Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

On Sunday, we drove out to Palm Springs to ride the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway to the top of the San Jacinto Mountains.  The drive out to Palm Springs takes about an hour and a half from our house (with no traffic).  We were lucky in that we didn't hit any traffic.   Traffic can be a nightmare on Sunday afternoons with everyone returning from trips to Vegas and Arizona.

 As you approach Palm Springs there are hundreds of these windmills.  Sometimes they are turning, sometimes they're not, but it is quite impressive to see all of them lined up, twirling away.

 We caught sight of a train passing through.  I always get excited when I see a train.  Living in the city, I don't see them that often.

 The landscape outside Palm Springs is barren.  Once you get into Palm Springs there is a lot more greenery, but here only Mother Nature waters the plants and she seems to forget this area quite a bit.

You ascend by car 2000 ft in elevation.  It is an easy drive, no switch backs.  Pictured above is an old gondola, pre-2000.

Here is the current gondola.  It holds 80 people, has windows that open and ascends 6000 ft in elevation in 10 minutes.  I was surprised at how fast you go up (and down) the mountain.  You cross 5 towers and 5 climatic changes.  Its like going from California to Canada.  The top of the mountain is 30 degrees cooler than at the bottom.  It was 100 degrees in Palm Springs and it was a nice 70 at the top.  

 The inside floor of the gondola rotates so that everyone has a view of all aspects of the ride.  It is really weird.  You can really feel it if you stand to the outside of the floor as opposed to the inside.  It makes two rotations in the 10 minute ride.

 The view from the top.  

It was quite a fun and novel experience.  At the top is a couple of restaurants, a ranger station, and hiking.  We hiked a 3.1 mile loop.  I'll show more pics tomorrow.