Palm Springs Aerial Tram

It was HOT today in Palm Springs. 110 degrees, so we decided this would be a good day to go hiking. Actually we took the Aerial Tram to the top of the San Jacinto mountains. It is approximately 40 degrees cooler up the mountain.

Both the Blankenbillers and us remember the tram cars looking like this:

Old style tram cars

About 12 years ago they changed them to the new style. They can now carry about 80 passengers. They are considered rotating cars because the floor rotates twice during the 15 minute ride up or down the hill. This allows everyone to get a complete 365 degree view of the canyon. The new cars look like this:

New rotating cars

We made it to the top and the temperature was a very comfortable 70 degrees. Here Scott and I are appreciating the cooler weather.

Scott and Brian

The mountain station is at about 8000 foot elevation. Here is a picture of the desert floor. You can see Palm Springs, as well as Desert Hot Springs and Palm Desert.

Palm Springs

We walked to the highest point at the tram station. You will see this point in a picture later. The white poles you see are windmills in Palm Springs. We could see all the way to the Salton Sea which is 40 miles away from here.

Windmills

We decided to hike the Desert View trail. This was a 1 1/2 mile easy/moderate and fairly rocky loop trail. This is part of the Mount San Jacinto State Park.

State Park

But first we had to walk down a fairly steep .30 mile switchback concrete path to Long Valley. Not so hard going down, but for us out of shape folks, it was a little harder coming out after hiking the trail.

Path to Desert View Trail

This sign showed us our options for two short hikes. We did the Desert Trail and looked at all five viewpoints. We came back on the Nature Trail.viewpoints

Desert View Trail sign

Here is one of the viewpoints on the trail. The signs actually called them "notches".

One of the Notches

I told you I would show you our overlook in a later picture. Here is the overlook taken from down in the valley. You can see a person standing on the rock in the middle of the picture. After the hike we needed to walk back up the path to the station.

Overlook

Here is the Desert View trail. There were sections that were very rocky. It was probably a dry creek bed.

Desert View Trail

Another viewpoint.

Viewpoint 2

Here's a picture of Terri and me at one of the viewpoints. While looking at all the pictures today I realized that I didn't have any of Patty because she took all the photos! OOOPS! Well she did hike the trail today also! Good job Patty!

Brian and Patty

We finished the loop and made our way back to the top. We watched a movie on how they made the tram and then went back down at dusk.

On the Tram

\We were all really hungry and decided we wanted good Mexican food. I asked two employees at the Mountain Station for advice. They both highly suggested Las Casuelas Restaurant. Good prices, and Great food. Chips and salsa were excellent as was the iced tea which was great after the hike. We all said we would definately go back!

That's it for tonight,

Love you all!

Brian and Patty