Tom and Donna Full-timer RV Blog: Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

Third time is the charm. I had tried twice before to go up the tram, only to be turned away because of time restraints.

I drove the 4 mile private road up to the tram and found that there were no waits...finally! It's a steep road and you see many people hiking or biking up to the tram. I hope before I leave the area I can make a hiking pilgrimage.

Here we leave the desert floor at 2600' in elevation, for a ten minute ride up to 8500'. The tram was conceived in the 1930's, but because of WWII and the Korean war, it was on the back burner until 1963. These new gondolas, added in 2000, are the largest in the world. The floor rotates twice during the trip so everyone has a beautiful view.

It's an awesome sight, leaving the station and not a worried bone in my body...loved it.

As we traveled up the cables, our first view is of one of the wind generating farms. There are a total of 3800 of these wind turbans.

Our shadow followed us up the tram. The aerial tram is the worlds second steepest tram. Most of the equipment was designed and built in Switzerland.

As we pull into the upper station, at an elevation of 8500' feet, we encountered snow.

When you do reach the summit there is a sign to remind you that you are indeed in a wilderness area. The San Jacinto Wilderness is an area that encompasses 14,000 acres, that is protected from any development.

My first order of business was to complete a promise I made to Donna about three years ago. We stayed in this valley and Donna wanted to go up the Tram to San Jacinto. Things just didn't work out on that trip and I told Donna that we'd do the Tram next time in the valley. Well, of course we didn't make it back together, but I still needed to fulfill my promise.

At the risk of the forestry service cuffing me for littering, I left a small part of Donna on the mountain, that she so wanted to ascend. Afterward, I did cover her with some snow so as to melt into the landscape...forever.

I'm viewing this through both of our eyes babe, so you can see whatever I see.

The view from up here was so awesome. It took a bit of luck and planning to be able to come up here on a clear and a cloud free day. They say on a day like today, you can see Mt Charleston, near Las Vegas, 175 miles away, but I did not have my binoculars to prove this point.