Back in 2009, during one of my first visits to Palm Springs, I did what tourists do: I rode the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.
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circa 2009
The sign at North Palm Canyon Drive and Tramway Road advertised "Rotating Tram Cars"—and I figured it was a scenic way to get to a cooler elevation during the summer heat of June. (Besides, I was also lured by the Albert Frey-designed former gas station, which had been transformed into a visitors' center.)
circa 2009
circa 2009
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At the Valley Station of the aerial tramway (that is, the bottom one, designed by architects Albert Frey and Robson C. Chambers), there's a historic tram car that was in use from opening date in 1963 until its retirement in 2000. This blue one was nicknamed "Coffman" after Tramway supporter Earl Coffman; another red one stationed down Tramway Road near the parking areas was nicknamed "Crocker" after "father of the Tramway" Francis Crocker. (These are later colors, as they were a golden yellow on opening day.)
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There are still two tram cars that run up and down Mount San Jacinto—but they're both a metallic gold color (and as far as I know, don't have nicknames).
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They travel through what's known as Chino Canyon—a feat that, when it debuted in 1963, was the longest and steepest of its kind in the world.
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The tram car appears to get startlingly close to the rocky mountain cliffs on either side...
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...and what begins as a smooth ride gets a little bumpy when passing the towers (which range from 65 feet to 227 feet tall), as the haul ropes churn through the tower sheaves.
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But it's amazingly scenic, with the Palm Springs city grid disappearing from view and the striations of generations of rock intermingling with a strip of green growth after a wet spring.
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Back in 2009, when I reached the top, I took a nature walk with a naturalist through Mount San Jacinto State Park's Long Valley with a volunteer docent. After that, at some point also buying a souvenir ornament, I just came back down the mountain and went on with my day.
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circa 2021
But I've made a habit of visiting that Tramway gas station whenever I'm coming into town, as new signage has gone up...
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...and more and more people discover "Desert Modern" architecture and the aerial tramway, an engineering marvel that still takes visitors and locals alike up close to San Jacinto Peak.
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Not satisfied with my daytime excursion, I'd wanted to experience the aerial tramway at sunset or at night...
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...both of which I just got to do, 14 years later, when I was visiting a friend who was in Palm Springs on a business trip, and who had another friend who offered to take us up.
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I think the first time around I didn't fully appreciate the enormity of the project to build the tramway—an idea that began in 1935 and was originally dubbed "Crocker's Folly."
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It was entirely funded by private bonds—no public money at all—which is a testament to the faith that the local community had in the project, and to the demand for a way to climb the sheer cliffs to get to a snowy, Alpine mountaintop (especially during those sweltering summer months in the Sonoran Desert).
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Dangling from a cable is thrilling enough—but yes, those Swiss-made cars from the year 2000 also rotate (at the time, and maybe even still, the world's largest rotating tram cars), giving you a 360-degree view of undeveloped, open space along the entire journey.
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Whether you're facing up-mountain or down-mountain...
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...it's astounding how everything but the Valley Station was built with the help of turbo-charged helicopters, which were the only thing that could fly the rugged terrain and which airdropped both workers and supplies, as there are no roads anywhere along the way.
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The entire one-way trip takes about 10 minutes to travel 2.5 miles...
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...ascending 5873 feet of elevation, from 2643 feet at the bottom to 8516 feet at the top.
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At the Mountain Station (designed by architect E. Stewart Williams), there's a cafeteria/cafe, a bar, and a fine-dining restaurant (supplies for which must be brought up by the aerial tramway itself, as there's still no other way to the top besides a lengthy hike from Idyllwild)...
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...but the main attraction is really the view...
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...with that pink parfait sky settling into the horizon as night creeps forth.
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It can be 30 degrees cooler up there than it is down below, which accounts for the snow (and the popularity of sledding, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing up there).
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Otherwise, unless you're dining or hiking, there's not much else to do up there besides take a deep breath of cool, clean, mountain air, snap as many pics as you can, commit the thing to memory, and head back down.
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But not before taking a peek into the engine room and the mechanism that's kept it all running since 2000.
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The rotating tram ride down the mountain at night is wild—as the conductor turns the overhead music up and turns the tram car into a dark, spinning orb over a disco-lit city grid and under a deep blue velvet sky.
For more on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, which some consider the "8th Wonder of the World," watch the video above.
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