Team Loco Lobo (Kathryn, Karin, the amazing Yoli, George, and Lindella and the bloddy blond) started at the Zen Center at 6 AM Sunday morning. Karin, Yoli and I arranged the return car shuttle on Friday and Kathryn drove us up -- an hour drive from the Starbucks on 74
I'll say this -- the trail from the Zen Center gets you to the PCT quickly.
This was my first time spending any significant time on the desert divide. It is incredibly beautiful -- every time you round a corner, you have a different view. At times you have the feeling that you're suspended in the air between the desert and Lake Hemet. The only downside was the heat: I wasn't acclimated due to our relatively cool summer. At 9 AM it was 87 degrees. Fortunately, the young pacific diamondback rattlesnake that we walked right by stayed curled up.
It was wonderful to reach the shade as we approached Little Tahquitz Valley. We took our first real break at the trail intersection and meet individuals from the Natural History Museum of San Diego who were doing a centential survey of the fauna of the San Jacintos. We then headed north up to the Willow Creek trail junction. Kathryn and Lindella have been hiking a lot and opted to head up to the tram via Hidden Divide.
The rest of Team Loco Lobo headed to Saddle Junction and then up to Wellman's Divide. The amazing Yoli and George went ahead and Karin stayed with me as I began to slow due to the heat and climb. Dipped my bandana in Wellman's Cienega. Then, finally, Wellman's Divide and blessed shade and cool breeze. We briefly discussed whether we wanted to summit or head to the tram, then went for the peak. Reached the summit about 2 PM, had a quick lunch (the folks on top didn't have the usual customary happy energy) and started down.
We opted to take the old Tamarack trail. This turned out to be a big mistake for me -- the demonic cougars were out in force and added to the damange I sustained from my hike up the Momyer trace trail the week before. I entered the tram station bloody, hungry and cranky, met Kathryn and Lindella the tram bar, and quickly pounded down a beer before we headed down.
Lindella and Kathryn accompanied me for dinner -- I knew that I wouldn't survive the long drive home without fuel. I remembered that there was a Las Consuelas near the Starbucks. After 15 minutes of driving around (poor Lindella didn't have air conditioning), we finally found it tucked away -- Casuelas Cafe. Had a fabulous dinner and were pleasantly surprised to run into Doug and friends on our way out.
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
I'm just not happy when I donate major pieces of skin to the wilderness.
