--- title: "Palm Canyon near Palm Springs holds the largest fan palm oasis in the US, on Agua Caliente land" url: https://badiyaa.com/indian-canyons-palm-canyon-fan-palm-oasis-agua-caliente/ published: 2026-11-10T08:00:00+00:00 modified: 2026-11-10T08:00:00+00:00 section: History publisher: Badiyaa --- # Palm Canyon near Palm Springs holds the largest fan palm oasis in the US, on Agua Caliente land The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians owns the Indian Canyons south of Palm Springs, where 8.1 miles of Palm Canyon Creek are a federally designated Wild and Scenic River. The biggest fan palm oasis in the United States does not sit in a national park. It runs along Palm Canyon Creek just south of Palm Springs, California, and its lower stretch belongs to the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, whose ancestors were living in this desert thousands of years before the resort town existed. The federal Forest Service describes the creek as supporting “the nation’s largest fan palm oasis.” The tribe owns and runs the area around its lower reach, known as the Indian Canyons, and the canyons are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. ## Three canyons, one tribe The Indian Canyons are Palm Canyon, Murray Canyon and Andreas Canyon, open for hiking, horseback riding and tours. Nearby Tahquitz Canyon, southwest of downtown, is also tribal land open to hikers and guided walks. The [Agua Caliente Band](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agua_Caliente_Band_of_Cahuilla_Indians) is one of ten Cahuilla nations created when reservations were drawn. Its reservation dates to May 15, 1876, when President Ulysses S. Grant signed an executive order covering 31,610 acres. Extensions in 1877 and 1907 brought it to about 32,000 acres. The land was laid out like a checkerboard, with the tribe holding the even-numbered sections and other owners in between. About 6,700 acres of the reservation fall inside Palm Springs city limits, which makes the tribe the city’s largest collective landowner. Run the numbers: 6,700 of roughly 32,000 acres is about 21 percent, so around one acre in five of the reservation lies inside the city. Much of that land was allotted to tribal members and later leased or sold, which is why hotels, golf courses and homes now sit on reservation sections. ## The palm that was here first The trees in the canyon are [desert fan palms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washingtonia_filifera), also called California fan palms, the only palm species native to the American Southwest. They grow 30 to 50 feet tall, cluster around permanent springs and creeks, and can live 80 to 150 years. Left untrimmed, their dead fronds hang down the trunk in a thick skirt that shelters birds and bats. For the Cahuilla, the oasis was a pantry and a workshop. The sweet fruit was eaten raw or cooked or ground into flour, the leaves were woven into sandals, baskets and roof thatch, and the stiff leaf stalks became cooking tools. The creek matters well beyond the palms. The [Forest Service](https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/sanbernardino/recreation/palm-canyon-creek-national-wild-scenic-river) says 8.1 miles of Palm Canyon Creek are designated a Wild and Scenic River, and that the water supports the endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep and the southwestern willow flycatcher. ## A culture still on the land The tribe adopted its constitution in 1957, opened the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum in Palm Springs in 1991, and set up its own tribal court in 2024. Its people spoke the Pass dialect of Cahuilla, part of the Uto-Aztecan language family; the last native speaker of that dialect died in 2008, and revitalization work continues. ## Getting there There are two ways in. The lower canyon, inside the Indian Canyons, is reached from South Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs. The upper stretch is reached from Highway 74: the Forest Service says to turn north on Pine View Drive, about 6 miles east of the Highway 371 junction, and warns that turning onto Palm Canyon Drive from there will not take you to that trailhead. The Forest Service lists no drinking water at the upper site, so carry your own. Its page on the creek was last updated on March 11, 2025. ## Further reading - [Wikipedia: Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agua_Caliente_Band_of_Cahuilla_Indians) - [Wikipedia: Washingtonia filifera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washingtonia_filifera) - [US Forest Service: Palm Canyon Creek Wild and Scenic River](https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/sanbernardino/recreation/palm-canyon-creek-national-wild-scenic-river) *Image: Jerrye and Roy Klotz MD, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons* *This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by our Editorial Desk. [How we work](https://badiyaa.com/editorial-policy/).*