Hiking the Cactus to Clouds Route in Palm Springs, Calif.

The steep trail near the top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway was covered in inches of spongy fallen needles and peppered with ankle-twisting pine cones. It was also shady, which felt remarkable after the first seven miles of the grueling Cactus to Clouds hike offered little more than a brittlebush leaf’s worth of relief.I had already hiked up 7,549 vertical feet and still had about 3,000 to go to the top of…