We Are By Ourselves, A Novel Concept!
It was a magnificent day once we got out of the LA basin (where is was cold and foggy). Palm Springs was in the 80's and the top of the mountain (San Jacinto) was about 55 degrees when we took our walk.
The trip took the expected two hours and we did not stop a single time once we got onto the 405 in Seal Beach! Great trip!
Did You Know? - The San Jacinto Mountains (Avii Hanupach in Mojave) are a mountain range east of Los Angeles in southern California in the United States. The mountains are named for Saint Hyacinth (San Jacinto in Spanish).
Paul dropped Sue off at the main entrance so we could get our tickets for 11:00 am
Neat building and the waiting area spans the stream that comes off the mountain
It was a good walk from the parking lot to the waiting room
The trapezoidal windows were interesting
Did You Know? - In Euclidean geometry, a convex quadrilateral with at least one pair of parallel sides is referred to as a trapezoidin American and Canadian English but as a trapezium in English outside North America. The parallel sides are called the bases of the trapezoid and the other two sides are called the legs or the lateral sides (if they are not parallel; otherwise there are two pairs of bases). A scalene trapezoid is a trapezoid with no sides of equal measure, in contrast to the special cases below.
Look carefully and you can see the car coming down the cable
The car loaded weighs in at 35,600lbs
Some modernization - HDTV camera in the machine room
so people
going up can see what is pulling them!
We felt a bit safer when we saw the size of the cables
The gondola is ready to go.... So are we
Look at the bottom of the gondola... The dark item is where water and other
materials needed at the top are stored
Here We Go!
Did You Know? - The twelve-and-a-half minute ride begins at the Valley Station (coordinates: 33.8372°N 116.6142°WCoordinates: 33.8372°N 116.6142°W) at 2,643 ft (806 m) and passes up North America's sheerest mountain face through five life zones (biomes) on its way to the Mountain Station (coordinates: 33.8130°N 116.6385°W) at 8,516 ft (2,596 m) above mean sea level. Travelers start in the Sonoran Desert and arrive at an alpine forest.
We are off and running
Looks like a mechanical monster... It is!
You can see the windows of the waiting area to the left of the mechanisms
Keeps getting smaller as we rise
Did You Know? - The floor of the 18-foot-diameter (5.5 m) aerial tram-cars rotates constantly, making two complete revolutions throughout the duration of the journey so that the passengers can see in all directions without moving. With a maximum capacity of 80 passengers it is the largest of the three rotating aerial trams in the world.
The valley appears below
Our shadow look pretty small
White knuckle time
The helicopter platform is always amazing to us
SNOW!!!
Everybody looks!
We Arrive At The Top
Did You Know? - Passengers disembark at the Mountain Station in the alpine wilderness of Long Valley and Mount San Jacinto State Park. The air can be as much as 40° F (22° C) cooler at the top than in the desert.
Up to go to the food!
We never noticed that before.... Might be new!
The Peak Restaurant
View from our table
Did You Know? - A Culinary Experience Above the Clouds. The chefs have created a menu featuring a variety of fresh vegetables and greens from the Coachella Valley, dry aged meats and poultry along with fresh breads from local bakeries.
Champagnew was the first order of business
The Greek salad was super!
TIme For Our Walk
Wild animals everywhere... Mostly humans
The sky at 8,500 feet is so blue at the start of our mandatory stroll
to the meadow behind the station
There was snow in the shady areas
Did You Know? - Once on the ground, snow can be categorized as powdery when light and fluffy, fresh when recent but heavier, granular when it begins the cycle of melting and refreezing, and eventually ice once it comes down, after multiple melting and refreezing cycles, into a dense mass called snow pack.
Were it was always shady the snow was soft
The Mountain Station is beginning to look small
Too hard to make a snowman
Sue gave it her best shot but something was just not right
Not a lot of people today... Only the young ones go to the bottom (except for us)
The rails were warm/hot where the sun was
shinning and ice-cold when in the shadows
"Wait for Paul.... Are you running away from home?"
Here she comes... I think I can... I think I can
Bet that rock is "colder than a well diggers butt"
The old man of the mountain
Thank you to the nice lady from Kansas who came out
to spend a week playing golf!
We almost got our feet in the picture.... INside joke
On our way back up the mountain...
Back Inside... Time For A Glass Of Wine
Warm inside... Cool outside
There departing every 20 minutes so it was easy getting down
View from the bar... Snow was all over but not deep
Fascinating machinery
Here we go!
Stainless steel everywhere
A mechanical engineers nightmare
Goodbye snow
Hard to believe these we all flat and at the bottom of the sea at one time
Dang trees will grow anywhere!
The Cochella Valley is beneath us
The towers are anchored well into the granite mountain
Did You Know? - The word "granite" comes from the Latin granum, a grain, in reference to the coarse-grained structure.
Pretty lonely up there
Down through the gulley we go
We are actually being pulled down by this station!
The yellow device is used to load supplies, water tanks and other consummables
onto the gondolas to supply the Mountain Station
Water is loaded into tanks for the mountain top...
Several hundred gallons at a time
The doors will open soon and we can escape!
We Are Down... Time For A Drive
The stream runs under the waiting area
Looking down into the Cochella Valley
Did You Know? - The valley connects with the Greater Los Angeles area to the west via the San Gorgonio Pass, a major transportation corridor that includes I-10 and the Union Pacific Railroad.
Populated by nearly 600,000 people, the valley is part of the 13th-largest metropolitan area in the United States, the Inland Empire. The famous desert resort cities of Palm Springs and Palm Desert lie in the Coachella Valley.
Wind turbines everywhere
As of 2010... P.S.
Hoover Dam's own operations
is a maximum capacity of 2080 megawatts.
Driving Home
Sue spotted the Elks Sign on the main drag so we decided to go visit them! Wow! What a friendy bunch of folks! We had a couple of drinks and met nice people from Canada and Minnesota... Escaping the snow!
They also have dancing so we will come see them again.
67491 East Palm Canyon Drive, Cathedral City, CA 92234
Wonderful visit with very nice people
We took Highway 74 over the mountain... An Amazing sunset!
The stars were just coming out
Phoenix Club Here We Come
It's a "Don't ask .. Don't tell" moment
Acutally it looks good on him
Jan and Sue are having fun
Irene and Mike
