Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

The Coachella Valley is a rift valley created from the seismic activity of the San Andreas Faultline that runs directly through it. Because of this, the San Jacinto and San Bernardino mountains that border it are some of the most topographically prominent in the entire country, and San Jacinto Peak rises starkly out of the desert floor to some 10,000 feet above sea level. Reaching the top is an achievement rewarded by a view that even famed naturalist John Muir called "the most sublime spectacle to be found anywhere on this earth!"

Luckily, climbing “San Jack” no longer requires quite the training regimen it did back in they day of Muir. Now, catching that gorgeous view requires little more than a ride on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, the largest tramway in the world. The trip from the desert floor to Mountain Station is a vertical rise of over 8,500 feet and takes 12 minutes, passing through a full 5 different biomes on its way up the sheerest mountain face in North America.

There’s plenty to do from the top as well. From Mountain Station, the San Jacinto Peak summit is only a climb of another 1,500 feet. There’s a restaurant called Peaks up there, as well as a bar called the Lookout Lounge. And because the temperature can be up to 40 degrees colder at the top, there is typically snow at the top during winter.