We took in the view and then hurried back down to the tram and I reached the door to the building in 9 hours 43 minutes (excluding the breaks I mentioned). In total my watch read 11,431 feet over 19.5 miles. I carried about 13lbs in my pack (no camera, warm clothing, 3.5L of water, snacks) and I drank about 2.75L of water on the day.
While this was a super tough day I’m not sure it was more physically demanding than the full day
Presidential Traverse in NH (roughly 8,200 feet) or a 7,000 foot day in CO due to the flat and steady terrain on C2C. There’s really no significant scrambles or any boulder hopping on C2C. It’s always hard making a direct comparison though.
The tram station has a cafe, gift shop, and is full of tourists.
It’s super easy to buy the $16 ticket at the station and the tram runs every ~20 minutes until 9:30pm. The tram is only a 10 minute ride down the mountain (much faster than the 5 hours it took to climb up it) and you can grab an Uber back to the trailhead from the station.
Palm Springs was overrun with their Christmas parade. I quickly got a beer at
Las Palmas Brewing, a burrito down the street, and got the hell out of there. I ventured out to Joshua Tree to enjoy the clear night skies before camping at a BLM site just north of the park.