Each year on the first Saturday in March, Friends of the Desert Mountains hosts a Wildflower Festival. It features a 5k race, wildflower walks around a nature trail and a guided short hike of the Randall Henderson trail. There is a beer and wine garden with live music for adults. For kids there is face painting, crafts and live animals. Many artists exhibit and sell their work and as an author of Peaks, Palms and Picnics: Day Journeys in Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley, I sign books at the visitor center gift shop and talk hiking. Proceeds from the event go toward Friends of the Desert Mountains. Their focus is to purchase and add land to the Santa Rosa San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. I am proud to have been part of this wonderful yearly event.
