Heading up to spend Saturday night in Tamarack Valley

[simonov]

The weather forecast has gotten worse all week, though the wind forecast relaxed a little in the last 24 hours. There is supposed to be some snow accumulation tonight:

Tonight: A 30 percent chance of snow after 11pm. Increasing clouds, with a low around 39. South wind around 20 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.

And then during the day there will be some more:

Saturday: A 50 percent chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 47. Windy, with a west wind between 25 and 30 mph, with gusts as high as 50 mph. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.

I am taking a group up, some of them beginner backpackers. I am not worried about being snowed on, or about the cold, but high winds can make the entire trip pretty miserable. I am hoping, however, that the forecast is more for the ridges and there would be a lot less wind down in Tamarack Valley. Also, if it's a west wind, Mt San Jacinto ought to shield us a bit, no?

Anyone have anything to say about that?

Also, does anyone foresee any difficulties in hiking or navigation on Saturday given the light snow accumulation from tonight?

[bluerail]

Down in the trees in Tamarack you should be fine. I do love that sound when the wind is rolling through the tree tops.

[jfr]

Down in the trees in Tamarack you should be fine. I do love that sound when the wind is rolling through the tree tops.

I also love that sound. Last October I camped in Tamarack Valley and it got quite windy one night. Most of the time the wind stayed up above the trees and it was only mildly breezy down below, but every so often a good gust would spin itself down into the trees and shake the tent, whipping sand along the ground. My tent only had a small area of screening (way up high under a full tarp) and we still had a fine layer of gritty silica dust on top of the sleeping bag in the morning. During the night we could see a fine haze of dust settling in the light of our headlamps, and we weren't really excited about breathing it. So we tried to breath mostly through our noses. Wearing one of those disposable dust masks might help, but I hate those things. Maybe wearing a bandanna like Florian would be better (at least psychologically, since I doubt that they filter the really fine silica dust very well).

And some earplugs might help for when the tent starts shaking and wakes you up at night. Works well for snoring tent mates, too, so I always pack them.

I hope for your group's sake that it snows on them a little bit. Makes for a much more memorable trip!

[bluerail]

Just keep your headlite off so you don't see what you're breathing.

[simonov]

The forecast was wrong. Apparently the storm hit Friday night. On Saturday morning we met a couple hikers coming down from Tamarack Valley who got snowed on the night before.

Saturday was lovely. There was 50% chance of snow forecast with wind gusts up to 50mph, and we had a cloudless day with a little wind in the afternoon. We could hear the wind up high, but there was very little down in the trail camp. During the night, there were long periods with no wind at all, pure silence.

Sunday morning was actually kind of warm. We got a late start for the summit climb and we welcomed the occasional cloud cover. Was a little cold and windy at the top, but otherwise another mild day.

[simonov]

Pics!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonov/se ... 168775251/

[Andy]

Simonov, looked like a nice peaceful trip. Thanks for the pics!