Upper Tram to Peak 6-4-10

[nihkon]

Me and my girlfriend vacationed in Palm Springs this past week. We're from Orange County and we hike our local "mountains" most weekends. Hiking from the Upper Tram Station to the Peak has been on our to-do list for a long time now. This was our first time attempting the hike.

Our unfamiliarity with the trail and the snow on the ground caused us to lose the trail many times before we decided to play it smart and call it a day. We don't have snow equipment, and we didn't want to be one of "those people" on the news getting airlifted off the mountain. lol!

We did manage to make it somewhere between Round Valley and Wellman's Junction before turning around....just about 9200 ft according to my GPS. At that elevation there was too much snow and we just couldn't find the trail any more.

Here are a few pictures from our trek....

We've been on the Desert View trail a few times in the past, in the late Summer. It was nice to see so much water in Long Valley this time:


Passing through some snow on the way to Round Valley:


The snow got pretty dense just before Round Valley. We completely lost the trail:


We ended up entering Round Valley through the North end of the big meadow (or as my girlfriend referred to it....the "Twilight Meadow." [facepalm])


On our way back we got this nice view of the Peak from the "High Trail":


And here's a random one...playing on the rocks:

[Pack_Envy]

Hi Nikhon,

Nice pics. My girlfriend and I also visiting Palm Springs attempted the hike on June 5 last weekend. We also made it to Wellman Divide. It was my first time hiking here and decided to call it a day once we made it to the saddle. Lots of snow still made it really hard to find the trail and I was post holing and slipping and sliding pretty good at some spots. Still we had a great time and enjoyed the cooler weather up there rather than the 107 degrees at the valley below.

[tinaballina]

Very nice pics...thank you for sharing.

[guest]

Nice photos & tr, hard to believe there's still a lot of snow up higher this time of year.
Nice to know the streams will flow well into the summer!

ss

[Topper]

nihkon,

Going to re-attempt Tram to Summit in late June (didn't make it on 5/20) and I'm still worried about the friggin snow. Crazy.

Can't imagine what the pacific crest trail hikers must be thinking about their planned summer trips.......late start this summer.

I am also from Orange County (north)......have you done Santiago Peak via Holy Jim Trail? Supposedly a 16 miler w/4000ft elevatio gain.

Thanks for the informative hike report.

Topper