With so much snow around from the Thanksgiving storm, it seemed like a prime opportunity to go play in the snow. Thinking that the local mountains would probably be a mess of poorly skilled drivers, we opted to go up the Palm Springs Tramway instead. Arriving a few minutes before 8a was sufficient to get us on the second gondola to the top (by 3pm it would be a 3.5hr wait!). The scenery up the gondola was impressive as always: seeming more in place in Patagonia than southern California.
Once off the tram, we ambled down the slippery icy switchbacked path to the forest's edge. 2 ft of snow! We went for an out-and-back to Round Valley and had a snack at one of the campsites there. The weather was pleasant enough and the snow conditions were decently firm with some snowshoes underfoot. We saw few people on the way there but on the return we passed many people aiming to summit San Jacinto Peak. Effortwise I feel like we could have easily done it but we hadn't really aimed to spend the whole day out.
No wait to get down the tram, we dropped back down to the low desert. We had a particularly tasty lunch in Palm Springs and then headed back to Riverside. A nice little excursion.
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