To flee the heat, catch the tram and hit the Mt. San Jacinto trail

People of greater Los Angeles, you can daydream about escaping the heat or you can drive east and do it.

Yes, east.

About 100 miles east of Los Angeles City Hall you’ll find the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. And at the top of that 10-minute, $23.95 ride, about 8,500 feet above sea level, you’ll find Mt. San Jacinto State Park. It’s usually 30 degrees cooler than the desert below, often 20 degrees cooler than Los Angeles.

On Tuesday morning, when I made the trip, it was about 80 degrees in Pasadena, about 90 in Palm Springs, about 60 atop the tram. At the top, I checked in at the state park ranger station, then hiked 5 miles on the Round Valley Loop trail. Pine cones underfoot. Leaves going yellow. Battered trunks that have seen it all.

It’s a mostly flat hike, but look at the video --plenty of granite, pines, sky and mountain vistas, along with a few hints of autumn. (For a splashier fall foliage show, however, you’re better off driving up the Owens Valley on U.S. 395.)

Oh, and on the way back from the tram and hike, don’t forget to stop for a date shake at Hadley’s in Cabazon.

“A Minute Away” is a video series in which nothing much happens -- except you see the world, and hear it, and get a minute’s respite from workaday life. (Actually, some are as long as 1:40.) These are casual moments without talking heads or narration – just natural sound from Machu Picchu, Red Square, the Yucatan, an Alaska float plane or the reading room of the New York Public Library. We add new ones weekly, and we’ve got more than 60 of them now, so if you’d prefer a full hour away…