Cactus to Clouds, Saturday, October 16, 2010

[Rick F]

Joined by my friends Tom and Chris we set out on an ambitious attempt to make a full C2C2C (Cactus to Clouds to Cactus) sans Aerial Tramway. We did made it to the summit but we unanimously decided to take the tram down.

We got rooms in Palm Springs for Friday & Saturday nights. We got up at 2:00 a.m., left the room at 3:00 a.m., left the trailhead at the museum at 3:30 a.m., passed through Grubs Notch at 11:00 a.m., took an hour break at Long Valley Ranger Station, left Long Valley at 12:30 p.m., arrived at the summit 3:30 p.m., left the summit at 4:00 p.m., arrived at the Tram at 6:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. was my cut-off, latest departure time to hike back down Skyline.)

After taking the tram down and getting a cab ride back to the condo for recovery beverages & showers, we had dinner at Hamburger Mary's. Palm Canyon Drive in downtown was closed for the Biker street fair.

When we left the Museum in the morning, we saw one group of three getting ready to start and we saw three head-lamps up ahead of us. The group ahead of us was moving at faster pace and we never caught them. Between Flatrock and the notch we leap-frogged with two other groups and two solo hikers. Later we saw the solo hikers and one of the groups on their way down from the summit. One of the solo hikers met his wife at Long Valley and they hiked to the summit together. (Coincidentally, my friend Chris saw a college class-mate of his at Round Valley, small world.) Since we were on the trail between Wellman Junction and the summit later in the day, there were a lot of people already going down, making it necessary to do lots of yeilding and passing. On our way down there was only one group of boy-scouts headed up.

It was about 70 degrees in Palm Springs when we started. As we approached the summit it got cloudy and much cooler. It was cool with no wind at the summit.

This was my first Cactus to Clouds trip. I'd been thinking about this and trying to work out an opportunity to try it for a few years. I was very fortunate to have my friends Tom and Chris join me. Despite our range of ages (22, 36 & 53) we were very compatible hiking partners.

This was the most challenging, longest day-hike with the most vertical gain I've ever done in a single day. Over the 13 hour, 24 mile journey, I drank 10 liters of water. For our next attemp of a full C2C2C I'll need to carry more food or have someone meet us at Long Valley to re-supply us with food.

[lilbitmo]

Nice job Rick I know you've wanted to do this for sime time now.

Great TR, winter is just around the corner, we'll see you out there soon.

[Sally]

Congratulations, Rick! Sounds like you had a great day. I'm always amazed at all the "passing and yielding" one does on a weekend as I do most of my hiking on weekdays and actually enjoy coming upon an occassional hiker.

[Ellen]

Howdy Rick

Congratulations!!! I had hoped to do a C2C yesterday and wound up with a C2B

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[Hikin_Jim]

Congrats, Rick. A C2C is a heck of an accomplishment. The last 2C in a C2C2C is for madmen anyway.

Congratulations!!! I had hoped to do a C2C yesterday and wound up with a C2B

Oh, sure, Ellen, like you were really disappointed. Now, let's see, who came up with the term C2B in the first place?

HJ

[SDathlete]

Congrats Rick! Great job!

[Rick F]

Patrick, Ellen, Sally, Jim, SD,

Thanks for the acknowledgement. It's a very gratifying hike. For Chris and I, this was our second trip up Skyline. It was Tom's first. We were hoping for faster times and to complete the round trip without the tram. Now we have a great reason to train harder and try it again. We're thinking about doing just the 11 miles up and 11 miles down Skyline as a next step before trying a full C2C2C. That way we'll know how it feels going down the steeper sections.