C2C Trip Report: 04/19/2014

[smiles]

We started off from the museum parking lot at about 3 am. It was a warm start at 65 degrees -- so shorts and t-shirts fit the bill. Skies were clear and it was pretty cool to watch the moon chasing Mars across the sky as we ascended.

By the time Mr. sun started glaring on us, we were somewhere around 5000 feet up. It got noticeably cooler as expected along the traverse -- but still shorts & t-shirts were fine for the grind. ZERO snow or ice remains all the way to Long Valley.

We "parked it" at the tramway's mountain station from around 9:45 am to 11:15 am. We needed to re-fuel and I was a bit sluggish on this 4th ascent of the year (no thanks to the fact I had a few beers too many in Las Vegas on Thursday night). My bad for not flushing my body of the alcohol toxins prior to this hike!

We then departed the station for the easier climb to the top of San Jacinto Peak. Sky conditions became mostly cloudy with the afternoon build-up of cumulus clouds. It was rather chilly in the 40's, but the light breezes kept the wind chill down -- and this was great hiking weather vs. the 92 degrees attained on the desert floor! I added a long sleeve shirt for the jaunt above Long Valley.

The first snow I came across, was at 8,600 feet -- but only patches. The most snow I came across was in the approach to Wellman's Divide (9700 feet), due to the shade and northerly slope. However, for those wanting to know if you need micro spikes or the like -- definitely not. There are some areas of snow/ice on the trail to the summit -- but you can easily navigate around them if you fear slipping!

[Ellen]

Howdy Smiles

It was a tad warm, wasn't it? Congratulations on C2C -- I haven't done the full monty for over a year. The siren call of a beer at the tram bar has just been too strong

Also appreciate the intel re: not needing microspikes to summit.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[sdpacatc]

Thanks for the breakdown of your trip, its nice to know the way is clear. Next week will be my first attempt, I'm looking forward to writing a trip report as well.