We Did It!

[Sally]

At 2:45 AM, Sat. Nov. 7, my daughter Celeste and our friend Jen hit the Skyline trail. It went up. And up. A few times we got a little confused about which way to go, but thanks to everyone's prior advice (thank you)we managed to find our way. I had a brand new GPS that I never was able to figure out how to load the tracks on, so it wasn't much help, but it was fun to watch the elevation gains we were making on it.

We met Florian as he passed us on his way up, and then again as he passed us on his way back down. Hi Florian!

What happened to the coffee and cinnamon rolls at Flat Rock? I even brought a check for the Search and Rescue guys. Were we too late?

As we neared the top of the tram we encountered the "guys and gals in orange" who encouraged us by saying we were almost there. Then when we topped out at 11:00 AM, there were a couple of people with video cameras and I made a fool of myself when interviewed. Wonder if they are really going to show it on internet?

After that, Celeste, Jen and I agreed that continuing on to the peak was in the cards. We had a rest with refreshments in the tram station. We picked up our permit and also a gentleman named Ike who finished Skyline simultaneously with us (Hi Ike!) and set out for the Peak. Along the way we met Liz (Hi Liz!) After reaching the Peak we turned around and made it back to the tram around 6:30 PM. I think we took the same tram down as Stellar Jay and group (Hi Stellar Jay!)

It was a perfect day in every way. My only regret is that I didn't get to meet more of you hikin' fools. Congratulations to all of you, whether you did 1, 2, or (yikes) 3 ascents!

Sally

[zippetydude]

Congratulations Sally! On a normal weekend, your timing would have made it possible for you to meet almost everyone. As it was, many of us started earlier than normal so we could go a bit slower and save energy for the next trip up, so our paths never crossed. I'm glad you had fun - sounds like everything went right. Probably see you out there on the trail one of these days! Again, great job to you and your group!

z

[Sally]

Thank you, Zip! It was your encouraging words that convinced me to do this trip in the first place. I've been wondering - a year ago, maybe two, at the peak, I shared some of my water with a guy who had hiked up from Palm Springs. He wrote "www.mtsanjacinto.info" on the back of my map. Is there any chance that you were the guy? Or do any of you other guys out there remember doing that? Just wondering!

Sally

[zippetydude]

Nope, that wasn't me. Seems like it was probably someone here though. Hmmm. I wonder if they'll see that and post.

z

[Kevin]

Sally -

I was parked in front of the museum getting my gear around, when 3 women asked me where the trail was. They commented that I must be a hiker since I had a headlamp on. Their car was parked behind mine.

Any chance that was you?

Kevin

[Sally]

Yep, Kevin, that was most likely us! Thank you for showing us the trail. We were clueless!

[bluerail]

Sally, you could have recognized Zip simply by his avatar.

[Sally]

You're right, bluerail! How silly of me!

[zippetydude]

Yes, it's true. Steve is known for his rugged good looks, whereas I'm better known for my love of polyester.

z