I had planned on doing a nice 24 mile loop of the San Jacinto interior with the San Jacinto hiking club but wasn't sure that my injured wrist (bad sprain, possible compression fracture of the radius) could take the hours of hiking or descent. As the Craigmeister says, "When in doubt, go up"
so I opted to do Skyline instead. Wore my wrist brace and used poles, knowing that I could stash the left pole if needed. Carried an American flag bandana on my pack to honor those who have served.
Started at 4:45 AM, the temperature was nice but I knew that once the sun rose that I would suffer. Caught up with a group of 6 from Orange County near the first rescue box. I continued to catch up to other hikers -- I was surprised that so many were on the trail. I was passed on the Never Ending Ridge by Allison and two other gentlemen.
I like taking a fuel break at St. Florian's cache rather than Flatrock -- this gives me time to digest and get warmed back up for the final push. I was pleasantly suprised to see two full water bottles in the bucket -- they are probably empty now. As I ate, I watched a stream of hikers go by and thought of Cameron (Neverwashasbeen) sitting on top of Coffman's Crag doing the same.
Finally started getting a little breeze on the climb out of Flatrock. I was leaning more on my poles and happy that the braced wrist wasn't complaining any more than the rest of my body
When I reached Grubbs Notch, I laid on a cool rock for about 15 minutes before scrambling up the rocks to the the viewing point. The Arrogant B beer tasted especially good and the Craigmeister conducted us back down to the Valley Station.
Thanks so much to Pat and Sharon for another ride back to the museum
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
It just needs to recover by July 17 when I start on the John Muir trail 