McCallum Pond Trail Ideal for Holiday Hike

McCallum Pond Trail runs 2.02 miles round trip with 100 feet elevation gain.

Day hikers can hike along a fault to a beautiful palm oasis in the Coachella Valley Preserve.

The McCallum Pond Trail runs 2.02 miles round trip with 100 feet elevation gain. It’s open Wednesday to Sunday from 7 am to 5 pm.

To reach the trailhead, from Interstate 10 in Rancho Mirage, exit east onto E. Ramon Road. Turn left/north onto Thousand Palms Canyon Road. When the road curves northwest, go left/southwest into the Coachella Valley Preserve parking lot.

From the lot, walk southwest into the Thousand Palms oasis. You’ll immediately feel as if you’ve left the desert and landed on a tropical island. Some of the palms here rise as high as a six-story building. Among the highlights is a palm tree that has grown in the shape of an arch.

To get on the McCallum Pond Trail, take the first right/northwest. You’ll pass the Thousand Palms Visitor Center, where the staff is quite informative, and then wind through the oasis.

At the next trail junction, go right/west. You’ll soon cross the Palm Bridge over a wetlands beneath the oasis. A small stream and the Indio Hills run west of the bridge.

The trail next edges the desert on the right and a wetlands on the left at around 0.2 miles. Soon the trail crosses a road and then splits at 0.5 miles. Go right/north.

The trail crisscrosses the stream, which at this part of the run is dry most of the year.

At 0.7 miles, the trail splits once more. Continue right/north.

You’ll arrive at McCallum Pond, also known as Simone Pond, and the McCallum Grove, another palm oasis.

The pond was formed by water seeping up along the Mission Creek Fault, which is part of the San Andreas fault zone. The Banning Fault parallels it about two miles to the south.

The Mission Creek Fault is moving about 0.55 inches a year, though a paper in 2021 stated it may be moving faster than that at 0.86 inches per year. That may not seem like much, but over time it accumulates – in a decade that’s 8.6 inches and in 40 years about a yard.

One of the surprises you’ll find in the McCallum Grove is the great horned owl. It’s easily identifiable by its distinctive ear tufts and well-camouflaged dark brown plumage.

This owl is a formidable predator – preying upon an array of small mammals, birds, and reptiles – but a musical one too. Males and females engage in haunting duets, their hoots echoing through the trees and adding to the grove’s already magical atmosphere.

As the trail circles the pond, watch for native treefrogs, toads, and a variety of aquatic insects. Where you can, pause at the pond’s side and look into the water; you’re likely to spot red swamp crayfish crawling along the bottom. An introduced species, it displaced many native species in the pond, among them the Desert pupfish.

After completing the pond loop at about 1.02 miles, retrace your steps back to the parking lot. At 1.25 miles, you can take a side trail off the McCallum; be sure not to go right at the lone trail junction along the side trail.

Once back at Thousand Palms Oasis, you can add to the hike by exploring a few trails through the jungle-like setting. One spur heads to the top of Mumawt, a 571-foot high hill that overlooks the oasis. There also are picnic tables in this area.

Though half of the trail heads through a palm oasis, the other half is in open desert, so be sure to don sunscreen, sunglasses and sunhat. Bring your own water; do not drink from the stream or pond.