Cactus to Clouds

A friend convinced me we needed an adventure. Every so often he comes up with hair brained schemes and I usually go along.

So last weekend I drove to Palm Springs and did one of the killer "Extreme Day Hikes" in the U.S. - Cactus to Clouds.

The hike is long. You start on the desert floor and climb to 10,804 feet. You gain over 8,000 feet in the first 12 miles. It takes 17.5 miles to reach the summit then another 5.5 miles back to the Tram to get off the mountain.

We started early and in the dark

We were hot and sweaty by the time the sun came up.


One of the unfortunate things about this peak is that there is an easy way to get there. You can take a Tram up most of the mountain and then only hike the last 3 hours. So at the peak there was a crowd of these "Tram" hikers.

We felt cheated that everyone didn't realize we had hiked from the bottom. We wanted some accolades for all our hard work. Next time we are wearing signs proclaiming our feat.


We were the first group to make it from the bottom to the top. We passed groups along the way that had started as early as 12:30am. We started at 5am and made it to the peak at 2:30pm.

One of the harder things I have done.

Now after thumping my chest about my manliness I must admit something. A deep, dark secret that I hid from the guys on this trip lest they tease me.

I brought my own pillow from home.

I am getting old and soft!!!!

But I slept like a baby.