by Marknhj » Mon May 04, 2009 10:06 am
It was a beautiful day on Skyline this Saturday. The first weekend with virtually no snow on the trail and great weather.
Ellen, Kathryn, kd (Kevin), Dan, Steve (bluerail) and I started at 4.36am. The temperature was 72 but the wind made it feel cooler. We could see lights a little way up the trail, and, after ten minutes, came across a party of 10-12 hikers who were already lost! They tagged along behind us but we lost contact before the death sign. I was leading, and it was strange looking back and seeing almost twenty headlights following behind. After a two minute stop at the warning sign, where Steve took some pictures to commemorate Kathryn's first time up the whole trail, we progressed at a good pace (it wasn't our intention to do anything but hike all the way up, but the weather was cooperating, making it much easier than anticipated). At the top of the Shady Slope we ran into four young hikers who were planning to go all the way to the peak.
We reached 4300' in 2:18 and stopped for about five minutes. We forbade Kathryn from breaking out one of her picnics! We got going again and after ten minutes I lost contact with the original group as the other hikers got between us and slowed them down. I made the decision to push on and made it to Flat Rock in 3:41, my fastest time to that point. I didn't stop and was anticipating feeling Skyline Pain before the traverse. But it wasn't too bad (that's a relative term on Skyline, obviously). Found one patch of snow after the first traverse, it was only about 15' across, but I decided to go down and around it, rather than risk post holing through it. I climbed over a small downed tree, holding onto a vertical branch for support. The branch immediately snapped off and I almost did a header down the slope! Got to Coffman's Crag, which is always a relief, then, for the first time ever up there, managed to find the trail all the way to the top. Was pleasantly surprised to make it in 5:09, my best time, and much easier than previous efforts thanks to temperature, cooling wind, and hardly any direct sunlight.
Sat around for about 15 minutes and then Stan (zippy) came up, then Scott, and ten minutes or so later Ellen and Fernando appeared. Scott said he must have passed 30 hikers on the trail. Then the rest of our original group became visible, lead by Kathryn. Her first time up Skyline and in an outstanding 6:04! After taking some group photo's we headed to the bar, joined by Doug and one of his friends before the ramp. kd and Dan kept going onto Humber Park, it was Dan's first Skyline too. We sat in the bar for an hour or so, a veritable message board gathering!
It was a simply fabulous morning on Skyline...
