Covered Wagon Adventure: Unique Eco Tour Experience
4.9
161 Ratings
Thousand Palms

Embark on a one-of-a-kind eco adventure with Covered Wagons in the enchanting Palm Springs Desert. Experience the breathtaking wilderness, enjoy live entertainment, dancing lessons, games, and delicious food. Book now!

Duration: 3 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Washington Street - Experience an eco adventure into the beautiful Sonoran Desert like the early pioneers, on a mule-drawn Covered Wagon! Ride into a 30,000 acre Oasis Wilderness Preserve accessible and exclusive to Covered Wagons!
    Your on-board naturalist guide and Wagon Master Driver will entertain and educate you as we explore the rugged canyon…
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What's Included
  • Dinner
  • Other
What's Not Included
  • Gratuity for guide, servers and entertainment.
Meal Options
  • Great BBQ with All The Trimmings! - Slow Cooked Brisket, Smoked Chicken, Fresh Coleslaw, Cowboy Beans, Fresh Breads and Seasonal Pie with Whipped Cream!
Additional Information

We’re a genuine Eco Tour firm based in California, offering tours amidst ancient wilderness using wagons and mules. To experience something similar, you’d need to head to Colorado or Montana during the summer. Unquestionably, it’s a one-of-a-kind, quintessential western adventure. Only in this part of the world can you embark on a mule-powered wagon…

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Location
Washington Street
Exit the 10 Fwy at Washington St. in Palm Desert. We are 4.0 Miles north from the freeway exit on Washington & 2.5 Miles past Del Webb Blvd. Look for the sign on right. Make a right after the sign at the driveway. Take the short desert road to the parking at the top, Welcome to Covered Wagons!
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.9
(161 Ratings)
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Megan_s
Jun 8, 2025
Great experience - Loved this night fantastic fun and great wagon ride. Could do with a bit more vegetarian options for the bbq.
Review provided by Viator
Travelfits
May 27, 2025
Worth it - Such a cute area, a cute place, such friendly great people. Loved it! Would highly recommend if you are up for a nice date night on a nice night for a California hoedown!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Crb568
May 25, 2025
Great time in the Desert! - We drove down from Long Beach, CA, about 2 hrs. I brought tour for my son for his birthday. Something for the two of us to enjoy together. Stopped at a couple of casinos on the way in. Really windy. Surprised once we drove up to the camp, the wind was blocked. Perfect weather really. Not hot, nice breeze. The covered wagon tour was really interesting. Nice people, most on vacation from other states/countries, TX, IN, Mexico, Australia... After tour, we played cross-four and chatted. Country band played great tunes and mc's the evening. Dinner, delicious with tri tip and chicken, mashed potatoes, country beans, slaw and apple coubler with whipped cream for dessert. Very tastie!! Family owned operation. Everyone very nice and attentive. Highly recommend! Most visitorswere staying local, we came down and went home after event. 2-hrs. by CA standards isn't a big deal. Support this local small business. You'll be glad you did!😊 Thanks Bill and family for making us feel like family! 🐴🏜🏝🎯 We will do it again!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Judy_m
May 25, 2025
What a great way to celebrate my 80th birthday. - Everything was wonderful. The guides were very knowledgeable, the food was great and the entertainment engaging and fun.
Review provided by Viator
Patricia
May 25, 2025
Fun Experience - What a wonderful time! The covered wagon ride takes you to an oasis/fault line area, where you can walk around and learn more about faults. The staff is so friendly, they even iced down our beer for us. Our original tour had to be rescheduled due to a heat advisory, but they were excellent at communicating the changes. Live entertainment featured Sandy, Christy & Tod filling the evening air with Country Music. They even taught some line dances. Food was great, too. A fun and memorable experience!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
M4pwp8cps9
May 15, 2025
A real desert experience - Fun, informative, and entertaining. We were celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary and the people at Covered Wagon made our evening so special. George and Paul were a wealth of information regarding the desert and the oasis. Crazy Kate and the musicians were extremely fun. The food was excellent. This is one of the best excursions I’ve booked in a long time. When we return to the area, we will go again. Oh, and Jet was an excellent photographer for our sunset pictures.
Review provided by Viator
D5792nicharlottea
May 15, 2025
Fun in the desert - From start to finish, we had a great time. The guides were informative, the greeters and staff in the barn were friendly and fun;They made our 20th anniversary very special, unlike the upscale popular restaurant the night before. We will definitely do this again.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
A7406woelizabeths
Apr 29, 2025
My favorite adventure in the desert - This is, hands down, the best activity I have found in Palm Desert, and possibly in Southern California. We booked the tour to celebrate my father's 90th birthday, but he was sick, and we decided to go on our own. There were three of us, two 80+ years old. It was a magical adventure to share with my mother and aunt. My mother had a million questions beforehand and called the tour operator a couple of times. I appreciate how welcoming and patient they were with her. When we arrived for the tour, they greeted us warmly and enthusiastically, setting the tone for the rest of the evening. Before the covered wagon tour commenced, we played horseshoes, did target practice with plastic axes (totally safe for young and old), and played corn hole. The environment made us all playful. The wagon tour was exciting. I was concerned my mother wouldn't be able to make it onto the wagon, and while the hosts were ready and able to assist, the steps and railing onto the wagon were secure enough for my mother to climb up with minimal aid. The wagon was more comfortable than other tours I've taken in my travels, and we were provided a blanket to keep warm on a crisp spring evening. The guides are extremely knowledgeable about the area's history and its flora and fauna. We were taken to an oasis for a short walking tour. My mother opted to stay on the wagon and skip the walk, but my aunt and I found the oasis tour to be fascinating. We learned a lot and gained a stronger appreciation of the desert. After the wagon tour, we returned to "camp" for music, entertainment, and even a barn dance. The live music was upbeat and highly entertaining because the two performers are so talented and found ways to involve the audience. I was surprised that both my mother and aunt were fully engaged in the activities, and everyone was patient with my mother's limited mobility when we did the barn dance. My aunt even got to dance with a cowboy (thanks, Paul!), which I'm sure she will always talk about fondly. Dinner was great. It was standard barbecue fare, but cooked perfectly. Dessert was included (apple pie), and at the very end, as we were ready to exit, we toasted marshmallows on an open fire. I cannot overstate how much fun we had and how truly delightful everyone was. After living in the desert for 25 years, we never knew this was literally a 2-minute drive from our doorstep. For one awesome night, we left the world behind and experienced the desert in a timeless fashion.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Landamom
May 15, 2025
Don't get your hopes up for an authentic Westen cookout experience. This isn't it. - All of the staff members are friendly. The venue is set up well with a large barn-like structure, non-alcoholic drinks, wine, and beer available for self-service, games in the back, exceptionally clean portable toilets, We did not realize it at first but there were two groups and our itinerary as three of the independent travelers was negatively affected by the large tour group of elderly travelers. My husband, daughter, and I went out in the covered wagon first, along with other independent travelers. The wagon ride is fine. It does not go out very far into the Coachella Preserve at all. It just goes out to an "oasis" of California Fan Palms just about half a mile from the base where the group then takes a short walk. The information about the desert flora, lizards, gray owls, the palms, tectonic plates, and the mules, Maggie, and Clancy was interesting but not enough of a "tour". It was when we turned back and "George" mentioned another tour that we realized there were more people there that evening than those already in the wagon. When we got back to the base, the tour group was listening to Western singers. The tour group left to go on the wagon and we were forced to wait around for more than one hour listening to just a few Westen songs until the tour group came back and we could have dinner. The cowgirl who performed with the lasso, Bull whips, and Colt 45 replicas was good but the wait was very boring and my daughter, who had worked all day, was extremely hungry. We arrived at 5:30 and we did not get dinner until after 8:00! The food had been sitting there the whole time. This was not what we expected. We thought it would be more like a campfire barbecue with singing around a fire, etc., but the experience was disorganized, boring, and poorly executed
Review provided by Tripadvisor
721johnf
May 15, 2025
Dissappointed. - We were disappointed to say the least. The people were friendly enough and told us about the area, wildlife etc. but nothing like what we expected. The live music was average at best and the food palatable. For $132 each, it was overpriced in my opinion. Not one of my better tours. The sunset was pretty cool to see.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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