Lance and headed out what I refer to as Walt's long loop -- I believe it's 18 miles and has about 4,500 ft of elevation gain. Ran into several regulars in the boarding area -- Indie Jack, Doreen the Skyline Queen, and Indio Joe. It was toasty even at 8:20 AM. Jack's son flew by us before we reached Wellman's. Dropped down to the Strawberry Cienega trail -- my favorite part of the loop. It was lush with new vegetation, bubbling streams and wildflowers. I especially love the Snow plants -- they remind me of little red Christmas trees.
When we connected with Deer Springs, we saw the trail work
(including rock blasting) Sally discussed in her Deer Springs post. As we approached the Fuller Ridge trail intersection, we smelled smoke 
and wondered why someone had set an illegal campfire. Headed up through what Lance calls the 'desert" section -- there's no shade and the trail is overgrown with #$% buckthorn and other scratchy foliage. Help St. Florian, where are you with your trusty Florian's? 
I wanted to take a bath in the stream at Little Round Valley but out of courtesy to Lance just dipped my bandana. Made our way up the never ending swtichbacks to the trail junction and clambered up the rocks to the summit. The breeze on the summit was equisite -- I wanted to take a nap. Going down, we ran into a couple we'd met over on San Gorgonio last summer and stayed with them until Wellman's. They dropped down to Devil's Slide and we headed for home. For some reason, the hike from Round Valley to the tram was interminable. Ran into Ranger Rick and colleagues in Long Valley taking out a hiker with a broken leg. Had the usual fabulous meal at Las Casuelas before heading home.
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
