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Introduction | Attractions and Activities | Travel Basics

Blades half the length of a football field turn 200 feet (61 meters) overhead as the wind sweeps through the fabled San Gorgonio Pass. Spectacular mountain and moonscape vistas surround you. The 1,200 acre Living Desert Park is a living museum of desert plants and rare or endangered species of animals from around the world, including camels, meerkats, cheetahs, zebras, mountain lions, and Santa Rosa Mountain bighorn sheep.

The San Jacinto Mountains rise 9,000 feet (2,743.2 meters) nearly vertically beside Palm Springs. This is one of the steepest climbs in North America and the reason Palm Springs is a desert. The mountains keep the rain out, and LA's pollution, as well!

Agua Caliente, as Palm Springs was originally known, was a focus of activity for the Cahuilla Indian Tribe. Unlike other parts of California, the Spanish did not settle here. Instead, the natives were "Americanized" by the Mormons who settled in San Bernardino around 1852. Among the people who made Palm Springs world-famous were Albert Einstein, Samuel Untermeyer, Mayor Jimmy Walker, and Jimmy Swinnerton. Today, because of the vast number of nationally-known figures who frequent here, these early celebrities would probably not even be noticed.