I've passed the "Whitewater" sign, off of Highway 111 in between Palm Springs and the 10 freeway, a million times and never ventured off to learn about it.  I heard it was a place with streams in the middle of the desert.  I heard it had great hiking, too, but never took the trip.

I finally turned off Hwy 111 onto Whitewater and I was glad I did.  The narrow and winding road goes North, away from Palm Springs.  It goes North of the 10 freeway and into a mountain pass with some pretty impressive rocks and peaks.  The road is at a gradual incline and as you increase in altitude, the desert brush gives way to ever greener flora.  The road ends at an ecosystem more like Los Angeles than Palm Springs, with green trees and chaparral-like plants.  It ends at a ranger station/visitor center with camp grounds and hiking trails and more.

The ranger station/visitor center is the historic building of the former Whitewater Trout Farm.  Yes, there used to be a successful trout farm in the middle of the desert.  Can you believe it?  The Whitewater River, yes there is an actual river there, that gets its water from the run off from Mount San Gorgonio, pools into a large pond where you can still see trout swimming around.  Catch and release fishing is allowed, and fishing equipment is provided for guests.

The ranger station/visitor center, picnic areas and campgrounds are overshadowed by steep vertical cliffs where bighorn sheep are often spotted, or so they say.  The cliffs, I must say, are pretty majestic.  I was almost in awe.

Most importantly, for me at least, was the availability of a great hiking trail that a friend and I hiked, for exercise and communing with nature.  Since the Summer is here, the water in the Whitewater river is becoming a trickle.  Here are a few pictures I took.  The first is of the dieing stream. 
The second is of the trout pond and cliffs.

For those of you who have seen it all in Palm Springs, but have never been to Whitewater Preserve, I encourage you to take that Whitewater turnoff at Highway 111 and explore this great outdoors area.

And even more new things to do, celebrity residents, and places to visit are on their way to Palm Springs.  Some are being kept secret, including what is to take the place of the iconic Spa Resort Hotel.

The closing date for the 229-room Spa Resort hotel, which opened in 1963, was July 8, 2014.  They started demolishing the hotel shortly thereafter, but from what I saw, this demolition slowed to a snails pace up until yesterday.  I say yesterday because I was driving by it this weekend and wondering why it looked about the same as it looked  six months ago, five months ago, last month, and last week.  this is what I saw yesterday:

That giant crane was ripping what remained of the structure apart.  For those of you regular Palm Springs visitors, and residents such as myself, this was really a milestone, an end to an era.  The Indians who own the land and the former hotel are not saying what they are going to put up in its place.  One of the few things I've read about what they are saying is that they will protect the natural hot mineral spring that is there.  That leads me to believe that whatever they build will incorporate the hot mineral spring, the very feature that Palm Springs was named for, into it.  I hope that is not just wishful thinking as that hot spring, along with our palm trees, mid-century modern architecture, swimming pools, the dry heat and mountains, is an integral part of the Palm Springs identity and brand. 

Here is a close up of the destruction.  Here is to the Future of Palm Springs...