Skyline May 9 - kinda hot - going elsewhere?

[halhiker]

If the low is 72 then most of the way up your temp will be 72. The high for the day won't happen until between 3 and 4 PM. I have never been too hot on the Skyline but then I never go if the high is over 110. But 101 is NICE.

[Kathryn]

Ellen, Karin and I started up Skyline at about 2:30am. The full moon was brilliant and the trail in the dark was magical. It did feel just a tiny bit warm to me going up to the picnic tables, but then after that, the temp. was comfortable. I actually felt cool for a good bit of the way. Ellen please don't get mad at me for saying the word "cool"!!
We were at about 5,000' right at the "crap of dawn." Up to Flat Rock was great, but once we started up after Flat Rock, in the Manzanitas, I felt really, super hot, only in the sun though. Whenever we got in the shade, it was fine. Overall, the temp was okay, but I think if we would have left later, it would have been too hot.

Once at the top, we had the pleasure of seeing Scott with a group,and also Zippity, Tina, Steve and Mark. There were also about 10 or so other hikers from other groups.

It was another awesome day on Skyline and I'm really glad I went! I almost didn't go when Karin and Ellen told me that we were starting at 2:30, but it ended up being well worth it!

Ellen and Karin went on to complete the whole C2C!!!

Thanks so much Ellen and Karin for inviting me to go along. I had a fantastic time with both of you!

Kathryn

[zippetydude]

Great job again Kathryn! It was a little on the hot side for me, but never intolerable, so you're right, another great day on Skyline and a fun time together with everyone.

Incidentally, Ellen is officially my hero. Anybody who can take a simple fact, like "The bar doesn't open til 11:00" and use that as motivation to complete a Skyline trip by turning it into a full C2C just to kill time, now that deserves some respect!

See you crazy hikin' fools soon!

z

[bluerail]

I think Ellen, Karin and Kathryn had the right idea. They got on the trail at 2:30 and got to enjoy the moonlight and not have to deal with the crowd on the trail.

Always a pleasure getting to hang with you guys after the trail. I never did see Ellen and Karin, they were already off burning time until the bar opened. I agree Zip, thats perfect logic.

I'm waiting to here how things went for them.

Hope you guys had a good rest of the trip Scott, I'm sure the mushy snow was pleasant.

Thanks Tina, another good trip.

Ranger Tom, it was nice meeting you and I hope you guys had an uneventful day

Thank God that winter's gone and we finally got some decent weather.

[Marknhj]

Ditto to the sentiments above: hot, but not intolerably so. I left just before 4am and it was 78 in the parking lot. Took me twenty minutes longer than last week and that extra time was all above Flat Rock. As usual, love the camaraderie at the finish where over a dozen of us sat around chatting as more hikers gradually appeared. I'll be interested to hear from Ellen and Karin, and Scott and his group, how their C-2-C went...

More of a wildlife day for me. Ran into a rattler at about 6500' and waited a few minutes for it to slither off the trail. Then, rather surprisingly, a squirrel in the tram station bar - it was eating some peanuts I'd dropped next to my foot (I assume the initial attraction were the nuts and not my hiking shoes, whose coloring it matched identically!). And, as can be seen by the latest bluerail photo, a rather more sweaty than usual Steve arriving at the top

[Ellen]

Howdy All

Karin and I discussed doing the "full monty" earlier in the week. We wanted to be at around 5 K at sunrise, which explains the early starting time. I have to give credit to Kathryn for not only doing a repeat Skyline one week later, but getting up at the crap of dawn to start with us.

It felt warm and humid to me. Karin and Kathryn can verify that I didn't say much for the first two hours, which could have been a combination of the early start and warmer temperature. From 4300 K on, everything started to click and I felt good.

We were passed by a fast, nice guy from the Outdoors Club at 7 K while we took a rest break so Karin could stretch and take in some extra electrolytes to manage leg cramps. From 7.5 on up, we ran into three rangers who were checking on the status of the Outdoor club hikers.

We hung out briefly in Long Valley and greeted both Stan and Mark. It was too early for the tram bar to sing its siren call, so we meandered past the tram and headed up the Sid Davis route towards San J. Due to the warm weather and Karin's cramps, we were constantly assessing our status and desire to summit. Fortunately, one of us would feel pretty good when the other didn't.

We took the Ranger trail up to join the main trail. It is badly overgrown and I added a few new scratches to my legs. Once we exited the brush and got into the pine trees, we encountered patches of snow. At the junction of both trails, we took a short break before heading up towards the Miller switchback. From that point on, there was no snow on the trail until we reached the final rock scramble to the peak.

I took my usual approach to the peak from the east. I would alternate punching through and being able to walk on the snow. Near the top, I punched through and badly scraped my right calf, probably on a buried rock. I was very happy to hit the final section of rocks, which were almost completely covered by hikers, including a scout group.

To my pleasant surprise, Steve Gossett was sitting near the sign. He accompanied me down from San J on my first C2C. I ran into him at the hut on my second C2C last fall, and now here he was again for my third. Talk about synchronicity. He had hiked up from Devil's Slide with his friend Steve and another fellow. Scott Scott summited with a group he'd led up Skyline, which added to the positive energy on top. I received a lot of (embarrassing) attention due to the bleeding, though the teasing was all good natured (e.g. did I carry additional pints of O negative blood). Alas, we did have to return to civilization. Karin helped me get off the summit without further incident.

We opted to retrace our route back down the ranger trail -- mistake! Unfortunately, we lost the trail below the trees and wound up bushwhacking through chinauquin for about a half hour. I won't post any of my language -- let's just say it resembled my commentary the first time we lost the Tamarack Trail back in 2007. Fortunately, we wound up back on the right route when Karin saw a cairn and I recognized a familiar rock formation. It was wonderful to reach Tamarack valley and be done with that miserable (expletive) brush.

The hike up the cement was about as difficult as I recall. The draft Fat Tire was about as wonderful as any beer I've ever had. I can say with certainty this was my hardest and longest C2C. I must have looked fearsome due to the bleeding (blast those demonic cougars) and staggering gait (damn my numerous spinal fusions back and C2C) as several tram employees offered assistance. We celebrated with the ritual meal at Las Conseulas before heading home.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[Kathryn]

Ellen, you blow my mind, girl!! Great TR, with lots of details- thanks! Rest up, heal and recover! BTW: Steve and I are planning to go up Skyline again next Sat. leaving at around 2am. Hope you can join us!

Kathryn

[guest]

Nice to see all of you friends on the ol trail again, a great day indeed,can't remember starting in the dark, but I had clients & needed to get up out of the heat early.
My buddy Tom & another park / ranger aid where nice enough to hike down around 7k level (twice!) to assist those who needed help, fluids, moral encouragement etc., told me over 40 folks on the route Sat.
We made it up in a bit under 6 hrs.
We re-filled our water @ ranger sta. found the drainage up to Tamarack rather warm, had to eat even more food in Tam, (as I'm used to finishing in Long Valley), were able to avoid most of the 1-2 ft. deep patches of snow through the boulder field, then clear until summit boulders.
It was a "hikers convention" at the peak, over 50! people, you had to wait to get a photo of summit sign.
T shirt wx at the peak, saw many friends, Steve, Ellen & Karen & more.

We had a great hike, (they were all fit & mentally tough & brought all the right eqpmt. including about 160 ozs of water & electros) it was the 1st time (even for Skyline) for all of my party, completed the climb & back to tram a bit over 11 hrs. w/out incident.
It's already feeling like spring / summer in the forest, streams, birds, plants.
Here's to adventure outdoors!

ss

[bluerail]

glad your group had a good trip, always nice seeing you.

trying to get dialed in for the heat. going up sat. hope to see you again.

-steve

"It's already feeling like spring / summer in the forest, streams, birds, plants."

you forgot to mention the rattlers.....

[Kathryn]

Well, it looks like we're going up Skyline again this Saturday. Ellen, Karin, Maria and I will start at 2am, well before the "crap of dawn". Steve will go by himself a little later. Tina and some friends will go up as well. Does anyone know if any groups are going? I was wondering if the trail will be busy like last Sat. It would be great to see some of you (in Zippety's words- "hikin' fools") on the trail or at the top!

Kathryn