Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, California

December 08, 2022

We have been to Palm Springs many times but we have never ever taken in the sites of the Aerial Tramway. Today we did and we had a wonderful half-day trip. The Tram holds 80 people and it is standing room only as it turns around 3 rotations on the way up and three rotations on the way down. If you are looking for views, then this is your baby. The views up and down the tram are breathtaking.

Sheer rock cliffs on both sides of the Tram are gorgeous

Going up the Tram, this lady was very nervous beside me. I am pretty sure she did not breathe for the 10 minutes that it took to go up

Personally, I was kind of interested in the engineering that went into the towers that held up the cabling that the Tram runs on. I am not interested in plummeting to my death.

Inside the Tram car on the way up

Views of Palm Springs

The tram was built in 1963 and it is one of the "most unique adventure attractions on earth and an engineering marvel featuring the world's largest rotating tram cars transporting you on an exciting excursion into nature"

The Tram is a half-mile trip beginning at the valley station at 2643 feet and it will transport you to the mountain station elevation of 8516 feet. Your ears will pop several times as you ascend and descend.

If you are scared of heights your definitely going to be scared on this trip. Our suggestion would be to stand closer to the inside of the tram as opposed to the windows. When you go over the towers the tram does some dipping and swooping motions that feels a bit like a Disney ride at this time.

The views going up and down are amazing. The sheer rock cliffs, different coloured rocks, and jagged rocks and views of Palm Springs are so cool.

Palm Springs looks quite insignificant at this elevation.

When you get to the top there are restaurants for grab-and-go or sit-down. There are different viewing platforms and I recommend all of the different platforms for the different views. The views really are stupendous you can see every different area and all of Greater Palm Springs. You can spot the numerous golf courses or the windmill farms, it is quite an extraordinary view.

You apparently can see up 50 miles and you can see the Salton Sea. At first, you think that is an ocean and then you realize that you are too far to see the Pacific.

There are large boulders everywhere up at the top of San Jacinto Mountain State Park, and they are quite picture-worthy.

We walked different hikes at the top of the mountain. We took in the Desert View Trail and the Nature Trail I would highly recommend both. The Desert View Trail is broken into 5 notches and make sure you see all five notches because its different viewing areas and picture-taking moments of the desert or Palm Springs area.

That's me up high in the blue fleece.

There is a total of 50-plus miles of hiking trails up in San Jacinto State Park. There is also a ranger station there.

Because of the 30-degree temperature change up at the top, you need to pack accordingly. There was snow and ice everywhere and like I said it was cold but they do sand the trails so that they're not that slippery and dangerous.

We wandered around and explored the two different trails, it took us about 2 hours and we weren't in any rush whatsoever.

There is a lot of wildlife all over the mountain and we saw multiple Grey squirrels which were quite cheeky but cute but there are also Mountain Lions Big Horn Sheep, Coyotes, Raccoons etc.

The trees are very interesting at the top of the mountain. There is this tree called the Jeffrey tree and if you rub the bark it smells like butterscotch- vanilla scent. I thought that this was crap so I actually did it and it did smell like butterscotch, I could not catch the vanilla scent though.

The acorns here are Jurassic-sized.

You can buy your tickets online for $30 US for an adult and don't forget about parking its $12 per car. We were lucky enough to get parking lot A and it was such a steep incline to get to the building where the tram leaves, that your blood was already pumping before you hit a trail. I never thought that a parking lot would get the better of me, but this one did.

Bring layers to wear, you will need them because there is that 30-degree drop in temperature at the top of San Jacinto. I had my Merino Wool long sleeve, a fleece and my stuffer jacket on and I saw hikers wearing flip-flops and shorts. There is no way that you can safely hike to all of the viewing notches with flip-flops.

At the end of the hikes at the top of San Jacinto, you have to walk back up to where the tram leaves from and I highly suggest doing that walk all in one go without stopping because it's definitely a good cardio workout.