"Cactus to Clouds Hike (Well....almost....)" Palm Springs Travelogue by bruingirl

Desert Museum is where the trailhead begins. We parked our cars here and started the trek up the huge mountain! By 9am, we had hiked up 4,000 feet or so!! If you are going to tackle this hike, do not do it in the summer where the temperatures can get up to 120 degrees!! And remember, the key is to have plenty of water because there is NO water on this hike. You MUST be in great physical condition to do this.

Michelle and Rick are way ahead of me!

The first biome we encountered was desert. Everything was dry and dusty. There were strange, poisonous looking spiders and lizards scampering around the trail. There was nothing but little bushes and cacti here and there.

Taking a little rest break

The next biome we encountered was most likened to chaparral! We started seeing wildflowers blooming around us in vibrant shades of purple, yellow, and white! There were manzanita trees and red rocks along the hike. We started seeing more dense trees instead of squat little bushes!

Lunch time!!

It seemed like forever and a day before we finally stopped for lunch! I started to think that maybe this WASN'T such a good idea! We had been hiking for about 4.5hrs and I thought I was going to die! It was so nice and peaceful as we sat on this huge rock and consumed some fuel for our bodies! I could have stayed on that nice, sunny rock for the rest of the afternoon! :)

Just a few more miles to go!!! 4,000 feet to go!!

After lunch, the next leg of our journey began as we continue to ascend further up into the San Jacinto Mountains. Up here, there was a definite change in both temperature and ecological system. We started seeing bluebirds and pine trees! There was still snow on the ground!! Imagine that! Starting off in desert and ending up in snow!

Are we there yet???

We took this last rest break, before scrambling up these boulders. We thought we should take a quick breather before ascending 2,000 feet in one mile!! Needless to say, it was pretty steep! We were all wondering when this would end!

Pretty far up, don't you think?

We finally made it to Long Valley where the Palm Springs tram stops. The tram starts at the bottom of the mountain and makes its way up here. Being the crazy people that we are, we thought we would hike this whole mountain instead of taking the tram up!!!! :) See how high up we are now???

View of the mountain from the bottom

The cables in the picture are for the tram that we took to get back to the ground. I still can't believe we hiked all the way up there!!