We road tripped to Palm Springs from Los Angeles! We only had two days but we managed to do a lot.

We hiked at Tahquitz Canyon, which is a part of the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation. You drive up a long street until you see the visitor center. There is no charge for parking. Since this is on an Indian Reservation, there is an admission fee of $12.50 per adult. The trail is well maintained. There is no shade on the trail but we visited in the evening before they closed so there was little sun left. The last admission onto the trail is 3:30 pm and the visitor center closes at 5 pm. The hike is about 2.5 miles. Typically, there is a waterfall to hike to but it was dry at this time of year. The mountains are stunning and it was beautiful to watch the sun set over the desert. Even if the waterfall is dry, I recommend a hike here. It is not a difficult hike. Instead, it was very relaxing.

Downtown Palm Springs has everything you need for a fun weekend. There are many restaurants, hotels, shops and even a casino. We visited the Downtown area a few times. We ate there, shopped for souvenirs and even gambled at Spa Resort Casino. We didn’t win any money but we had a lot of fun! The souvenir shops are affordable, too. The area was pretty busy when we visited. There seemed to be lots of foot traffic. We found out we had arrived on the same day that Palm Springs Comic-Con started. It took place at the Palm Springs Hard Rock Hotel. We went inside and checked out their collection of memorabilia.

We spent an entire day at Mount Jacinto State Park. We took the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway to the mountain. It is the largest rotating tram in the world. You have to pay to park, which I thought was a bit ridiculous since you have to pay to take the tram up the mountain. You park and then you take a bus to the entrance. You arrive at the visitor center and pay $25.95 for an adult. The admission fee isn’t cheap so I recommend spending a lot of time hiking in the park. We did just that! The tram took us all the way up the mountain. I thought I wasn’t going to be scared of the tram but I actually had hold onto Andrew the entire time. It freaked me out every time the tram swayed! I was relieved to finally get up the mountain. The weather on the mountain is typically about 30-40 degrees cooler so dress accordingly. By evening, it was pretty cold. We were prepared with big jackets and beanies.

Before you start hiking, you have to register at the ranger station. The park ranger was very nice and told us all about the different trails. We opted to do the Round Valley Loop hike that turned into an 8 mile hike because we got lost. We ended up missing a sign and going the wrong way for awhile. It was starting to get dark so I panicked a bit but Andrew is a pretty confident hiker and together, we found our way back just as it got dark. I was so relieved. Besides getting lost, I recommend taking the tram here and hiking all day. Come early in the day so you have plenty of time to find your way if you get lost. We made the dumb mistake of coming too late in the afternoon. Still, we completed our 8 mile hike and it felt pretty good! We took the tram back down, which is included in the $25.95 ticket price.

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