Too hot, go higher!
Palm Springs Aerial Tramway
Palm Springs Aerial Tramway takes you from the desert up into the alpine mountains to high altitude in about ten minutes. The tram car rotates so that you can see all around you and it’s a bit disconcerting when you are holding on as it can be a bit bumpy when you go over the pylons, you have to keep moving your hand as the walls move. Once at the top you can watch a movie to see how it was constructed and walk the many trails. There was snow up there when we went and it made it difficult to see where the path went. Luckily we went back early as the final path up to the tramway station is extremely steep after doing some walking. The scenery is spectacular.
Indian Canyons: Palm Canyon – Palm Springs
Ranger led walks are only in the morning, so unfortunately we had missed out. We asked the Tribal Ranger what walking trail we should tackle, as everyone has to be out of the park by 5pm. It was after lunch and he chose a loop along the Palm Canyon trail where it intersected the Victor trail and back to the trading post. It was extremely windy and quite warm. The first trail took us through a valley with palm trees and was quite shaded. The next trail took us high on the ridge where we got the full force of the wind. This gave us a wonderful view of the area with lots of different cactus around us. The rocks are very similar to the Macdonald ranges in Central Australia. We just don’t have any palm trees in that area. It was a great walk and more than enough for our first walk. The final ascent to the trading post (where you begin) is wicked and you really need to rest when you get to the top.
Palm Springs Aerial Tramway takes you from the desert up into the alpine mountains to high altitude in about ten minutes. The tram car rotates so that you can see all around you and it’s a bit disconcerting when you are holding on as it can be a bit bumpy when you go over the pylons, you have to keep moving your hand as the walls move. Once at the top you can watch a movie to see how it was constructed and walk the many trails. There was snow up there when we went and it made it difficult to see where the path went. Luckily we went back early as the final path up to the tramway station is extremely steep after doing some walking. The scenery is spectacular.
 |
| View from the tramcar |
 |
| The trails have snow even though it's over 30C down the bottom |
Indian Canyons: Palm Canyon – Palm Springs
Ranger led walks are only in the morning, so unfortunately we had missed out. We asked the Tribal Ranger what walking trail we should tackle, as everyone has to be out of the park by 5pm. It was after lunch and he chose a loop along the Palm Canyon trail where it intersected the Victor trail and back to the trading post. It was extremely windy and quite warm. The first trail took us through a valley with palm trees and was quite shaded. The next trail took us high on the ridge where we got the full force of the wind. This gave us a wonderful view of the area with lots of different cactus around us. The rocks are very similar to the Macdonald ranges in Central Australia. We just don’t have any palm trees in that area. It was a great walk and more than enough for our first walk. The final ascent to the trading post (where you begin) is wicked and you really need to rest when you get to the top.
 |
| the Palms run along the valley floor, there are lots of walking trails here |
Comments
Post a Comment