by passinthru » Sat May 13, 2006 8:58 am
We (me=63 & son Kent=30) arrived at Deer Springs trailhead about 2:30 Thursday the 11th. Very hot ascent to Strawberry Junction campground, which we had to ourselves. Some recalcitrant vandals had demolished the outhouse and spread materials about. Only saw 2 patches of snow on way up, that would change on Friday.
Broke camp about 7:00 am Friday, cached the overnight gear and headed up with daybacks. In the middle of the 'briar patches' we met 5 PCT throughhikers who had already summited and commented about the abundant snow and tracks everywhere so trailfinding might be difficult. We pressed on, finding lots of snow, minimal postholeing in the am. I dropped out at Little Round Valley campground (9,800 feet) and Kent proceeded to the summit at about 12:30. He returned at 2:30 saying that it was snow all the way, no dirt visible, and yes, there were tracks going everywhere. He was on top for about 1/2 hour and talked to a lady in El Centro via his ham radio, she reported it was 103 degs. He had to take off his boots and wring out his socks and dry them for a while on a large boulder in the sun.
We then headed down, recovered or cached gear and repacked and went for the car. We hiked about the last 1/2 mile with flashlights, saw the moon rise again, nice picture opp. Arrived at car about 8:30, home by 10:45.
If going soon, recommend at least gaiters to keep snow out of boots. Snow is melting fast, one of the stream crossings was at least 3 to 4 times the flow it was in am.
Saw 13 other hikers total, 11 of them PCT'ers.
p.s. when we got our permit, the Ranger said the snow was all gone !!
Last edited by
passinthru on Mon May 15, 2006 8:52 am, edited 1 time in total.