Skyline Trail /c2c in November and December

[marmot]

last time i was on the skyline, i noticed an empty aquafina water bottle at a saddle at the 5600' level. This is a ways past the picnic tables.

[john m]

Hi Yichus:

I have to believe the tent and backpack are not hiker related and involve someone seeking refuge and a place to stay, for whatever reason good or perhaps bad, in a place where they are unlikely to be found. My gut feeling is that it's not a good thing. You're not an alarmist by any means.

This is perhaps one time when it would be nice to have the availability of an official park related person to assess and resolve the situation. That said, all hikers should keep their head up when hiking in the lower sections.

I highly doubt the cigarette smoking, soda drinking, artist will be seeking refuge higher up as temperatures cool!

Any chance you'll be going up on the 15th or 22nd? weather permitting? and not at 3am!

[Cy Kaicener]

John - Robie prefers to go at 5 or 6am, and now that we have cooler weather, I like a later start also since we are only going up to the tram. We are going this Saturday and I will probably keep going as long as the weather holds. He loves the snow and cant wait for it to fall, so you can be sure he will go in questionable weather. I take my hat off to him for battling through snow from the half way point and taking four hours longer than normal. I of course turned back at the half way point earlier this year.
As far as the tent and backpack are concerned, the owner can only stay up there for as long as his food and water lasts. I dont see him going up and down all the time.

[Yichus]

Hi, John:

I'm game for both the 15th and 22nd, especially since I need to burn up some vacation time, as well as use several personal holidays before the end of the year.

Let me know what date you prefer, and at what time you plan to start.

Rob

[Cy Kaicener]

My friends John M and Robie might hike Skyline tomorrow (Friday). Please post a trip report on conditions on the trail John or Robie. I may go on Saturday and am curious to find out how much snow still remains. There was 2 to 6 inches on Wednesday which was soft, but the weather will be cooling down as the storm comes in late Saturday and might harden it up. The Outdoorsclub.org have a scheduled trip on Sunday and I referred them to this board. I will post on Saturday if I go. Cy

[cartocracy]

On my Nov 22nd hike I saw the discarded tent and pack.

That's been there quite a while, I guess -- I saw it on October 29. I assumed that someone ahead of me on the trail had stashed it to retrieve on the way down, but I guess not!

[Cy Kaicener]

I told SAR about the pack and sleeping bag and they said that they knew about it. Has anyone been up to the tram or San Jacinto lately. I am curious about the latest snow and ice conditions. The outdoorsclub went up there yesterday, but have not posted anything on their website yet.

[Cy Kaicener]

I just received an e mail from Ashish Tripathi of the Outdoorsclub that they went on c2c last Sunday. He came late from San Diego and could not catch up to the group. He said that there was one inch of snow starting just above the 5000 ft level and got thicker above 6000 ft. With the temperatures at Long Valley dropping down to 10% F at night, there must now be a lot of ice up there.
Update from Alex and Kurt at the Outdoorsclub. Two of them excluding Ash made it up to the tram. There were patches of snow starting at 3000 feet and solid snow above 6000 feet which was six inches deep. The temperature was 15 degrees at Long Valley.

[magikwalt]

Yichus posted a note about the heart of rocks sitting on a rock...I hiked with a retiree from Washington state last month and he pointed it out to me. Said his wife put it there before she stopped hiking C2C. Dwanye was his name I believe and he is 70+ or so. They are currently back in Washington state and will be back around mid Feb.

Nov 5th the tent and sleeping back were in place. I have seen them there every time since and they haven't appeared touched during that time. Most of my trips past them are in the dark and still under headlamp so I'm figuring they are abandoned.