| Where is Mt. San Jacinto and the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway? As the bird flies, it lies roughly 90 miles South-East of Los Angeles or about 97 South-East miles from my home in Gardena. In the map below, look for the red flag on right-hand side. |
Introduction:
There are not many places in the world were one can terrestrially scale five different temperate zones in 10 minutes. The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway -- considered by some to be one of the world's greatest wonders -- passes through five unique life zones: Mexican Sonoran (desert) to Hudsonian-Canadian (Arctic/Alpine). Reaching an elevation of 8,516 at the Upper-Level Mountain Station, the amusement-park-like tram ride ascends nearly 6,000 feet and covers a distance of almost 2 1/2 miles. From the Upper Station, one can hike to many interesting areas including the summit of Mt. San Jacinto; at 10,831 ft, it is the second highest mountain in Southern California. It's amazing that one can ski within three miles of a Southwestern-U.S. desert!
2005-10-12: (below) Mount San Jacinto seen from airplane.
| 2005-05-24: (below) Panoramic view of the Coachella
Valley from Grubb's View, located at the Palm Springs Tramway Mountain
Station, at an elevation of 8,516 ft. There can be snow present at this
elevation, depending upon time of year. Today was quite warm, however,
and not windy -- not typical weather for
this location at this time of year. Some haze present
also obscures distant landmarks such as the Salton Sea and the Mojave Desert.
Notice
the
wind farm
near
the San Gorgonio Mountain Pass -- it contains more than
4,000
separate
windmills
and provides enough electricity to power Palm Springs and the entire Coachella
Valley. Also note San Gorgonio mountain on the extreme left-hand side of
the panorama. This is the highest mountain in Southern California, roughly
11,500 ft. Even in SoCal in late May weather, many areas above 8,000 are
snow-covered. <---- Scroll this image left to right to see all ----> |
2005-10-02: (below) A view from Grubb's View on a clearer day. This
assembled panorama is comprised of several 55 mm frames unlike the panorama
above, which is comprised of several 18 mm (wide-angle) frames.
<---- Scroll this image left
to right to see all ---->
| 2005-05-24: (below) Another panoramic view of the Coachella
Valley, this time from the restaurant terrace, about 20 feet below from
Grubb's View point (above). This terrace gives a slightly better view of
the Palm Springs area. Also note a glimpse of the docked tram car on the
extreme left-hand side. <---- Scroll this image left to right to see all ----> |
| 2005-05-24: (below) Looking West at Mt. San Jacinto's peak, from the Grubb's View point. The peak, at 10,834 ft, is roughly 5 miles from this location. San Jacinto is quite a rocky and rugged mountain as may be noted by the large boulders (red arrows). |
Technical:
All images -- except second panorama -- photographed with a Canon Digital Rebel 300 EOS camera. Focus: manual. All other parameters: manual. A tripod was also used. Second panorama's images were taken handheld using a Canon A80 in full Auto mode.
Panoramas created with Pano Tool Assembler. Final tweaking and editing done with Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0.