Skyline June 7 or 8; first timer

[zippetydude]

Okay, I'll go out on a limb here. I got turned around and found myself heading back down a couple of times, so I looked for a pattern.

If you start from the museum in the dark, my rule of thumb is this: When I come to a split, always take the one on the right. There are only a couple of places where it cuts off to the right and doesn't go anywhere, and they're only about 10 feet long, so you won't waste much time on them.

The switchbacks/twists & turns are too small for GPS to really help, but I think you'll find your way just fine - just keep scanning the trail for places where it splits (there are a few) and don't forget to watch for rattlers as you go.

Hope you have fun. It's not nearly so hard to find your way (on the lower section) as it sounds here on the board. Once you see the picnic tables, you're past all of that, and you'll have a clear trail until you pass Flat Rock. Hopefully some regulars will be on the trail so you can ask if you get confused, but not to worry.

z

[Midlifer]

Four of us will be on the trail starting at 3am from Ramon Rd on Sunday so it seems there might be a few others out there. I assume we need to get a permit to hike the summit at the tram. Is this correct? Can we pick one up on the day prior in PS? Last year we only went to the top of the tram but we've decided to finish the hike this time.

John

[zippetydude]

Well, there's good news and there's bad news.

First the bad news - you can't pick one up the day before in Palm Springs. You'd have to take the tram up, get your permit, and take the tram back down.

Now the good news - you walk right past the ranger station on the way to the peak, and it's so obvious you can't miss it. You can self-issue your permit (I've never even gone in to see the rangers) and keep going in about 1 minute.

Good luck on your adventure!

z

[GoPlayer]

.....
If you start from the museum in the dark, my rule of thumb is this: When I come to a split, always take the one on the right. There are only a couple of places where it cuts off to the right and doesn't go anywhere, and they're only about 10 feet long, so you won't waste much time on them.

The switchbacks/twists & turns are too small for GPS to really help, but I think you'll find your way just fine - just keep scanning the trail for places where it splits (there are a few) and don't forget to watch for rattlers as you go.

Hope you have fun. It's not nearly so hard to find your way (on the lower section) as it sounds here on the board. Once you see the picnic tables, you're past all of that, and you'll have a clear trail until you pass Flat Rock. Hopefully some regulars will be on the trail so you can ask if you get confused, but not to worry.

z

Z,
Thanks for the pointers!

I'm really starting to look forward to this. Time to print out some topos

[GoPlayer]

Thanks to all the advice and information from this forum I had great and very successful hike on Saturday:

- Drove to Palm Springs Friday night and stayed at downtown Motel 6. Before checking in I checked out the trail head
- Woke up around 1am, drove to Museum and decided to pay the price for some peace of mind and parked in the parking structure of the Hyatt
- Disappeared through the whole in the wall at 1:53am
- Zippetyude's right hand rule saved a lot of time on the way to the Picnic tables. Thanks again!
- Made good progress, but between 6000 and 7000 ft my stomach started to feel "funny" and breezing was also not quite right. Took many breaks, even sitting down for a few minutes several times and it looked like it might become a long day. Fortunately things improved and I got back to normal
- Got to the top (the big flat area where Skyline meets the trails in the Valley up there) at 8:30am. This also where I met the first people
- Felt great up there and decided to try for the peak and do the full C2C
- Signed in, got some water from the water fountain at the ranger station (hope it's safe, but there was no sign)
- Left ranger station at 8:51am
- Stood on top of the rock pile at 11:47am
- Had a nice long (~45min) lunch at the peak
- Got to tram at 2:40pm, bought ticket, had the operator call for taxi
- Walked out of lower tram station right to the open door of my waiting taxi
- I don't think the whole thing could have gone any better

This was an excellent hike and I was surprised how well it went. My energy level was good all the way (except during the stomach episode). I think the reason for that was that I took the fueling very seriously. When I woke up I had a bottle of water with some added carbs. Then on the trail I started my drinking "schedule" at 15 minutes and then tried to drink every 15 minutes. Drinking both water and my "energy" drink ( I used Hammer Perpetuem, I had used it before and knew it agrees with me, this hike was not the time to experiment). I also had some cliff bars. The whole day I made sure I got some 50-80g of carbs per hour.

Now I'm looking forward of doing it all again some time.

[zippetydude]

Hi GoPlayer! Great job on a big hike! Sorry I missed you, I did San Gorgonio instead - this was the first weekend that the whole trail was clear. Maybe we were looking at each other from our respective peaks! Conditions on the peak were perfect -no wind, and great visibility. Hope it was the same for you.

Congrats again on an excellent job. Glad the right turn rule worked smoothly for you!

z

[Cy Kaicener]

Congratulations GoPlayer
The hardest parts are getting there early - the first mile from the museum -
the mile after Flat Rock and two miles before the summit.

[tinaballina]

congrats....wish i would have ran into you on the trail.

[GoPlayer]

zippetydude,
Yes, the weather was perfect! I looked over to San Gorgonio and it looked like there was one big snow field, but otherwise the peak looked pretty clear. I guess the good weather was one reason for the crowds on San Jacinto. I don't know how often I was asked "How far is it?" "How long to the top?" on my way down. I was tempted to say it took me 10h
Now that Gorgonino is clear I need to go up there again, but I also want to do more trails I don't know (there are plenty!).

Cy,
I don't know which is the hardest mile, the beginning and end were the easiest for me. The beginning because I was exited to finally get started and the end (starting at the traverse) because I could see the end of the tunnel.

I'm not sure where flat rock is, is that the dry fall the trail crosses? I guess I should go over some of the picture galleries linked on the geocities site.

tinaballina,
It would have been nice to run into some of you pro's. Actually, when I first heard the humming noise of the tram cables I thought it was the zoom-zoom of a trail runner comming up from behind. Particularly since zippetydude indicated he might do the trail the same day