Westways MagazineDesert Touring
MORGAN LEVINE GIVES THE INSIDE SCOOP ON THE LAND OF THE CAHUILLA INDIANS
Go get me some creosote bush, her great grandma used to say. “I’ve got a cold coming on.” And thus began Morgan “Wind in Her Hair” Levine’s career as a nature expert and eco-tour guide in the mountains and deserts of Southern California's Coachella Valley, about two hours east of Los Angeles.
She grew up there in one of the windiest places on earth: the San Gorgonio Pass (now home to a major wind farm), which is why she was christened, "Wind in Her Hair" by a Native American friend. But the name is not frivolous; Levine actually has Cahuilla Indian roots, and was mentored in nature studies by her great grandmother, the plant authority for her clan. Without ever having visited a doctor, the woman lived to see her 104th birthday by treating herself with what she termed, “power plants.”
Levine, 44, a petite, rough-and-tumble fast talker with a long, dark braid, radiates the human-energy equivalent of a desert windstorm. When her jeep starts up, so does she, and she hardly takes a breath for at least the first hour of her tour. She has conducted tours of this rugged landscape for up to eight hours a day for years, yet her enthusiasm for the area’s flora, fauna, history, geology and Indian lore never wanes.
“Seeing the snow on the mountains or the agave in blossom, I see things every day that I’ve never seen before,” Levine marveled. “If I see a flower and I know its name, it’s more interesting. If I know its name in Latin and how it's used by the tribe, it’s even more interesting and I’ll never drive by it the same way again. It adds more depth perception to everything in life.”
Desert Adventures offers a variety of eco-friendly tours including Santa Rosa Mountain, Indian Canyon and Mystery Canyon Adventures. For more information, call 1-888-440-5337 (JEEP) or go to http://www.red-jeep.com/.
She grew up there in one of the windiest places on earth: the San Gorgonio Pass (now home to a major wind farm), which is why she was christened, "Wind in Her Hair" by a Native American friend. But the name is not frivolous; Levine actually has Cahuilla Indian roots, and was mentored in nature studies by her great grandmother, the plant authority for her clan. Without ever having visited a doctor, the woman lived to see her 104th birthday by treating herself with what she termed, “power plants.”
Levine, 44, a petite, rough-and-tumble fast talker with a long, dark braid, radiates the human-energy equivalent of a desert windstorm. When her jeep starts up, so does she, and she hardly takes a breath for at least the first hour of her tour. She has conducted tours of this rugged landscape for up to eight hours a day for years, yet her enthusiasm for the area’s flora, fauna, history, geology and Indian lore never wanes.
“Seeing the snow on the mountains or the agave in blossom, I see things every day that I’ve never seen before,” Levine marveled. “If I see a flower and I know its name, it’s more interesting. If I know its name in Latin and how it's used by the tribe, it’s even more interesting and I’ll never drive by it the same way again. It adds more depth perception to everything in life.”
Desert Adventures offers a variety of eco-friendly tours including Santa Rosa Mountain, Indian Canyon and Mystery Canyon Adventures. For more information, call 1-888-440-5337 (JEEP) or go to http://www.red-jeep.com/.
