Let’s face it; the temperatures do go up during the summer in the Desert, particularly in the month of August.  Enjoyable outdoor time is limited to early mornings, unless you have what’s in my wallet.  (No, it isn’t Capital One… silly.)

Well, I procrastinated as long as I could, and this summer took the plunge, or should I say leap, I’m not sure which… let me think about it… anyway, I bought a summer pass (a plastic card I keep in my wallet) for the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway; I guess I could have said it either way, or maybe even climb (I took the climb; no that doesn’t quite work). 

I am here to tell you that it is really cool (in more ways than one) to sit out on the Mountain Station’s balcony deck 8,500 feet up, and look out at the expanse of the Coachella Valley below, just slowly relaxing and put off deciding which Tram Car to take back down.  (Oh my gosh, I procrastinate up there too.)  On a number of occasions I have taken the last car down at 10:30 p.m.; if you are a straggler the station personnel kind of herds you on the car, because it is time for many of them to go home, too.

But before that happens, if you are sitting out on the deck of the mountain station between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m., the same raccoon comes along looking for leftovers or a handout.  One of his favorite “begging” spots is along the balcony rail where he can stand on his hind legs (on the outside of the railing) just enough to stick his paws through and make a grab for anything that may have fallen off someone’s plate to the concrete deck.  It just so happens (and maybe not by accident) that there is a sign over his head at this location, attached to the railing which says, “Do not feed the wildlife.”  You know, I don’t think he can read, because he keeps showing up there night after night.

Waite, I haven’t gotten to the cute part yet… I want to tell you about taking sunflower kernels and nuts for him eat (this was subsequent to figuring out that Fritos were probably not included in the raccoon healthy food pyramid).  The cute part is that the raccoon is so habituated that he will eat from your hand!  What he does is to put both of his hands (paws?) palm down in your’s to balance himself, and then he takes one of his hands and picks up the nuts or whatever, and puts them in his mouth continuing like this until the contents of your hand is emptied.  He is a wild animal, so I don’t suggest that anyone do this, but it is kind of fun to have a PG-14 petting zoo experience.

I think I have to balance this entry by suggesting if you would like to hike in the pine forest park, there are a couple of fairly easy walking trails of one to two miles that you can take once up there. The web site has detailed information and you can talk to the Park Rangers at their office about what might best suit you for a nature experience.

What I see a lot of as it gets dark are the rock climbers returning to the station.  Their equipment packs are very large and usually square and they have their arms though shoulder straps.  I have to laugh when I think of it  now, but the first time a group of tired, sweaty, dusty late-teens to twenties passed me on the trail coming back to the station I thought the big square packs looked like folded up mats, and I couldn’t figure out why they would be doing Yoga or Pilates in the mountains.

Changing the subject from my obvious lack of mountaineering equipment knowledge… riding on the new tram cars is really quite a unique experience. The floor rotates around the interior of the tram (just the floor, the outside walls don’t move).  As you slowly turn you get a panoramic view of the mountain and desert below. What was even more surprising to me was to find the new Tram Car and station announcement narration was recorded by Ed Kibby, long time desert radio newsman and personality. I have lost track of what he has been doing lately. 

I knew Ed way back when we were both young and hansom; well at least I was young, he was comparatively old, and I don’t think either one of us were all that hansom.  To tell you the truth I am getting a little sick of Ed, after hearing the same monolog over and over and over; I wish he would get some new material or change it up with guest narrators, something.

You will be glad to hear this is also the last time you will have to suffer through another tram blog entry for a while (for those of you that have made it this far), because at the end of August my card expires.  I was thinking about re-upping for a full year, so the raccoon doesn’t go hungry, but then I can’t decide (oops, there I go again).