Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

On a cloudy Palm Springs, California morning I made my way to the Aerial Tramway to get a few shots of the San Jacinto mountains and the Valley Station designed by Albert Frey. Constructed in the early 1960s, the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway is regarded as an engineering marvel because of its place in the rugged Chino Canyon. It's currently the largest rotating tramway in the world and takes travelers from the desert to an alpine landscape in mere minutes.

I couldn't come back to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway without thinking about my previous visits. On both our road trips through California, my friend Dave and I visited the tramway to get views of the Coachella valley. During our first visit in 2009 I captured a bit of video of what the experience was like, and it's still one of my favorite clips of that trip. It's funny how so many memories come flooding back just by being in the same spot again. I reflected on Dave's passing, and as the view became obscured by a sea of white as I reached the peak, there was something almost heavenly about hiking above the clouds.