San J via Deer Springs - 2 Sept

[DUG]

Needed a warm up for a last minute trip to Mount Langley on the 7th and didn't want to spend a lot on gas. We wanted to do the Deer Springs "loop" but due to trail closures it had to be an out an back.

Loaded up my son and then picked up the Langley plan master at 0400. Found an empty ranger station at 0445 with what looked like hundreds of Devil's Slide permits. Saw a sign saying Tahquitz Peak only from Devil's Slide due to closures. Got our permit and headed to the trail head, which I missed AGAIN. At least we caught it in seconds instead miles like usual.

Parking area only had a couple cars and there was evidence of recent rains. We started hiking by 0500. My son set a pace that was too fast for me so I let him fly ahead. My buddy was trapped behind me and made no effort to try and catch the boy. I had a back injury last year and haven't done any real hiking since July 2012. That was a 5 day 50 mile romp around San Jacinto with Boy Scouts. Easy days, but we did touch the summit on day two. Nothing since then though - "back in the day" I used to hike circles around those younger than me. 40+ miles in a 24 hour push were common, but with the back problem I've picked up a few pounds. Today would decide if I could even try to make the Langley trip.

By the time we hit the PCT my son had slowed down after burning off his extra energy. We were plodding along around 2 mph. I needed a breather at the PCT sign so we lost 10 minutes. Back on our way we pushed up to the Little Round Valley camp ground were I insisted on another quick breather. My pace was around 1.5 or 1.7 depending on which GPS you believed.

Just past the hut I was really low on gas. I'm hoping it's effort and not altitude since the Langley trail-head is almost as high as today's summit. Talked to 4 or 5 others who were on top when we got there or showed up before we left. Changed socks and headed down. A couple miles down it started to sprinkle. Foolishly thinking it would be quick we kept all of our rain gear warm and dry in our packs. It got worse and we were steadily rained on or at least sprinkled on all the way to the car. After a while I just didn't care. Made one last rookie move by blowing past the last water stop in the rain. PCT to the car was without water for two of us, but it wasn't hot in the rain going downhill. A cooler full of water and drinks awaited us.

I think I did "okay", but I'm not in the shape I was two years ago. I give it my all on Saturday, safely. If I make it great, if not it will wait for me.

Anyone else get wet?

[Ellen]

Howdy Dug

I am sorry that you're suffering with a back injury

Sally and I went up Deer Springs and came down Marion yesterday. Started about 6:40 AM. It started sprinkling a bit after 2 PM. A bit before 3 PM, the skies opened up and we donned rain jackets. Then we started getting hit with pea-sized hail.

As Sally drove us to Idylwild to eat and wait out the storm, the road was so steamy that it was hard to see. Parts of the village looked as if it had snowed.

Thanks to Sally for treating me to a birthday dinner at Arrribas She'll post a TR with pictures soon.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[Hikin_Jim]

Hope your back is doing OK, DUG and that you got to do Langley. When were you there? (assuming you got to go) I was up at Cottonwood Pass over Labor Day.

Thanks to Sally for treating me to a birthday dinner at Arrribas She'll post a TR with pictures soon.

Oh, sure, make others do all the hard work of posting photos, why don't you, Ellen?

HJ