A steep trail near the top Aerial Trams in Palm Springs It was covered with a sponge-like fallen needle and wist-strung pine cone on its ankle. It was also shady, and although it was tough, it felt amazing after the first 7 miles Cloud hiking from cactus Not much was offered bird The value of the remedy of the Leaf.

I was already hiking 7,549 feet vertical feet, and had about 3,000 to get to the top of Mount San Jacinto, a granite rock mountain that towers just west of Palm Springs, California.

For this, I chose the third time from the cactus to the cloud hike, and I chose the day in mid-November, but the conditions were perfect. The 22-mile hike has risen from the desert floor to a 10,834-foot peak, then six miles and 2,400-foot vertical feet, reaching a $14 ride.

I started trekking at an altitude of 482 feet near the Palm Springs Museum Immediately after sunrise At 6:41am, carrying enough water to continue to the first water source, the 8,400-foot ranger station, I packed some jackets to deal with the swing of wild temperatures from bottom to top.

People have many reasons to try cacti on clouds. This is one of the most biodiversity hikes in the country. It is a rare wilderness experience on the edge of an urban area. But more than anything, there is the pure boldness of the hiking. In my previous ascension, each of them was motivated by the idea that, following the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, divorce and completion of treatment for stage 3 breast cancer, I was not sorry for myself by committing myself to this challenge. And what if I made it? Well, that was proof that I could handle anything.

This time my MS was in remission, my marriage was fulfilling, and I had been cancer-free for almost nine years. More than 15 years after the first cactus to the clouds, it was finally about the landscape, not me. I had hidden pocket guides to plants in the San Jacinto Mountains and had planned to take some time to stop the cedars and smell them.

The cloud route from full cactus is only very suitable, but you can also hike that section. Walk one mile from the trailhead to the picnic area and look back. Or take the tram and take the Top Station, then climb the summit on Mount San Jacinto. You can also trek to the top of the tram and then take it on and save the next day’s summit, as you did this time due to sudden leg pain. Each offers you the chance to find eternal views of the Coachella Valley, as well as the Cactus Lens, the Cooper Hawks and the Golden Eagles.

Mount San Jacinto is not particularly noticeable, but the difference in altitude from the base to the summit is the case. The mountain rises approximately 10,400 feet over approximately six horizontal miles. This sudden trend explains the unusual species of life of plants passing through four life zones, apart from the roughly climbing equivalent of Mount Everest.

The trail begins between desert species such as barrel cactus and creosote, and then Chaparal, Scrub oak and Manzanita. After that, the pine forests mix together. At the summit, the trees are shorter, collected and included by altitude and elements. Pines on the arms and legsthrives in places that are hardly anywhere else.

“The environment and lifestyle look very different from the top of Mount San Jacinto in the desert of Colorado Sonoran,” he said. Conservation Biology Center A few days before hiking at the University of California, Riverside. But the most interesting is the zones between the zones, she said. “That’s where it is the most biodiversity is.”

Davis was right. Between 7,000 and 8,000 feet, the green smelled a variety of things, resulting in an incredible array of shapes, textures, hues and sizes. It was like hiking a bowl of mixed salad greens: cedar, manzanita, oak, agave Jeffrey Pines Add a butterscotch hint into the air.

Conditions that make cactus prominent towards the clouds dangerous. The trail hiker died of dehydration and exposure. “We take one deadly a year,” said volunteer Eric Holden. Riverside Mountain Rescueone of four search and rescue teams to deal with hikers suffering on the route.

To protect both hikers and rescuers, Mount San Jacinto State Park In summer, parts of the route were closed under authority (three digit temperatures at the bottom) and winter (snow and frozen conditions at the top). In 2024, the trail closed in early July and reopened on November 4th.

There is little shade for the first 7,000 feet and no ten miles of water. “One of the biggest killers is a hiker who has come to realize he has no physical fitness and is beginning to turn around,” Holden said. “It might be cool when it started at 3am, but now I’m not feeling well and I’m hiking to temperatures that could go above 100 degrees.”

In winter, snow can make it difficult to track. In particular, at 1,000 feet, 1,000 feet below the top of the tram, hikers are stuck on a cliff. I stayed on the path of this section by following my previous GPS tracks from cactus to cloud hiking.

Backpacker magazine Call the cactus to cloud the hike on the fifth most difficult day in America. Most hikers take 12-16 hours. I tried to entertain myself from the relentless climb by identifying exactly which species of Manzanita was scratching my feet, but it did so much to deflect me. I sat down, sitting on a flat rock 6,000 feet above the trailhead, next to either a pink business or a green leaf manzanita.

At least I was hiking uphill. Most veteran hikers understand that while ascending is a tough job, going downhill is a real punishment. In fact, there are clouds from cactus to clouds. Because much of the descent occurs on the streetcars.

“We were dedicated to hikers and were always looking for challenges,” said Sue Birnbaum, one of the six members of the group. Coachella Valley Hiking Club He was the first person to complete the annual Cactus to Clouds Challenge in 1993.

The challenge linked three existing trails, which are “extraordinary super day hikes.” The Museum, Skyline and Mount San Jacin To Peak Trail go beyond a mixture of local, state and federal land and property owned by the Agua Caliente India reservations, which have been operating since 1963.

Above the world

One paradox of cactus to clouds: better if there are no clouds. They obscure the scenery and sometimes the trail itself. This rise held a different kind of paradox for me too. It was the first time I’d hiked separately on the summit trail, but as I listened to my body and spared my legs, I felt a surge in pride.

Against the Pacific panorama, sparkling Salton Sea, and the peaks of the terrible sacred Takitz, spectacular cauliflower-shaped clouds floated thousands of feet below. At about 90 minutes of sunset, they caught and reflected the shades you can usually see in a mango ice cream scoop.

Despite the warm orange radiating across the sky, the summit was frozen and gusts of wind had collapsed. I was tied up in three jackets containing a hooded, swollen coat and would have happily accepted another. So I wanted as much as I wanted to last longer, and I wanted even more to avoid frostbite.

I headed back from the rocks back onto the trail and turned myself towards the tram and across the cluster of things I had identified. Bush Chin Capin. My pocket guide said the fruit tastes like chestnuts. The next time you do the cactus on the clouds, always stop and try it.

If you’re going

The trail is located just north of the Palm Springs Museum, approximately 6.5 miles from the foot of the tram car. After the hike, you can use ride services such as Uber or Lyft to return to the trailhead parking lot.