relate historical lore.

Campfire Cowboys

With the mules plodding along at about 4 m.p.h., there’s plenty of time to study the scenery. Stops enable participants to overlook palm oases and Fawcett to give the animals a rest.

The covered wagon tour takes two hours, but the outing can be extended with a steak fry and cowboy songs around a campfire.

You also can go on foot. Trails in the Coachella Valley Preserve lead to groves of California fan palms, sand dunes and ponds fed by underground springs.

At the visitor center pick up a booklet that will guide you to 36 points of interest along a nature trail. There are palm-shaded tables at the end of the two-mile, round-trip walk.

Fringe-Toed Lizard

Sited a few miles east of Palm Springs, the preserve was established to protect a threatened species, the Coachella Valley fringe-toed lizard.

In 1984 the Nature Conservancy raised $2 million to buy 1,920 acres, including the sand dunes that are the tiny reptile’s home.

But continued destruction of the natural habitat of desert flora and fauna by residential and resort developments in the valley caused some alarm. An unusual alliance of public and private agencies has since expanded the Coachella Valley Preserve to cover more than 13,000 acres of the Colorado Desert.

The Nature Conservancy, California Department of Fish and Game, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management spent $25 million for the land.

Some planners predict that homes and golf courses will fill the valley by early in the next century. If that comes true, the preserve will be the last large area of unspoiled desert left in the region.

Two Mules and a Buckboard

To get there, drive east from Los Angeles on Interstate 10 to the Ramon Road exit. Turn left over the freeway and continue west through the small community of Thousand Palms to Thousand Palms Road, which goes through the preserve.

Turn left again and follow the road past a palm oasis to a second cluster of palms that hides the visitor center; look left for a small sign that marks the unpaved entrance road. The preserve is open daily from sunrise to sunset. Admission free.

The unimposing visitor center was once the home of Paul Wilhelm, who used the trunks of palm trees to build it in 1932. Some of his possessions are still inside, including a vintage piano, a refrigerator and traveler’s chests.

Sometimes Wilhelm is on hand to answer visitors’ questions. He can tell you about the history of the property, especially since 1906, when his father bought the palm oasis for two mules and a buckboard. Ask him about the palm totem pole outside of his old cabin.

Cameron Barrows of the Nature Conservancy also offers visitor information. He’s familiar with the many plants and animals now being protected in the preserve, where no hunting or camping is allowed. Also prohibited are pets and motorized vehicles on all trails and dirt roads.

From Thousand Palms Oasis at the visitor center follow McCallum Nature Trail. You’ll notice that some of the palms are blackened, the result of a fire in 1924 following the filming there of a Cecil B. DeMille epic, “King of Kings.”

Untouched by fire at the end of the trail is McCallum Grove, which was turned into an Indian village in 1969 for the movie “Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here,” starring Robert Redford, Robert Blake and Katharine Ross.

Hikers and horseback riders can ask for a leaflet that describes other trails leading to more palm oases in the preserve.

Water Along the Fault

On the covered wagon tour you will see the Hidden, Horseshoe and Pushawalla palm groves. All are nourished by water that flows near the surface of the ground along the San Andreas Fault.

Mules named Lucille and Rudy are hitched to the wagon near the junction of Ramon Road and Washington Street, where the leisurely outings begin on Saturdays and Sundays through May. After that, tours can be arranged for other times including the hot summer months, when there is a 10-passenger minimum.

Call (619) 347-2161 for departure times and to make reservations.

When the covered wagon tours resume on a regular weekend schedule in September, owners Fawcett and Allen plan to have four additional wagons and eight more mules to pull them.

Cost of the desert excursion is $35. For children 7 through 16 years the cost is $17.50; it’s free for kids 6 and under. Apple juice or champagne is poured at the trip’s end.

A barbecue steak dinner is offered after the tour for $20 extra per adult, $10 extra per child. You’ll be serenaded with guitar music and Western songs while the beef is grilled over a mesquite fire.

Obtain details by telephoning the preceding number or writing to Covered Wagon Tours, P.O. Box 1107, La Quinta, Calif. 92253.

For more information about Coachella Valley Preserve, call (619) 343-1234.

Lodging and dining information is available from the Greater Palm Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau, (619) 327-8411.

Round trip by car from Los Angeles to the Coachella Valley Preserve is 244 miles.

The correct phone number for the California Desert Information Center in Barstow (Trip of the Week, April 30) is (619) 256-8617. The area code had been listed as 714.