Lance and I hiked the San Bernardino Peak trail yesterday. My Honda Accord sedan barely made it up the trailhead due to the snow and ice -- not a good omen
Although we followed footprints on the lower part of the trail (before entering the more level forest area), hiking through the wet snow was still work. We had to break trail once we exited the forest. Even going slightly downhill to Manzanita flats was laborious
From the sign to the wooden bench, the snow was deeper -- it reached the middle of my shins up to my knees. The snow alternated between being wet and not hard enough to support our weight. I preferred the wet snow, as I could maintain at least some kind of rhythm.
At one point I post holed forward into snow up to my waist. Lance also pitched forward and wound up on top of me. It's good that he has the body mass of a tall bamboo shoot
We slogged onward towards the Limber pine campground. The slow, deliberate pace was reminiscient of the French foreign legion marching through the sands of the Sahara.
We reached the camp ground in about 4.5 hours -- at least an hour longer than it takes us to reach San Bernardino peak in the summer. The wind was howling and we sought refuge in the rocks to have lunch. It was 24 degrees at 10:30 AM. The pine trees were covered with snow and ice -- spectacular
I had experienced enough "fun" for the day and we headed back. It's hard on the psyche when you have to work going downhill. By the time we reached my car, I felt like I'd been beaten with chains. The only other vehicle at the trailhead was a four wheel drive. This gave us pause as we had passed two distinct groups of hikers. The mystery was solved when we saw a Honda Civic parked about half-way down on the trailhead road. Made me grateful my Honda had even reached the trailhead.
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
Dead blond hiking