Where I was the past two days...

[Mikey]

Friday Afterooon

Looking up the tram from Palm Springs




Looking back down from the tram




My temporary home at Round Valley, two miles up from the tram




Saturday Morning


Starting up the trail




Looking back at the tram terminal





One mile down, 2.3 to go at 9700 feet...total elevation rise about 2,300 feet from the tram





Mountain landscape





Looking back down the trail




Getting close to the top




My son, happy to be at the top




View from the summit

[Rich Fader]

Sweet pics, Mikey.

[PSUFAN]

Looks pretty damn nice...

[Mikey]

It was a pain lugging my big assed camera up there, and I almost died a couple of times trying to keep up with the kids, but well worth the effort. And the spa felt really good last night.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Very nice.

[Wolfman]

When you "climb" a mountain--does riding a tram part of the way count ??
rack the photo essay !

[Mikey]

Never said we "climbed" the whole way...
But getting a ride up the first 8000 feet or so
does help. Especially when it's about 100 degrees
at the bottom!!

You can make the climb from the bottom
but it's more than a one day hiike. Or you can
drive up to Idyllwild on the other side and start at
about 7000 feet!!

[Wolfman]

Just smackin' you a bit Mikey.
Rack you for doing what you did. Mountain/Trail hiking was a favorite for me.
I did some of the Appalachian Trail and Finger Lakes Trail back in the day.
Always dreamed of an AT thru-hike, but I guess that will never happen.
Suprised that 88, our resident mountaineer hasn't shown up here yet.

[Mikey]

I'd love to do the Pacific Crest Trail, but I think the years of my ability to do that are past me.
Parts of it may be in the future, though.

[smackaholic]

It was a pain lugging my fat ass up there, and I almost died a couple of times trying to keep up with the kids, but well worth the effort. And the spa felt really good last night.

Never have I seen a post that cried out for a ftfy more than this one, so, there ya go, nc.

The wife and I went on a bit of an adventure ourselves this weekend. She won two free nights in a B&B in Lyndonville, VT. This is way up there near the canuck border, in the heart of vermont's "northeast kingdom". Beautiful place. The mountains aren't as big as socal, but, it's one heck of a lot greener. We hiked up Burke Mountain, unassisted by any trams. There is a skilift, but, it don't run this time of year. Total elevation change, about 2,000 ft give or take a few feet. We took the short cut on the way down and walked the upper and lower willouby trails, which, btw are blue square trails. My knees, shins, ankles and every other part of me in that vicinity was thinking it would be a much nicer decent with some white stuff on the ground and some sticks strapped on.

I have a few pics. See if I can bet some loaded.

Yesterday we drove around admiring the scenery. We drove through lovely Derby Line. Derby line is smack dab on the canuck border. I was considering taking a ride over there just to drop some currency smack on them, although, these days it's not as much fun with the exchange rate getting reasonably close to even. I saw a US border patrol dude sitting on a side street in his crown vic with shades on looking all badass. I pulled up next to him and rolled the window down. Our conversation went something like this....


me-hi, can you tell me if I need a passport to get into canuckland now, or will a driver's license do?

BP badass-I don't know. That's not my job. That's customs? Don't try to pass here though, you'll probably get arrested by dudley dooright. That driveway behind me is in canada. you have to cross at a designated port.

me-(looks at car, reads aloud "border patrol") actually, seems to me it would be your job, skippy. Well, guess I'll just back the fukk up lest I get thrown in the clink by jaques. Have a nice day. Actually, I didn't call him skippy, but, I did let it be known that he was basically, like most other civil service p's os, useless and overpaid.

I then stopped at the quickie mart a few feet down the road where a very pleasant woman who probably makes a fifth of what BPBA makes gave me the skinny on getting over the border, even though, it wasn't here job either.

Apparently, you can still get over with just a driver's license. Actually, this does not apply to jtr, who, will never get over, in any sense of the word. Starting in oh eight, however, you will apparently need a passport to get back to the US. You will still be able to get to canada though with just a license and a pack of american smokes.

Of course, this will change again when the evil bushchenron machine is expelled and the rest of the world will love us again. I am certain the border will be thrown open again at that time.

[Wolfman]

You can still return from Canada by land w/o a passport---
photo driver's license AND (a good idea to have it)
birth certificate will do until 2008.
MrsO and I are getting our passports this summer in
preparation for our annual visit to her former homeland
later around August.
BTW-- Mikey--section hiking is cool too !!

http://www.trailjournals.com/journals_type.cfm?status=3

[smackaholic]

former homeland? isn't it still her homeland?

[socal]

Rack the family adventure, Mikey. My brother went up San Jacinto in April. I think it took him somewhere around 11 hours on that second day to make the summit and back to the car. That's a full day.

For the past two summers I've climbed up Mt. San Antonio ("Mt. Baldy") at just over 10,500' with my son and brother. My daughter made her first trek up the mountain this past summer. We may do San Jacinto this summer. Maybe both mountains.

[Wolfman]

MrsO, much to my surprise decided to become a US citizen back in 2004. She paid her $$$, got her fingerprinting and security clearances and all--- (unlike what the illegals may not have to do) and is now a proud American !!

[poptart]

Nice pics, Mikey!

Some nice lookin' logs, rocks, and crevices.

[Mikey]

Rack the family adventure, Mikey. My brother went up San Jacinto in April. I think it took him somewhere around 11 hours on that second day to make the summit and back to the car. That's a full day.

For the past two summers I've climbed up Mt. San Antonio ("Mt. Baldy") at just over 10,500' with my son and brother. My daughter made her first trek up the mountain this past summer. We may do San Jacinto this summer. Maybe both mountains.

Actually it was sort of a Boy Scout trip. My boy and me, and two other dads and their sons from our Troop. Couldn't get any of the other pussies to go along. A perfect sized group, actually, but Fataholic's ftfy may be more accurate than even he could realize.

Our plan was to take the tram up on Friday afternoon, hike the 2.5 miles with full packs to the wilderness campground, camp overnight, hike to the top and back with daypacks on Saturday, spend another night at the campground, and then pack up and go back to the tram on Sunday morning. It didn't work out exactly that way.

The boys are 14 and 15. My son is in cross country and track. The other two are in track and wrestling. One of the dads is an LA fireman (ie, he gets paid to stay in shape), and the other is also in great shape. They're both about 10 years younger than I am as well. The point here is that I was basically "tail end Charlie" most of the way. The kids made about twice the pace that we did, and I sort of lagged a little behind the other dads. We'd stop every 15 or 20 minutes for a breather (ie let the old farts catch up). They got to rest and then the kids wanted to get started again as soon as I caught up. Thanks a lot for the break :roll: .

Even with me holding things up we started from the campground at 8:30 and made it the 3.5 miles to the top by about 11:00. We were among the first groups of the day to make it up there. We hung out and ate lunch until noon and then made it back to camp by 1:00. The kids basically ran down the mountain, bounding from boulder to boulder (I can actually remember when I was able to do that). My priority was to minimize the impact of each downhill step so that I'd still have knees left at the bottom.

It's possible to make a day trip from the tram to the top and back, and lots of people try it on nice spring weekends. Some make it all the way up, some don't. On the way back down we must have passed 100 other hikers with various levels of REI gear (lots of people with two hiking poles...you know the ones with a compass and can double for a camera stand) and in various stages of exhaustion or exhiliration. By noon the place was starting to look like the fucking Hi Chi Minh Trail.

Anywho, we got back to camp at 1:00 and we weren't back for more than 10 minutes when a woman in a State Park ranger's uniform comes walking up and tells us we're in an illegal campground. "You can't camp in any place that doesn't have a brown stake". Uh...oh sorry. "You have to move all your stuff to a legal camping area. There's one pretty close." OK so the kids and I follow her about a quarter mile to a place that's already taken by some of the weekend crowd. Another quarter mile to another place that's "legal". I ask her where's the brown stake, and she says somebody must have taken it. Great, so this place is more legal than the place we're in, right? Thanks beyotch. You couldn't have just let us stay put, right?

So we get back to camp and the decision is, fuck it...we made our hike, there's nothing else to do but hang out. If we have to pack up everything and move a half mile we might as well go the fuck home and sleep in our own beds instead of packing up, setting up camp again and then packing up one more time in the morning. So we break camp at 3:00, hightail it 2.5 miles down the hill, and miss the 4:55 tram back down the mountain by about a minute (thanks to yours truly lardass). The very last part of the hike is what seems like about a 50 or 60 foot climb up a steep concrete switchback to the tram station. With a full pack after almost 10 miles of up and down, this is killer.

In 'n Out on the way home was awesome. I think we each had about 3 or 4 free refills from the soda machine.

[trev]

You went to a spa and you're calling others pussies? The guys in my family have been on that hike a few times. But they BACKPACK it. No spa for them.

[Mikey]

Are you retarded? I didn't to TO a spa, dummy.

I climbed into my own spa when I got home. Reading comprehension much?

[trev]

Nice back pedal!

[Mikey]

Nice back pedal!

What backpedal?

I'm just pointing out where you're full of shit.
Nice try though.

[Y2K]

Mike,

Take your Son up to the top of Half Dome, it's something you will never forget. You are welcome to drive up and stay at my place in preperation any time. Seriously....

Think about it,

Leave my place and drive to Yosemite to the Trail Head about 1 1/2 hours away. Hike and camp behind the dome and climb up the next morning. Stay that night, hike back and head to the Fresneck to relax before the ride home.

It's something you'll never regret.

[Goober McTuber]

My son, happy to be at the top

Holy shit. Your son doesn't have any more hair on his head than you do.

[smackaholic]

trust me on this mike, that was not the ho chi minh trail. the hcm trail is any of the trails up Mt Monadnock in southern new hampshire on a nice fall weekend day. Since they cut a road into Fuji, it is now officially the most hiked hill on the planet. The wife and I hiked it a few years back on a saturday in october. You literally could not get out of site or earshot of hikers at any time. Kinda like walking down broadway, just steeper, nicer smelling and no bums.

Monadnock is the only decent sized hill within spitting distance of Baaahhhstin and about half of the folks in that area hike it every weekend. Too bad, it is a nice hike.

[MuchoBulls]

Sweet pics

[Atomic Punk]

Very nice Mikey!

I used to rent planes to abuse out of San Diego Montgomery airport and fly over those mountains then slip it down to the Palm Springs airport. Slipping means you keep the throttle on so you don't shock the engine to failure as you drop a wing, then kick up the rudder and watch the VSI and Altimeter move like what you'd see in a cartoon.

You're going from about a VFR altitude of 11,500 ft to down into that basin very quickly. Then I'd eat at the coffee shop at Palm Springs airport and then go back to San Diego, or go hit a bunch of the desert airports all the way to Blythe.

You were almost at the 11,000 ft level and looking down the mountain there, you can barely see the I-10. In other words, you were way the fuck up there and there ain't that much O2 to breathe. Props to you for having the stones to do something like that.

[Dinsdale]

[various levels of REI gear

Even SoCals are smart enough to stock up on U&L gear to go take on the outdoors.

[Mikey]

[various levels of REI gear

Even some SoCals are smart narcissistic enough to stock up on overpriced U&L gear to show how really "outdoorsy" they are.

ftfy

[Mister Bushice]

My son, happy to be at the top

Holy shit. Your son doesn't have any more hair on his head than you do.

Does he say "Have a nice day" a lot?

[socal]

Mikey,

On that Baldy hike my knees were creaking and squawking on the descent. My brother was almost unable to make it down the steeper portions due to knee pain. He went ahead and got the hiking poles and, voila, no more pain.

[Mister Bushice]

Mikey,

On that Baldy hike my knees were creaking and squawking on the descent. My brother was almost unable to make it down the steeper portions due to knee pain. He went ahead and got the hiking poles and, voila, no more pain.

If he had knee pain, how exactly did he go ahead, and if he got ahead, why did he need the hiking poles?

There's a polish rescue joke in there somewhere, dammit.

[Mikey]

Mikey,

On that Baldy hike my knees were creaking and squawking on the descent. My brother was almost unable to make it down the steeper portions due to knee pain. He went ahead and got the hiking poles and, voila, no more pain.

I've heard that the poles can help both on the ascent, especially when you have to make big steps up on rocks or whatever (my leg strength isn't what it used to be), and on the way down (my knees complain the whole way). BUT, the $200 shoes and $100 articles of clothing are going a bit overboard for a 10 mile day hike IMO. I bought my tent on-line for $20.00. You can get an almost identical one (with brighter colors and a brand name, of course) at REI for about $120.

To each his own, though. Buying all that stuff definitely won't hurt you.

[The Whistle Is Screaming]

My temporary home at Round Valley, two miles up from the tram

No can do buddy, I'd be to worried that that big tree would fall and squish me in half. In fact, just looking at the picture gives me the heeby jeeby's. :shudder: Where the fuck are my pills?

Sin,
OCmike