| This view taken from along Thousand Palms Road is looking west
toward the Indio Hills in the Coachella Valley Preserve. Mt. San Jacinto
is in the distance. The fault scarp of the Mission Creek Fault (a strand
of the San Andreas Fault) forms the steep eastern face of the Indio Hills
and serves as a wind trap that supports one of the last remaining dune fields
in the Coachella Valley. The dune field is a preserve for endangered wildlife,
including the Coachella Valley Fringe-toed Lizard. |