Earl Henderson Trail

My friends and I love this trail. During summer, we’ve been catching some of the most beautiful sunrises. It’s not too hot and by no means cold at all. We hike up and loop down to the wash where we finish off our hike with a nice run to our cars. Total time there and back is about 2 hours.. that includes us hanging out up top to enjoy the moment. Highly recommend.

Henderson Trail is a great morning hike if you're looking for something reasonably quick, not too difficult, and with pretty desert views. We saw a few people out (one trail runner, one single senior with hiking poles, and a group of 5 in the distance) on a January Wednesday morning between 8-9:30 am. No dogs are allowed on this trail. This trail is open for horseback riders and there are road apples along the way that show it's well used. Pay attention to where you step, but you'll need to do that anyway because the trail is sandy and rocky. I suggest to wear hiking shoes or something with lugged soles, or bring poles, if you're worried about stability. Many reviewers said that Google sent them to a locked gate at the entrance to a private property and it did for us too. (This seemed to be because the trail goes past that property, which provides the only road in.) We looked up the hike on our All Trails app and discovered that there's a parking lot on South Araby Road across from the trailhead. (We confirmed that's the place to park with a local who was out walking his dog.) The parking lot is small and unpaved, so watch for the sign that says when not to park there (10 pm - 5 am). It's a bit counterintuitive.

I'm a hiking tour guide in the Palm Springs area. This is one of the trails I take people on as part of the Garstin Loop hike. You can find me by searching for, trail ahead hiking.

Relatively easy hike near downtown Palm Springs with a great view of the mountains and Palm Springs.

Hiked up Earl Henderson to Shannon to Berns and came back on the Gerstin trail, 3.6 miles with a 1000 ft gain, great hike!