Big Morongo Canyon Preserve

Lot’s of wildlife and well maintained by the BLM and the volunteers! Wouldn’t mind coming back to hike again.

Driving into the parking lot, I hear it, the wind blowing through the ancient cottonwood trees. They speak volumes for those willing to be still and just listen.
Big Morongo Canyon is one of the 10 largest cottonwood and willow riparian (stream) habitats in California.
We walked through the marsh trail since we arrived close to sunset. This trail is a raised wood (looks like Trex) deck with an abundance of seating along the way for wildlife viewing. Right at the entrance directing you on the various paths, there is a few large bulletin boards showing pictures of all the various bird sightings and park information.
The combination of the setting sun, wind blowing through the trees and the quiet stillness enveloped me into it’s never ending beauty. As the sun set the light reflecting off the trees and hillside was very romantic as I walked hand in hand with my BF.

There is a set of restrooms at the beginning of the trail and one port a potty along the way if needed. Beware of the gnats, they seem to like the marsh area. I’m proud to say my BF protected me from the evil gnats and chased them away!

Really awesome activity for the kids and family. We had a great time, we were lucky to see a fox. The kids really like this place. Next time I will do all the little trails. We only did one. It took us 45 minutes all together. The weather was great. I recommend this place, it was peaceful too.

Peaceful oasis in the desert. I came here seeking cosmic peace promised, but undelivered, at Integratron. What a surprise! Beauteous chartreuse leaves against scrubby mountains. Green even smells different in the desert. I strolled along boardwalk trails in my flip flops (man, why didn’t I bring my hiking shoes!) and found bliss. I subtracted a star because no pups allowed, even on leash, but that seems to be par for the course for Nature Conservancy lands.

It’s 25 minutes from Palm Springs and well worth the trip. I plan on coming back and going on a much longer hike.

This truly is a gem. First off — it’s free; secondly, the trails are mostly flat and made of a kind of «boardwalk.» But add to that a CLEAN restroom — WITH FLUSH Toilets. The trails are clearly marked and positions of interest have explanations. Well worth the diversion off of Interstate 10 [approximately 12 miles north on highway 62].

We were lured to this area by the great reviews on Unilocal and found that it very much lives up to its great reputation. Easy to get advance information, easy to find, easy to hike, and easy to enjoy, not to mention welcoming and free of charge.
We brought plenty of water and drank most of it, but late June is the beginning of the really hot weather so we still got slightly disoriented in the heat.
One very nice feature – the trails are so flat and easy that you don’t need to bring hiking boots unless you’re fit to tackle the longest, hardest trail.
Even though we missed the best time of year for birding, we did see some that we hadn’t previously seen, like the tanagers and yellow orioles. What bright colors! The hosts have set up a feeding station right outside their trailer so anyone can sit and observe birds without even hiking anywhere. This made a great cool-​down spot after some hot hiking. And they even left a Sibley guide to help identify what we’d seen.
We’ll definitely bring other people along next time!

«This place is a real gem! Go, explore, there’s so much to see! From the amazing green, verdant oases to the rocky steep hills laced with Big Horn Sheep paths, you won’t be disappointed by this place.»

Big Morongo is extraordinary in many ways. There is a variety of habitats for birding. Big horn sheep can be seen on the south end of Canyon trail. Deer are sometimes present, as is a mountain lion. Good hiking and it is not difficult.

If you like the outdoors, this is the place to be especially if you are stuck with nothing to do in the boring desert. I grew up in this town and this little area is the best part about the desert. The only place with GREEN and little creeks with fish and crawdads, kids love it! I definitely recommend NOT going during the summer time, it’s way too hot!

A truly extraordinary place. And with what appears to be excellent attention to accessibility for wheelchair access to many boardwalked trails and facilities, Big Morongo shows what an agency like BLM can do when it really tries.
A recent January outing turned up these 24 bird species:
Sharp-​shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus) 1
Red-​tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 1
Costa’s Hummingbird (Calypte costae) 1
Ladder-​backed Woodpecker (Picoides scalaris) 2
Nuttall’s Woodpecker (Picoides nuttallii) 9
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 2
Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans) 3
Say’s Phoebe (Sayornis saya) 6
Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) 2
Western Scrub-​Jay (Aphelocoma californica) 2
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) 1
Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus) 41
Bewick’s Wren (Thryomanes bewickii) 1
Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris) 1
Ruby-​crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula) 1
Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana) 8
Le Conte’s Thrasher (Toxostoma lecontei) 1
Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens) 1
Yellow-​rumped Warbler (Audubon’s) (Setophaga coronata auduboni) 5
California Towhee (Melozone crissalis) 4
Sage Sparrow (Amphispiza belli) 1 See pics.
White-​crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) 35
House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) 25
Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) 2
Mammalian and insect life also abounds.

This is a gem in the desert that is often ignored. The hard rock gives way to sand in the southern part of Morongo Valley, allowing the snow runoff to seep out and form oases that attract a variety of fauna. Mule deer, bighorn sheep, golden eagles, a variety of reptiles, coyotes, redtail hawks, and bobcats are all visitors to this area. The oases can flood in the spring and in the early summer, with tadpoles swimming all around the flooded trails. If you really want to see an amazing ecosystem, this is the place to go.
A word of caution: As much as I appreciate the work that the Zeller’s have done in maintaining the Big Morongo Canyon Preserve, be careful of the birdwatchers. They really like birds. Like, REALLY LIKE birds. They will scoff at you if you say that you saw a falcon and are unable to tell which species it belonged to. Sometimes, I really do think people need to get laid more often.

A great preserve run by the BLM and volunteers. Good wildlife (bird) viewing. The staff were very friendly. I got a good hike while I was there.

I have a warning for all of us «city-​slickers» going out to the desert to visit nature — be careful who you take!
We went out to what is a really beautiful nature park and hiked to the top of the hill at the base of the park. On the way back down, my wife and her sister came jogging back, looking freaked out. They said they saw coyotes and that we needed to «call 911»! (And tell them what? We saw animals at an animal park?) Of course, I knew growing up in the foothills of Southern California that they were probably no harm, but try telling that to them. So, seeing their faces, I too decided they were capable of eating us whole, and we all rushed back up the hill. After arriving, looking out, we could see that they left and we rushed back down to the «safety» of the car.
Just then, as luck would have it, I saw the park ranger and asked «If someone sees a Coyote, what should the do?». His reply was that we «should feel lucky. Most people don’t ever get to see an animal like that up close!». I asked him «sooo…are they dangerous at all?» and he said, «not unless you’re a rabit». So for everyone who sees a Coyote in a wilderness park, you can now be assured that the Coyotes are not going to hunt you down.
The park itself, by the way is beautiful. We went at what I’m guessing was the perfect time of year. (March) The trails are well kept, there is a naturally occuring brook and they’ve got a cool little kiosk at the front. I also just discovered they have a website at