Chino Canyon is a 5.5-mile-long (8.9 km) desert canyon in Riverside County, California, United States. It is one of the steepest canyons in North America, dropping from over 8,500 feet (2,600 m) at the south rim to less than 2,700 feet (820 m) on the valley floor in less than a mile. The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway was built in the canyon in 1963 to quickly transport people from the valley floor to the top of the mountain.[1] After it was redesigned in 2000, it became the largest rotating aerial tramway in the world.
Chino Canyon is a desert canyon fed by springs. These produce a waterfall and a stream that peaks out at about 5.4 ft3 per second (0.15 m3 per second). The stream flows under the Aerial Tramway Valley Station and later dries up about 3.5 miles down the canyon.[2]