Darin, with something highly reflective on his shirt, and Mike waiting for the next tram. We aimed for the 8:30 AM tram but ended up on the 9AM. That still gave us plenty of time for the hike. I think it took us 3 hours and 15 minutes to reach the summit and almost 3 hours to hike back down. We spent almost an hour at the top to eat, relax, adjust our boots and apply blister pads.
I have always wanted to ride the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, however, I must admit I was a little nervous about the heights. The base of the tram is at 2500 feet, and the top around 8400 feet, plus the ride takes you up straight up the face of the mountain. I was glad that the height didn't bother me at all. In fact, the 15 minute ride to the top was enjoyable. The tram rotates 360 degrees during the ascent, so you have a full view of the surrounding valley and mountains during the ride without having to even move. The trip down was even more fun. Just after the tram passed each support, it dropped slightly, but just enough to give you that "funny" feeling in your stomach, like a roller-coaster.
As you can see, I'm all prepared for a long hike. Notice the knee braces. I'm not sure how well they worked, but for the first time my knees did NOT hurt during the hike back down. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised how well I did on the ascent. I didn't slow Mike and Darin down, at least not because of my knee pain like last year, where I could barely walk the last mile. I guess the physical therapy is already working. Thank you, Dr. White. What hurt me the most was where my boots rubbed against my feet. I was wearing new socks that fit tighter that my previous ones, which should have helped prevent them from slipping and causing blisters. I didn't wear the inner, silk liner socks this time. I might take the boots back in for one more adjustment, plus I need to apply a leather softener they sold me at A16 and that might help too.
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