Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/687891
Levine, clad in a gray hoodie and bandana, a long purple ribbon threaded through her graying braid, falls silent for a second. She looks contentedly through her windshield at rock formations the San Andreas Fault has pushed sideways. "It's the bones of the earth sticking out here," she says. e desert isn't barren; it's simple, like the best poetry. And for visitors willing to step away from the valley's 124 golf courses, people like Levine are thrilled to share the fragile desert ecosystem they love. e Desert by Bike C oasting through the Mecca-Copia wilderness on a bicycle, I get another close-up look at the infamous San Andreas Fault. Turns out it also has a life-giving side. Wherever the tectonic plates rub together, springs of water are released from the aquifer and clumps of palm trees grow. Big Wheel Tours makes biking an especial- ly pleasurable way to see the desert. e small company picks up visitors in a van towing a bike trailer. e bikes have big saddles, fat tires and upright handlebars. To make things even easier, Big Wheel drops riders off at the top of a gentle 20-mile grade, follows along in the van, and picks everybody up at the bottom. We had plenty of space to spread out on the open road and feel a touch of desert solitude and quiet. Hiking B iking is great for a big-picture view of how the San Andreas Fault pushes up moun- tains and bends them sideways. But hiking takes you in for the close-up. I joined Ada Nuckels, lead volunteer, for a hike at the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monu- ment. Seeing her dressed in khaki, her fanny pack stuffed with water bottles and emergency supplies, you'd never guess Nuckels had spent her career in medical offices. We scan the area for endangered bighorn sheep and elusive desert tortoises. Nuckels points out indigo plant, which local Cahuilla Indians used to make dye. She explains how the Indians turned oco- tillo flowers into tea, and used cactus spikes as barbed wire to protect their land. She shows us chuperosa, rock daisies and lavender, outs a cell-phone tower posing as a rock, and warns us about the pain in- flicted by cuddly looking teddy bear cholla. Rugged but Endangered A er the input of my jeep, bike and hiking guides, I'm under no illusion that the desert is a simple land of scrub bushes and rat- tlesnakes. But how does it stack up against Amazon rainforests and other eco poster children? Desert plants are pretty darn important, according to Dr. Cameron Barrows, research ecologist at the Univ. of Calif. Riverside's Center for Conservation Biology. "ey provide food for wildlife, fix atmo- spheric nitrogen and send it down into the soil," he says. ey hold 30 wholelifetimes.com