We passed 2 gentleman who were taking a break at 3100 feet, one of which said he was doing this hike for the first time to celebrate his 62nd birthday. They planned on the full C2C too, but when they told me they started at 1:30 am from the museum, I got a little concerned. While taking a break at Rescue 2, we were passed by a young couple who were doing the full deal too. Jason started getting cramps in his left leg at this time too, so slowed the pace, and made sure he got more electrolytes, sodium, etc. He seemed to fare ok, until we hit the traverse.
It got quite chilly at the traverse, and a bit windy. Jason said he was getting cramps in both legs now. We took a good break, and I lent him my trekking poles. This helped greatly he said. The traverse was completely clear of ice, and only a couple small patches of snow off of the trail. We came over Grubb's Notch into Long Valley at 11 am, and started to see big patches of snow. We loaded up with carbs (pizza) at the tramway's mountain station, and after a nice break, continued for the peak. Jason said he "felt like a million dollars" now, and never had cramps again.
We stopped at the ranger station to fill out the permit, and added a layer of clothing for the increasing cold. We saw quite a few hikers on the way to the peak. The trail became pretty much snow / ice covered at around 8800 feet, and we donned our new micro spikes that we recently grabbed at REI. At Wellman's Divide, it was glove and beanie hat time -- darn that wind was cold! The snow got increasingly deeper, probably about 6" or so -- but the trail was easy to follow since it was packed down by all the hikers.
At 3:30 pm, we were on top of San Jacinto. We had the peak to ourselves and we were the last folks up there for the day. It was pretty awesome watching the clouds rip right over the peak in the high winds, and then vaporize over the Coachella Valley. We left the peak around 4:10 pm and arrived back at the tram station at 6:30 pm.
After the 10 minute tram ride down, we grabbed a taxi back to the car. Palm Canyon was still closed, and it looked like all the restaurants were jammed -- so Las Casuelas was out of the picture
We ended up having a steak dinner in Moreno Valley on the way back to South Orange County. I can't wait to do this hike again. Sheer addiction!
