C2C / Skyline

[Ellen]

Howdy All

I'll be heading up Skyline on Sunday Oct 16 What I refer to as the full monty or C2C (desert to summit to tram) will depend on the weather and my ability to suffer

As everyone has noted, the heat makes Skyline signficantly harder. Last Saturday it was 86 starting at 4:35 AM. On Wednesday it was below 60 degrees at 6 AM. Felt like a completely different hike.

Hope to see some of you hikin' fools tomorrow.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[Ellen]

Howdy All

Meet the Craigmeister and Perry in the parking lot and started about 5:30. Wow -- what a difference when the starting temp is in the 60's. The museum parking was packed -- it looked like a Skyline convention. We had a good pace going. First we met up with Pat and three male RNs, then Kathryn's group, then Indie Jack and finally Lindella and Tony. At Flat Rock, Craig noted we'd only been out about 3 1/2 hours (fast for me). Hmm...maybe can I go under five hours. Sometimes I like to challenge myself. I met my goal but felt completely worked over at Grubbs Notch -- won't be pushing myself that hard again any time soon It was a beautiful day and a good portion of people on the trail were heading for the summit. Enjoyed a celebratory brew and had lunch with Craig at Las Casuelas before driving home and taking a long nap Thanks to Pat and his wife for the ride back to the museum.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[PatrickSupra]

Great job Ellen!

Is anyone going up this Saturday, October 15?

[Ellen]

Howdy Patrick

Now that we're in "Skyline season," I'm sure there will be people out on both Oct 15 and 16. The extended weather forecast shows it warming up mid-week and returning to more seasonal tempersatures for next weekend (highs in the 90's, low's in the 60's).

Howdy All

I went back up Skyline yesterday as a friend was unable to do San Bernardino peak as planned.

Met St. Florian in the parking lot and headed out around 5:30. My goal was simply to savor the trail and get to the tram. It was warmer than Sat. Florian kindly stayed with me until the picnic tables, then went ahead --he goes out faster and I was still finding my legs after Sat. Made the mistake of following the headlamp of a hiker who passed me and wound up off trail on an animal track. Had to rock scramble and down climb to get back on trail -- Skyline always has something to teach me A nice Marine Captain from San Diego named Eric passed me at the bottom of Shade Rock -- we continued to leap frog each other all the way up.

Caught up with Florian at 4300 and met four really nice folks from LA, Orange County and Phoenix doing their first Skyline. They'd come up from Ramon and made a wrong turn at the junction. A museum Skyliner turned them around at the picnic tables. I stayed with the first timers till they took a break at 5 K, then tried to hang with Florian on the Never Ending Ridge. Doug, Brad, Greg and Diane passed us. We met them again at Flatrock having lunch. It was great to see Brad on Skyline again.

Took my time heading up through the manzanita. Though not hot, the radiant heat from the direct sun had me sweating profusely. Met up with Florian and Eric at the begining of the traverse and stayed together until Long Valley, where Eric headed off to get a permit for the summit. Florian and I mosied up the concrete switchbacks and rejoined Doug and friends at the tram bar. On our way down to the boarding area, we ran into my friend Karl. Thanks to Florian for the ride back to the museum. It was a great day, in large part due to the terrific people I met and hiked with.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[Hikin_Jim]

Was that Skyline or "old home week?" Rumor has it that there are actually some hikers that Ellen doesn't know. Yeah, I didn't believe that rumor either.

Sounds like a nice hike.

HJ

[PatrickSupra]

I've missed out two weekends in a row now. I'll be making it up on Saturday for sure, leaving around 5:30am.

[lesper4]

Well what a turn of events.
We were going to have 8 people go, then we lost one then we gained one then we lost another then 2 more, then one more. It turned out there were only 4 of us and out of them one was unsure for the peak and the other two were only going for the station so it turned into a just get them up skyline and enjoy the day.

My last and first trip up C2C it took 7 hours to do skyline and I was quite tired after that. This time with 3 first timers it took 10 hours. Good thing I packed for the peak because all that extra time on the trail I went through my food and liquids. The temperature was much hotter then last time and with a slower group we hung around it in much longer (never ending ridge?). One good thing about this trip was I did not get off trail in the begnining, last time I had some scrambleing.

We met a number of great people on the trail many of which were going faster then us, no doubt running from the heat. This time I did see teh 4300 marker but it sure did take a long time to get to flat rock. My party enjoyed the shade and cold rock like air conditioned pillow top mattress.

We moved on and they were quite suprised how never ending and steep the trail was from bottom to top. We made it into the trees and the shade was quite refreshing but the breeze and my sweat felt somewhat cold. We topped out somewhat together. It was a great hike especially for those who have done the peak form teh tram and seen those of us who have down C2C. We went to the station and had: 2 mai tai's, lemonade and a corona then it was down to find find a ride to our cars at the gateway.

I scored with the first couple I asked. They had a Denali and took all 4 of us down to teh bottom. I shuttled everyone to Carls jrs for our regular celebatory meal. They all said they would never do that trail again...that is what I said after C2C and look what happened.

I will try to post a few pictures later.

[PatrickSupra]

I went up with a friend of mine on Saturday. We started from the art museum at 5:45am and were able to complete Skyline in 5 hours and 10 minutes, which is my fastest time so far. It was hotter than expected but not bad. Of course we got passed by "The Duo" and followed them for a while but it didn't last too long. Met up again with them and Ellen at the bar and enjoyed a few Stellas before taking the tram down. We waited forever for a cab so my friend and I ended up hitching a ride with a random guy who took us to Alejo and dropped us off.

I'm going up again this Saturday too, same time. Can't wait to get into the sub-5 hour range. I really wanted to do it this time and was so bummed I was 10 minutes off.

[Ellen]

Howdy All

Went up Skyline with the Craigmeister on Saturday. We left at 4:30 AM due to the heat, which definately slowed us. Craig's company was fabulous, as always. He gave me a hiking lesson from Flat Rock up to the beginning of the traverse Scrambled up over the rocks to the tram and enjoyed chatting with the Dynamic Duo and Patrick before heading down.

On Sunday, I met Jim (CalicoKat) in the museum at 3:30 for a 4 AM start time. My plan was to join him for the "full monty" to the summit. As soon as we started I could tell that I didn't feel right. I stumbled even more than usual, which is a lot Jim and I compared notes on our JMT trips. He was an absolute gentleman and friend and didn't mind that I was crawling up the trail. At the beginning of the Never Ending Ridge, my bad left ankle rolled and I fell into a cactus and got scrapped up. When I stood up and started to walk, I could feel the tiny cactus spines on my left hip and thighs rubbing against my shorts Even my favorite section from Flatrock to Grubbs kicked my butt, so I called it quits at the tram.

Thanks to Jim for his excellent company and apologies for not going to the summit.

Howdy Lesper4

What time did you leave? Sunday felt even hotter than Saturday. Did I see you? If so and I didn't say I, I apologize. It wasn't one of my better days.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[lesper4]

I think you left a little before us, we saw one pair of headlights already on the trail unless you were further then that? We also saw 2-3 people preparing to leave but they seem to have skinny legs in running shorts. I was really bumed the people who wanted to do the full monty (faster group) did not go. Now I am goign to have to do this again when they comit.

I would love to try in May(?) when there might be some snow up there. My schedule is full now until mid December and I would have to buy some crampons and or snowshoes. I am eyeing the Atlas Aspects and some low end black diamonds.