Skyline/C2C first attempt ?s

[halhiker]

The mountain hikes will be a good warm up but unfortunately most of them still have snow and will for a few months yet. Some good hikes to get some elevation gain right now would be:

The Skyline Trail. It'd be good to hike up a portion of the way now and then hike back down. I would suggest you could hike up to Sherwood Forest (a section that is covered with trees) and then come back down. The desert weather is nice right now and you'd get a good feel for the lower section.

The Boo Hoff/Guadalupe Trail in La Quinta. This trail has about 5,000 gain if you do the whole thing and finish at the Sugarloaf Cafe on Hwy 74 but it also one you can hike up and come back down.

The West Fork/Jo Pond Trail in the Indian Canyons. To do this entire trail requires a drop off and car shuttle. The drop off is needed because you can't leave a car overnight in the Indian Canyons and the shuttle is needed because you finish in Garner Valley. This, of course, can be done, like the others as an out and back hike but will give you a good taste of some elevation gain.

Another fun desert hike is to climb Murray Peak in Palm Springs. It's not a ton of elevation gain (maybe 1700 ft.) but a good hike nonetheless.

And a mountain hike closer to home is the Marion Mountain Trail in Idyllwild but I don't know if the road to the trailhead will be open in time to do it before Skyline.

Hal

[KathyW]

I think Perry's site does a good job giving you the info you need to know for doing Skyline/Cactus to Clouds:

http://www.geocities.com/cactus2clouds/skyline.html

If you can do a hike with 5000+ feet gain 2 weeks before your trip (with an overnight pack and a gallon of water), you should be ready for the trip. As said before, the heat at the lower elevations is the problem with hiking down, not the trail.

You'll be happier and safer if you watch the weather and don't pick a really hot day to go up the trail. Hiking plans should always be tentative until you have a good idea of what the weather will be like during your planned outing.

You could try the trek out to Villager and maybe on to Rabbit in the Santa Rosas as a training backpack where you'll have to carry a lot of water - there's no real trail there either but there is a use trail almost as good as the Skyline's use trail.

[trekadam]

Thanks for the information halhiker! I've never heard of the "Boo Hoff/Guadalupe Trail" but it sounds like a great hike. Unfortunately, there is not much info on the web about it. Drawing a straight line from S. La Quinta to Sugar Loaf Cafe on Hwy 74 in Google Earth places the distance at 9.49 miles...so I imagine the trail is a bit longer? Any permits or trailhead fees, etc?

I've been in the area for 6 years and have done lots of hiking but it has all been in the same areas... JTNP and San Jac. Sounds to me like its time to get exploring some of these other trails!

A.

[trekadam]

Also a great idea KathyW. Thanks! I have heard of Villager and Rabbit peaks in the SRs but have never made my way over there- this also sounds like a great hike. There is quite a bit of good info about the area on summitpost.

A

[guest]

Hi Trekadam,

Glad your doing your homework, thanks to this board & Perry & Cy's info, some learn from the resources here.

One option, it will cost your $22 bucks (if you don't have an annual pass), is to take your camping gear up beforehand & either hide it somewhere, or, put as much as you can into the lockers at the trams Mt. Station, (you won't get a lot in them, but maybe enough).
Then, you could hike Skyline, camp, Hike San Jac, then ride down. I, like some of the others here, don't recommend hiking back down into the desert in May, especially if you have camping gear, your quads will be screamin & you'll be sweatin bullets.

I don't recommend the Boo Hoff / Guadalupe / Cactus Springs trek without going with someone who has done it, unless your great at route finding.

Jo Pond is way easier to follow & over 2k more gain, and, if you get dropped off, you could do it as an overnight, say maybe at Cedar Springs, if you want to carry all the gear. There should be water at some points, like Cedar Springs cmpgrd (unimproved) itself.

ss

[trekadam]

Another great idea, guest....that may work well for us when we do decide to attempt Skyline and camp - to leave some of our gear at the upper station so as to lighten our load. I am, however, going to take Hikin_Jim's advice and do Skyline as a day hike on my first attempt. Also, I think I've been talked out of hiking back down Skyline...seems as though it'd be brutal.

I am definitely going to get over to Vivian Creek on SG to do a bit of "gain-training" before Skyline and hopefully somewhere else.

Where is the trailhead for Jo Pond?

Thanks!

A

[cynthia23]

I def. agree with all posters that under no circumstances should your first attempt up Skyline be an overnighter. Almost all the people who try this end up needing to be rescued. I agree with Halhiker that going a few weeks before your planned "all-the-way" and doing a partial (to 4500) is the best plan. The best way to train for this route is to train ON this route. You can't replicate these exact conditions anywhere else. I agree with SS that the Boo Hoff/Guadalupe trail is not a good training hike for Skyline, because it's quite a difficult hike in its own way and less clearly marked--numerous people have been rescued off it. And it's not any closer to drive to, really. Train on Skyline. Don't worry as much about gathering information, instead focus strongly on very strenuous conditioning hikes. As I mentioned before, I believe people mostly get lost on the upper portions because they are so fatigued and disoriented, not because the route is so difficult to find. Don't cut corners on training.

[cynthia23]

PS. the trailhead for Jo Pond is in Indian Canyons, in the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation. It's a great trail but the problem there is you can't start until 8 am, when the reservation opens. Again, since it's right next door to Skyline, why not just train on Skyline--it's better training, you can start earlier, it's closer to drive to, and it's free. Train on Skyline. That's the best way to succeed on this trail, IMO.

[trekadam]

Thanks for the thoughts and advice, cynthia23. As well as the info on Jo Pond.

Very helpful and good to know!

A

[halhiker]

I think training on skyline is ideal but I think for a change of pace the other trails I mentioned are good, esp. now with the weather being perfect. I think one has plenty of time to get some good mileage and elevation gain on the West Fork/Jo Pond and to get out of the indian canyons on time and I think it's much prettier than skyline. With the boo hoff I probably agree that route finding can be tough but most people who get lost on the trail are trying to hike down it. Going up route finding is much easier. But before doing the whole thing a recon hike or two might be in order.

Now is THE time to hike in the desert. I'd hate to spend it on just one trail.