Wednesday Skyline with friends

[Ellen]

Howdy All

Left a bit after 5:30 with Sister Sally, Perry A and Marilyn. At the picnic tables, I wondered if I'd made a mistake doing this so soon after Skyline It was warm (around 60 degrees and humid) -- even Perry was sweating. Fortunately, the high clouds offered some protection from the radiant heat.

We stopped at St. Florian's bucket for brunch and were pleasently surprised when Patti and friends hiked by. There's no water in St. Florian's cache -- Craig and I packed out empty bottles on my last Skyline. I finally started feeling good on the climb out of Flatrock and before long we were enjoying the shaded, cool traverse. It was nice to not have to don microspikes. Right before Grubbs notch, Diana zipped by. It took us a bit over 6 hours.

Scrambled up over the rocks to the surprise of the folks in the Grubbs viewing area and enjoyed suitable beverages at the bar (I confess -- I was the only one to have an alcoholic beverage) before heading down. Cameron came up and hi at the museum parking lot -- great end to a super day.

It's definately warming up -- the wildflowers, cacti and brush are starting to blossom and I saw numerous lizards. Carried 3 liters and drank every drop.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[Sally]

yep, except for the heat at the bottom it was a great day for Skyline. It's interesting to observe the different micro climates as you go up. At the bottom the wildflowers were already shriveling up, then as you go higher the yellow flowers (Brittle-brush?) and cactus get robust, and then you get up to where the flowers are still un-opened buds.

I meant to take some shots of the yellow flowers, and suddenly I realized that we were up to where they weren't blooming yet. Perry cracked me up when he suggested that I could hike back down to take those pics.....riiight! I guess I'll have to go up there again soon.

It was a great day with great company, thanks y'all!