Skyline this Sunday

[Cy Kaicener]

Thanks for the detailed trip report Joe. That was a great write up. How long did it take you and how deep was the snow the last 1000 feet after the traverse at 7400 feet. Also welcome to our message board.
Mark - I hope you can join us next Saturday for half of Skyline. We will leave at 6 am. The shaded switchbacks are just above the 3000 ft level and take about an hour and a half to reach. Above them it terrain becomes much flatter and you can see the upper part of the mountain. Today starting at 11 am you are going to fry and bake. You will be so well done that you will be ready to have a fork stuck in to you and be ready to be served
One side note - Doreen has gone half way about 400 times
Tina - I am looking forward to your professional trip report.

[Cy Kaicener]

Tina - How high up did the two of you go. Where did the snow level start?
The heat must have been awful on the way down. I felt it before 10 am. I hope it wasnt too bad for you. My knees cant take more than 3000 ft of steep downhill.

[Marknhj]

I went up yesterday. Had no choice but to leave late and yes it was hot, but not unbearably so. My car said it was 75 when I started. The section up to the picnic tables makes me sweat no matter what time it is! Went up to the large, 30' vertical slab of rock, which I believe is at the start of what you refer to as the shady switch back section (I've been up past that a few times before, to the plateau from which you can see the tram station for the first time). Took me 1hr 45mins. I haven't done a decent hike since December so by that time I started feeling it in my quads and butt (not helped by doing a coaching course on Saturday for my favorite sport; they made me run, jump and throw things. Haven't done that for years and felt a few age-related twinges!). It was a beautiful day up there.

I just realised that I'm going to in San Diego on Saturday so won't be able to join you guys. I will make sure I do in the very near future though; I've never been up with experienced hikers before and would enjoy the opportunity.

[tinaballina]

Doreen, Tina and I left the museum at 6 am and were at the top of the shaded switch backs by 8 am.
Tina also works at the Press Enterprise. It was great to have her along.

Cy, it was so great to meet you and Doreen. Doreen and i continued on to 5500 feet, wow, what a hike that was, i am still feeling it, love that feeling. It was really great hiking with two legends as yourselves.
I would love to join you two again Saturday.

[tinaballina]

Hi Cy, Doreen, Tina, and everybody else. I'm that guy Joe. It's nice to meet you on the trail.

Nice to meet you Cy, Doreen, Tina.

Good hiking.

Glad you made it safe and sound....it was nice meeting you as well.

[jth]

How long did it take you and how deep was the snow the last 1000 feet after the traverse at 7400 feet.

The snow was nice on the traverse. Most of the time, I'd only sink a little. Occasionally, though, I'd posthole up to my thigh, and I'm really tall! On the final steep section, it got really icy, so I didn't sink in at all. That was nice.

I was slow and careful, since I was alone, and I didn't want to be rescued. I'm not really sure about the time. Maybe two hours? Or three? I stopped halfway up to check my voicemail. I was surprised that I had reception!

Is anybody planning to hike on Sunday?

[Cy Kaicener]

Thanks for the trip reports Tina and Joe. We are lucky to have someone to give us the latest trail conditions in order to warn the unwary and uninformed.

[jth]

Hello Cy and Doreen, and everybody else. Did anybody go hiking today? I expected to see Cy and Doreen today, hiking from the museum at 6:00.

On the trail, I noticed somebody had dropped a lot of empty plastic bottles, beef jerky bags, and a footbed from a shoe. That was weird. Also, I saw some white tape that somebody had tied to a bush. I'm planning to hike again tomorrow (but not to the tram), so I'll try to clean up that stuff. Is anybody planning to hike tomorrow? It would be nice to hike with some of the people on this message board.

A lot of the snow has melted on the upper section of the trail, but it is still really icy near Long Valley. Before that, it was kind of slushy. It snowed a little while I was hiking. That was fun.

[Cy Kaicener]

jth - I would have gone on Saturday if I knew anyone else wanted to go. Doreen and Tina decided not to go, so I hiked up the Tram Road twice instead.
Was the trail partly muddy? Thanks for bringing the litter problem to our attention. Today is my rest day.

[jth]

Yesterday, it was a little muddy in some places. Today, it rained, and the trail got quite muddy in some places. I took extra trash bags so that I could pack out that trash, but apparently, somebody already did it (or maybe the wind blew it). I couldn't find any of that stuff left.

Not many people hiked today. I was tired, and my friend was sick, so we only went a little above 4300 (maybe 4500 feet). We saw two birds covered with bright blue feathers. Does anybody know what those birds could be? Today was my first time hiking down the trail. It looks really different that way.

The weather was nice and varied. Walking through the clouds was fun.

As we were walking down, we met a lady hiking up, and I told her about this message board. She said she had been looking for people to hike with. Maybe she'll come on here.

Joe