No permits at LRV, what to do?

[Ulysses]

Forgot to give credit. Those 3 firefighters were SBNF station 56 Keenwild. They were dropped at Round Valley by helo and humped it over the top and into LRV carrying shovels, axes, and a chainsaw.

[WOLFDOG]

My Hat's off to them, Thanks Keenwild Station 56

[Perry]

Now that's dedication to the job!

[sporkbunny]

Wow, thanks for all the input everyone! What a great group. OK so things just kind of came together for us last minute. We had camped Friday night at one of the prettiest-view yellow post sites on the way up Black Mountain road (what a place to wake up!) and my car battery was dead Saturday morning (oh nooo!). This had never happened and was a nasty surprise. But then! a jeep miraculously pulled up the very second we discovered this problem (right after finishing packing our backpacks and loading the car); they had jumper cables and rescued us! Just in case, Friday evening we had picked up dayhiking permits in town. Due to the minor delay, at the trailhead we ran into a pair of hikers who had reserved sites at LRV and then had decided to dayhike it instead, so they told us to use their site; we weren't sure this was OK but it was a nice fallback option to consider. We started hiking up Fuller Ridge at 10am and by noon-thirty, we were almost to Deer Springs junction, when a series of things came together: first, we noticed a "seep" water source crossing the trail (probably about 2 miles before the junction). We pushed on, considering this a water source fallback if we couldn't sort out a campsite somewhere on the other side of Deer Springs or go for the LRV site, and about a mile further we came to a total "mess" of trailwork. It looks like a bunch of trails going all over the hillside there... very confusing. I am guessing that trail switchbacks are being revised there? There are blasted rocks, tools, you name it... all very industrious looking and um... a bit misleading. So although I knew from memory that the trail junction was a bit further towards Idyllwild, we decided to hop on one of these odd new ? trail ? things left by the workers and see where it led, kind of hoping that the ridiculous switchbacks were being made more efficient. IMHO, the fact that Fuller Ridge trail does not remain on the ridge all the way to the summit is totally maddening and if the trail is being revised, a new one should be cut straight up the ridge and then around Folly Peak. Oh, and a zipline should go from the main saddle junction of Devil's Slide down to the village hahaha. So... anyways.... this funny little worker trail meandered hiker's left up the hillside for about 900 feet and dumped us in this really amazing rocky area on a hump opposite where the real trail is.... rockpiles like buildings, sand & gravel, just a few fabulous pinyons, sweeping views of the valley.... all totally worth a side-trip if you're good with off-trail navigation FYI. We traversed this area, exploring the neat formations and trees, and then (passing an odd fire-ring) descended its other side to a lovely little green ravine where the main stream from LRV drops into one of its only flattish sections. It looks like this little valley may have once been a popular camp spot, there are clearings that look like former tent pads and on the opposing hillside, we found an old, eroded version of the trail that branches off the present trail (where we spotted hikers we'd been with earlier in the day). Anyways, this was a really beautiful place to pump water and rest. By 2 pm we were back on the real trail and ascending, still not sure if we were overnighting or dayhiking the summit. Our inadvertent shortcut omitted the junction with Deer Springs trail and may have sliced off about a mile of switchbacking. Then we hit LRV, right about when the helis were starting to circle re. the campfire. We hiked on and then had a terrific hailstorm, hikers were hooting and cheering and the hail was big enough to sting just a little bit. While waiting out the worst of it, we stashed the heaviest parts of our overnight gear (tent, etc.). With lighter packs, we pushed on. As the hail turned to rain and then the storm cleared, we summitted SJ; the sun came out and we had a nice little rainbow from the top. We got to watch the heli drop water and put out the campfire. (thanks guys, for explaining what was going on!). LRV was kind of a commotion and frankly not very inviting... there were noisy campers, helis, and not much solitude. So we descended, grabbed our overnight gear, and dropped back down to that fabulous water pumping spot we found earlier to top off our H20 for the night. Then we retraced our steps using the inadvertent shortcut, descended further (outside the boundary), set up camp , and had a lovely view for sunset dinner. The next morning our hike out was blessedly short and we were back to the car (which started up just fine!) by noon. All told, things fell apart and then came together quite nicely. Now we know about this great little water-pumping spot and some awesome rock formations near the trail junction too!

[Hikin_Jim]

I did not go in the commode, but it is one of those new pvc ones (not wood), but who knows, the toilet seat could be falling apart with grafitti engraved all over it.

OK, so they did replace it. The old one was wood and was getting pretty rickety.

Anyone know if the rangers make it over the hill anymore to LRV? Maybe an occasional visit would be worth their time? If people are doing things so brazen as building fires, that's a clear indication in my mind that the rangers have just stopped going over there.

HJ

[Hikin_Jim]

things just kind of came together for us last minute

Sometimes those are the best kind of trips.

HJ