How can a hike possibly go wrong when you start out with Lancelot and King Arthur?
We met Team Hypoxia -- Arthur, GigaMike, Ava, and Carole -- in the boarding area. It was great to see King Arthur again -- he and Jeff Scolfield provided moral support during my first snowshoe trip up San J last December after my hiking misadventure.
Lance and I started out with Jack (Indie) and Hengst Joe after donning snowshoes at the ranger station. We saw Team Hypoxia again as we headed out of Long Valley. It was colder than Saturday and visibility was very poor. The quality of the snow was excellent -- we didn't sink much. Once in Tamarack Valley, we headed up through the trees and rocks to where the ranger trail intersects the main trail. At this point, we opted to head up to the saddle between Jean and San Jacinto. The rhime ice on the trees evoked visions of cauliflowers
As we approached the ridge, the temperature dropped substantially. Once on the ridge, we were treated to magical views of iced trees, cloud covered inland valleys, mist-shrouded Santa Rosas, and the snow topped peaks of the San Bernardino mountains. I thought I was in a fairy tale. We couldn't stop for long to admire the scenery due to the gusting artic wind. The ridge was icy and exposed so we headed carefully east towards our objective.
After bypassing several frustrating bumps on the ridge, we finally reached the snow-covered summit blocks of San Jacinto. The temperature was minus 5 degrees with the wind chill. We quickly took the requisite photos (the summit sign was completely obscured with ice) and headed down to the shelter of the hut. We sat inside and refueled until the cold drove us back outside. Suddenly, the sun came out and the wind dropped. As we were getting ready to descend, Team Hypoxia came up the east face and joined us at the San Jacinto Bunkbed and breakfast. We chatted a bit before they headed up and we headed down.
Although I'm more confident going downhill in snowshoes than I was a year ago, it is still a bit unnerving. Occaisionally, I fell backwards and self-arrested with my elbows. Sometimes I just thought "to heck with it" and purposely butt-glissaded down the slope. The views of the desert and Cornell were spectucular -- unlike Saturday, the weather had improved as the day went on. We reached Tamarack valley and retraced our steps back to the tram. Lance and I celebrated the day with our ritual meal at Las Casuelas.
Thanks to Lance for his excellent orienteering skills and to Jack and Joe for the pleasure of their company. I'm looking forward to my next San J trip.
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
you know who you are 
It was definately less wet, otherwise we would have turned back. I was also soaked and had to dry out my clothes for the Sunday trip. I could not believe how much better the quality of the snow was in one day -- more snow and more consolidated.
