Skyline 4/6/15

[hickey]

A beautiful day with near perfect weather for a hike from Ramon trail head to tram station and return hike down. No heat - no snow. Began at 5:20 am in dark with light - back to car at 7:30 pm with last 20 minutes in the dark with flash light. In retrospect, I slightly envied the folks taking the tram down - but my purpose was to make the round trip by foot. After a longer than scheduled rest in Long Valley, I found the way back down more forgiving, of course. The trail, including traverse sections, was pretty well defined through out. Here are some pics.

[Hikin_Jim]

Good job. I am envious of those with ability to go both ways, though I have NO desire to emulate them.

HJ

[hickey]

Thank you Jim; fyi it was your blog that prepared (and somewhat inspired) me for my first Skyline. http://hikinjim.blogspot.com/2012/12/th ... trail.html
I tell everyone interested in hiking Skyline to read it first, than to check out skyline/skyline.html, of course.
As I said, trail conditions yesterday presented ideal temperatures (both below and above) which made the round trip not as tough as it would be with high heat or icy conditions going up. Some details might be warranted: 5:20 am start, 5:50 am warning rock, 7:00 am rescue 1, 9:40 am rescue 2, 10:10 am flat rock, traverse 11:30 am, Coffman's Crag 12:00 pm, Grubb's Notch 12:30, tram 12:45 pm for a total of 7 hours 25 minutes. This was a leisurely pace with plenty of view and water breaks. I took an hours rest break at tram. Departed Long Valley at 2:00 pm and arrived back at Ramon trail head 7:30 pm for a return time of 5 hours 30 minutes.
The decision to take Skyline back down was fairly easy once my legs stopped crying - but while going up, as usual, I had to summon all my strength and will power just to keep going on and up, not quitting. The section past flat rock is insane even in perfect weather. (Envy? Nah Jim, no big deal; point being I was way more 'spent' upon arrival at Grubb's Notch than I was later arriving back at my car at day's end).

"dummy box"

[Hikin_Jim]

Well, nice work. And I'm always glad someone benefited from my taking the time to record a hike. Would that I had more time to write.

HJ