After melting on Skyline a week ago, I had sworn it off until cooler weather, which came much sooner than expected. The Craigmeister, Patti and I headed up a bit before 6 am. The sunrise was beautiful, thanks to the clouds provided by the freakish weather system. We stopped frequently to take pictures with our cell phones. It was humid but bearable. The cloud patterns over the Santa Rosas were haunting and evoked the presence of ancient spirits. On way up to the 5 K mark, Craig pointed out that I had almost stepped on a young rosy boa choking out a lizard.
We enjoyed a short breakfast at St. Florian's cache when two fit Canadians passed by on their first Skyline. Although we warned them about the steep climb out of Flatrock, they were still impressed with the difficulty. We were enveloped by clouds at 7 K and couldn't even see Coffman's. As usual, it was windy at Grubbs, so we wasted no time scrambling up the rocks. The Canadians showed up just as we were heading down to board the tram. Patti and I had lunch at Las Casuelas. I actually haven't been there in several weeks and was experiencing withdrawal.
My only complaints -- orange peels and empty water bottles left in St. Florian's cache. The Craigmeister has carried water up to stock the rescue boxes and I've carried empty bottles out on our last three Skylines -- I think that I have the best part of that arrangement
Facebook pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/home.php?clk_l ... 5663987312
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
