Skyline Saturday

[Phil B]

Definitely a great day on Skyline not only for the excellent weather conditions but for meeting so many message board members on route. Alan K and his group, Ellen and a whole bunch at Flatrock, (Great to finally meet you guys).
I started out from the museum at 3.45am and made the tram at 10.15. I was hoping to come back next Saturday and do C2C, although from what I'm hearing it sounds pretty though above the tram.

Cheers Phil
Pics
http://philbrown.smugmug.com/Other/Skyl ... 6701_ZNDkw

[Florian]

Great pics Phil!

-Florian

[AlanK]

Does anyone know how it went for the big group from Vegas? The rangers and tram employees sure seemed to know that they were out there (probably from reading this message board). We saw a very large group start from Ramon Rd. just before we took off at 4:30. They made an immediate wrong turn at the trailhead, but the group was bushwacking up to us on the trail a few minutes later. That was the last we saw of them. Their fleet of vehicles was still at Ramon when we returned in mid afternoon.

We also ran into a man with his young son at Round Valley. They had camped out on Friday night. They had never backpacked before and the cold, windy night seemed to leave them pretty tired. They wanted some help finding the trail back to the tram (it was confusing at that point). Eric walked with them for a while. When we got to the obvious trail with less than 1.5 miles to go to the tram, Eric offered to carry the boy's pack back to the Ranger Station, where we left it. If anyone saw a young kid with shoulder length hair and a big adult with a knee brace, that was them. We hope they were re-united with the pack.

[GoPlayer]

....
This proved to be a great SKyline day -- clear skies and temperatures from 57 - 73. There was a fair amount of wind when we arrived at Long Valley, but that sure beat the heat - literally. We originally intended to go to the peak. However, we lost one member to cramps when we hit Long Valley. By the time three of us reached Round Valley, the abundant snow had slowed things enough that we decided we were satisfied.

We met some familiar (at least from the message boards) people on the way, including GoPlayer and Phil form Glendora. We also met Ellen, Karin, Kathryn, and friends at Flatrock.

It was nice to meet you and your group and Ellen & friends.

We had a great day on the mountain. We also had planned for the peak, but conditions kept us from going all the way. After a lunch break at Round Valley we decided to continue on to Wellman's divide for some views. We even ventured a little further towards the peak, but kept something for next time. My friends who'd come out from Phoenix for the hike are already talking about coming back.

...
We also ran into a man with his young son at Round Valley. They had camped out on Friday night. They had never backpacked before and the cold, windy night seemed to leave them pretty tired. They wanted some help finding the trail back to the tram (it was confusing at that point). ...

There were quite a few marginally prepared people out there. When we turned around we ran into a young couple and then an other guy. They were quite confused as to their exact location and asked if they could follow us back. They had no maps and had navigated just by following foot prints up and were now confused about their exact whereabouts and the way back. We guided them back to Round Valley and where the trail was well defined again.

[jimbozoom]

Alan and Eric: It was a pleasure and an honor to hike up to the tram with you two and Jay on Saturday morning. You guys are amazing hikers. What a pace, Eric! Your feet barely touched the ground! I don't think that I've ever seen such a strong father, son team. Thanks for letting me tag along.

[AlanK]

Jim,

It was great to meet you and Jay and the hike was a pleasure. Jay and I must have been messaging for 5 years, going well back to some people's high school cross country days. It was good to finally get together for a hike.

And, yes, I am used to years of following along wondering if those feet actually touch the ground.

Alan

Alan and Eric: It was a pleasure and an honor to hike up to the tram with you two and Jay on Saturday morning. You guys are amazing hikers. What a pace, Eric! Your feet barely touched the ground! I don't think that I've ever seen such a strong father, son team. Thanks for letting me tag along.

[tinaballina]

It was great to see so many people on the trail, it seemed there were a lot of peeps doing c2c that day too.
Kevin it was nice meeting you in the bar.
Andy and Daniel (not sure of spelling) it was a pleasure meeting you two as well. I told ellen to look out for you at LC.
I am sorry i missed alan and eric, it would have been nice to have hiked with you both.
Zip, it was a pleasure seeing you.
Nice to see Scott for the last portion of the hike as well.
great seeing all my pain sisters at the bar.
and great running into my ex husband as well...lol

[mtnbkr818]

Can anyone tell me what they are like past the tram? Will I need snow shoes? I have crampons. I haven't seen a post of people making to the top in awhile.

[Cy Kaicener]

Does anyone know how it went for the big group from Vegas? The rangers and tram employees sure seemed to know that they were out there (probably from reading this message board). We saw a very large group start from Ramon Rd. just before we took off at 4:30. They made an immediate wrong turn at the trailhead, but the group was bushwacking up to us on the trail a few minutes later. That was the last we saw of them. Their fleet of vehicles was still at Ramon when we returned in mid afternoon.

We also ran into a man with his young son at Round Valley. They had camped out on Friday night. They had never backpacked before and the cold, windy night seemed to leave them pretty tired. They wanted some help finding the trail back to the tram (it was confusing at that point). Eric walked with them for a while. When we got to the obvious trail with less than 1.5 miles to go to the tram, Eric offered to carry the boy's pack back to the Ranger Station, where we left it. If anyone saw a young kid with shoulder length hair and a big adult with a knee brace, that was them. We hope they were re-united with the pack.

Ten people made it all the way up to the peak and three others reached Long Valley. Fifteen showed up to start. Trip report on the right hand side.
http://www.meetup.com/VegasHikers/calendar/12727364/

[Cy Kaicener]

Phil - I forgot to thank you for a great Slideshow