May 19th!

[Kiliclimber]

Hi all,

My climbing partner and I are climbing this fine mountain this coming weekend. We're open to carpooling (we're driving out from the Valley) and of course having some hiking buddies on the trail. You'd get your own hotel room, etc.

Please be super-reliable and in decent shape to do this mountain (don't want to carry anyone off the peak).

You'll get the same in return plus the knowledge that you're helping us train for our climb of Kilimanjaro later this year!

-Kent

[magikwalt]

Hi Kent,

Most of the action on the trail takes place on Saturdays. I would expect about 6-10 regulars on the trail plus a possible large group out of AZ if I read Cy's post correctly.

Hope to see you on the trail.

[AlanK]

My son Eric's track season ended last week and he was dying to hike. So, we did out 9th Cactus to Clouds today (May 19). This was #9 for us. We departed at 4:40 AM, arrived at Long Valley at 9:10, hit the summit at 11:40 , hung around with the crowd for an hour, and headed back to the tram. The trail from the tram to the peak was crowded, but Skyline was not too heavily traveled today. We did meet several nice folks on Skyline, however.

It was a nice day. Temperatures were between 65 and 75 the entire time. Everything in the distance was hazy, though. No Salton Sea today, for example.

One unfortunate incident: There was an SUV parked in front of us on Ramon Drive. It was there when we returned. Sometime in between, it's driver side window was smashed. Our car was untouched (parhaps because there wsa nothing visible inside), as was a car parked behind us. It's owner arrived at about the same time as we did -- he had hiked to the tram. But he departed before we noticed the glass.

Which is worse -- getting towed at the Museum or vandalized on Ramon Dr.?

By the way, I owe Kathy an apology. I said earlier this week that it was about 11 miles to Long Valley. She thought it was 10. I looked up my past records and made a new measurement today. I came up with just over 10 miles to the entrance to the valley from below. It's closer to 10.5 to the Ranger Station.

[guest]

Hi Alan,

It was a nice day on the trail, the breeze helped, and I saw no snakes.
I have never been hassled in the Museum parking lot, but across the street, on the north side of the mall parking garage, is a shaded area to park, no signs stating a time limit.
You guys made good time.

ss

[KathyW]

Alan - you guys sure do hike fast. Thanks for taking a measurement of the mileage. I've been wondering how far it really is for a while. So, is it an additional 5.5 miles to the summit of San Jacinto from the Ranger Station making it 16 miles from Palm Springs to the summit and a total of 21.5 miles if you ride the tram down? So, that makes the gain about 800 feet per mile from Palm Springs to Long Valley.

[AlanK]

Kathy -- I should have posted all of the mileages. They are not official, of course -- they're from my GPS.

00.00 Ramon Dr.
10.02 Long Valley
10.42 Ranger Stattion
13.23 Wellman Divide
15.36 San Jacinto Peak
17.48 Wellman Divide
20.57 Tram Station

So, I got 4.94 from the Ranger Station to the peak and 5.21 from the peak to the tram station.

[AlanK]

ss -- Did we meet you yesterday?

[nfreund]

May 20th! What did you think of C2C? Myself and 2 grad school buddies Just did it yesterday and it was one of the most intense hikes I have ever done. A little scary going up. I felt the chills when I knew it was was over 100F, face felt like needles, and I saw dots. But I know my body well and yrs of running in similar conditions. Did you have a massive headache on top of San Jacinto? the trip was awesome!

[AlanK]

Saturday was mercifully cool. The hottest it got for us was 75 degrees. The high in Palm Springs must have been in the 90s. We did get an early start -- 4:40 AM.

Saturday was our 9th C2C. We seem to be getting used to it. We took 3 liters of water each and had well over 1.5 liters each left at the Ranger Station. Of course "used to it" is relative. I agree that it is still a very intense hike -- I really admire the guys who do it on a weekly basis!

[guest]

Most have covered the topic already, a breeze makes ALL the difference, but the wind generally comes from the NW, which doesn't hit the trail much.
We got lucky Sat, it was from the south & SW, what a plesant surprise.

Alan, I was in a white shirt & floppy hat, got to Long V just after 10, passed about 8 or so, I'm off trail at times for 10-20 minutes, so people don't always see me.

Doing it most wkends really helps, and, going to elevation during makes a big difference too.

No snakes Sat, I saw 3 garter snakes last Sat, no buzztails lately!

ss