C2C recovery

[zippetydude]

No, I'm not talking about a 12 step program, although the trail does seem addictive.

What I am curious about is the recovery people experience on this trail versus, say, a hike of equal time but going both up and back down a mountain.

For example, C2C (to the tram only, so there's no downhill) takes me about the same amount of time as it takes me to go up San G and back. Same trail time, but with a lot of downhill on the San G trail coming back down, I find I take almost twice as long to recover from a San G trip than a C2C trip.

Anybody else find this kind of thing too?

Sure adds to the enjoyment of a C2C trip, cause I know when I'm done I won't be all sore and stiff. But I am tired. Man, am I tired. I find when I get home, just walking upstairs leaves me out of breath with burning legs.

Anybody else experience that?

z

[Cy Kaicener]

It takes me at least two more days to recover from a hike up the Skyline trail. Add on another day if I do the peak as well. It takes me three days to recover from San Gorgonio but my knees and toes hurt for two more days after that.
That is why I do Skyline/ c2c ten times more often than any other peak. The tram is a godsend. Coming down Big Iron is more punishment than San G. Its 7000 ft of steep descent. I did it twelve times, more than 20 years ago when I was much younger and never suffered as much as I do now. I have only done it one more time since those days. The day after a big hike I am very tired and sleep a lot, but the day after that I am as stiff as a board. I have also discovered that it takes me half an hour longer every year since age 60 to hike up to the tram. Going up energises me, but going down tires me out a lot

[AlanK]

After doing a full C2C, including the peak, I feel more fatigued than I do after doing, say, Vivian Creek, but I feel more "beaten up" on hikes with a lot of downhill (Iron Mt., Baldy via Bear Flat, or Vivian Creek). I tend to recover more rapidly from C2C for that reason.

[Snowhiker]

When you are younger (under 30 years old) going UPHILL hurts more and the downhill is fun. I remember practically running back down hill. But after 30s the uphill is the fun part and the downhill hurts!

[ferris]

With the instructional help of Cy and AlanK, I did Museum to Summit and down to the Tram for the first time on 6/24. I have to admit, it was one of the most challenging hikes I've done. The total trail time was almost 15 hours, starting at at 2AM Saturday morning (95 degrees), and hiking until nearly 5PM Saturday evening.

After finishing Skyline in about 10 hours, we did the last 12 miles pretty slowly, amid a horde of Tram hikers.

As tough as the hike is, however, I felt pretty damned good the proceeding morning and subsequent days. Without the huge, steep downhills that are all too familiar to most of us, I found that my lower extremities didn't (like usual) tighten up into a knot...even after doing 23 miles and 10K of elevation gain. This was a slightly profound understanding for me to reach after years of serious hiking and backpacking.

I have to disagree with SH, as I've only experienced 28 revolutions around the sun, and (as much as I love going downhill) I think those downhills beat us all up more than we may imagine. Or maybe my legs are just older than my years reflect?

[RV]

Ferris,

My daughter-in-law and I were about 6 hours ahead of you during your hike on Saturday; not because we were faster but rather because we started earlier We drove to the museum right after work on Friday and began our hike around 8:00 PM Friday evening. It was in the upper 90's as the sun was going down; not good.

In spite of the heat, our hike started really well. We were above 4,000 feet in a couple of hours and feeling like this whole thing wasn't going to be that big of a deal. That all changed around 11:00 or so as, for wahtever reason, our minds totally disengaged from our hike. We were both overwhelmed with a desire to just go to sleep. I've never had this feeling before during any of my hikes. We fought it for a few hours by coming up with word games to try to keep our minds engaged in what we were doing. This helped but it didn't eliminate the problem.

Finally we just gave in to all of this and, when we reached Flat Rock with the lights of palm Springs beautifully spread out below us, we turned off our head lamps, laid down on our back packs and slept for a while. When we woke up, we finished the hike to the tram. Once there, we had absolutely no interest at all in continuing to the peak. Physically, we were fine. Mentally, we were wasted.

In retrospect, we have decided to never start a hike again without at least a few hours of sleep. We thought that the adrenaline and effort of the hike would push our bodies through their normal sleep patterns but that turned out to not be the case.

For those who have yet to try this trail, it is everything that its reputation says it is. Although there are some flatter miles in the middle portion, it starts with a solid climb for the first few miles and the final 2.5 miles above Flat Rock are as relentless as any trail that I've been on. It's not the Iron Mountain ridge, but then, that's really not a trail. It's also important to note that this final climb is after you have already climbed around 6,000 feet over 8.5 miles. This requires a solid effort that can only be accomplished if you are in good condition.

Finally, this isn't the time of year to be doing this trail. We plan on going back in late October, starting at a more reasonable time of 3:00 AM or so and going all the way to the summit. We are looking forward to it!

[Cy Kaicener]

This is a baaad hike to do without any sleep. Everyone that I have hiked with without sleep has either been very sick or hallucinated especially after Flat Rock. I once tried it at 9 pm after work without sleep and had to sleep for two hours at Flat Rock. Lack of sleep robs you the strength you need on this hike.
Its worse than the heat. The combination of both is enough to make you suffer. Even three hours of sleep would be the bare minimum.
oudoorsclub.org is doing c2c at the end of July starting at 10 or 11 pm. I dont think any of them are going to get any sleep either. I will be interested to read the trip report.

[marmot]

no sleep on C2C, thats really bad.

[marmot]

not to mention that it will probably be in the nineties while they're hiking- end of july.

[zippetydude]

You're right about the sleep, but you guys are much tougher than I am.

I couldn't sleep one time, so I drove up to Forsee Creek trail in the San Gorgonio wilderness. I was only a mile or so in, but felt so tired I just lost all desire to go on. I lay down on a log for about an hour, then got back up and tried to give it a go. I went another 1/2 mile, then gave it up and went back home and went to bed. It was a very humbling experience.

z