Welcome to Morongo Valley

Morongo Valley’s springs and wetlands, its mild hi-desert climate, and its location among the Little San Bernardino Mountains, has made it a hospitable location likely to have been seasonally inhabited for thousands of years.

Serrano and Chemehuevi Indians came here for hundreds of years to gather food from desert plants and to hunt. Settlers began to arrive during the mid-1800s to farm, ranch or mine the desert, and their’s was no easy existence. Supply wagons rolled through Morongo on their way to the Dale Mining District east of Twentynine Palms, and cattle drives came down from Big Bear in the San Bernardino Mountains to winter their herds out of the snow.

The 1909 hunt for Willie Boy, the last great posse manhunt of the West, came through Morongo Valley. The story was made into a movie, Tell Them Willie Boy Was Here, starring Robert Redford as the sheriff and Robert Blake as Willie Boy. Many questions remain about what really happened to Willie Boy, and who may have killed whom. Nah, the posse never did get Willie Boy. Honest. And President Taft was never in danger.

By the 1940s, electricity arrived to Morongo Valley, and by the 1960s, Route 62 was widened to four lanes. Morongo Valley began to welcome more and more visitors to the hi-desert. In 2016, Morongo became surrounded—by the new Sand to Snow National Monument!

Things to Do

Big Morongo Canyon Preserve Now part of the Sand to Snow National Monument, the Preserve is a fantastic wild place for birders, wildlife lovers, hikers, families, and wildflower enthusiasts.

Covington Park Near the Preserve is Covington Park, with its large shady cottonwood trees, picnic tables, tennis, volleyball and basketball courts, a playground area, and “the Slab,” a skateboard, razor, and BMX park. The park’s community building is host to the Children’s Library and the Morongo Valley Art Colony. The multi-purpose room, kitchen, and pavilion are available for rentals for gatherings or weddings.

Fellow Earthlings Wildlife Center A rare meerkat preserve (only open through membership) that has worked with Animal Planet on the television show Meerkat Manor, films like Meerkat Madness and The Power of Play. The center’s director worked as a consultant for Disney Studios’ The Lion King. Members can arrange to spend time with the meerkats. www.fellowearthlings.org.

Trail Rides on Horseback Several Morongo stables offer a variety of trail rides that offer a unique way to view the hi-desert and mountains. See our Attractions listings for more information.

Local History & Mystery It is said Indians avoided upper Big Morongo Canyon, and some residents to this day report a “dynamo hum,” emanating periodically from the canyon. The canyon is also home to Angel Canyon Circle, the first of seven sacred circles created around the world by The Foundation of Heaven, a group led to the site by visions and channeled messages. Find this mysterious healing stone circle and experience your own desert vision. You’ll have to channel your own directions to the circle though. You can learn more about Morongo Valley on our website.

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