Looking for a Guide up Cactus-to-Cloud!

[jaxgev]

Hi, I'm new to the message board but I've been reading it for a little over three years. I just got back from climbing Mt. Whitney on July 4th for the tenth time and I'm ready to tackle Cactus-to-Clouds. Heeding the warnings on this and other sites, I'd like to find out if anyone would be interested in hiking the trail with me. I know many of you do this trail regularly and I'd love to go with someone who's experienced. While I am an avid runner and climber, I respect the additional complexities brought on by the climate, terrain, elevation gain, etc. Obviously, I'm eager to do the hike but I can always wait until October. Please let me know if you're interested. I can be reached at (415) 250-4257 but prefer email at jackie_geving@hotmail.com.

Thanks in advance,
Jackie

[Cy Kaicener]

Welcome aboard Jackie. We have lots of experienced Skylies with speeds ranging from four to eight hours to Long Valley. Add on another two to three hours to the peak. I am one of the slower ones.

[magikwalt]

Hi Jackie,

Welcome to the board. Cy is correct about the various speeds here on the board. I'll bet if you could post a couple SoCal hikes and your "I wasn't killing myself" ascent times it might help someone decide to contact you. Cy taught me that pace is almost everything on C2C. Imagine agreeing to run a marathon with me only to find out I'm so old and fat I have to walk the whole way.

magikwalt

[Hikin_Jim]

I think Walt means "ascent" times not "accent" times, although how we speak our English is very important.

[AlanK]

OK, but I don't want to hike with someone who uses accents at the wrong times.

[magikwalt]

Hey! I'm old and only have one good eye. Besides after looking at it I think its spelled correctly!

Ahh...The edit function is so nice! Thanks for pointing it out guys. Its been a heck of long one here at the shop. I've spent most of the day online chatting with software weenies about system problems so my fingers are running on auto right now.

[KathyW]

In October before the snow comes there should be lots of people heading up the Skyline Trail again.

I agree - if you can do it in 4 hours then you don't want to go with me because it takes me 7 to 8 hours to get to Long Valley. In the fall I'm going to start working on trying to reduce that time to below 7 hours. This year I did do it once in 6 hours and 58 minutes - that's pretty sad when I start counting minutes.

[zippetydude]

That's not sad, Kathy! C2C is a crazy hard trail, and you are able to do it. Not one person in 1000 can claim that.

But, if you'd like some bragging rights:

No trail runner that I know of runs the entire route. We all run what we can, but hike the steeper sections. So, on your next Skyline or C2C, run a couple of steps, and then tell everybody, "I'm Kathy, trail runner extraordinaire. I run Skyline, the hardest trail in California!"

Boom!

(It's all in the phrasing, see!?!)


z

[Hikin_Jim]

I'm lacing up my running shoes even now.

[zippetydude]

Yeah, but it won't work as well for you HikinJim. As soon as you say, "I'm Kathy" people are going to get suspicious.

z