Three T's Hike

Mark and his group headed up to the San Bernadino Mountains to tackle the Three T's (or whatever ones we get to). We got to the Icehouse Canyon trailhead and of course it was full so we parked about a half mile down the road.  At the trail entrance, I separated from the group and headed up to Icehouse Saddle.  The creek was flowing nicely and it was shady for most of the way.  At the saddle, I took a quick break to refill my water and then headed to the first T, Timber Mountain.  It was quite steep and the short trail to the summit was a pain.  I had some food and water and stretched out a bit ad the summit.  Then it was back down to the main trail and then down a few hundred feet to a bare saddle with nice views to the east and west.  From there is was straight up to the summit of the second T, Telegraph.  The 360 views from there were fabulous, probably better than Baldy even though Telegraph is quite a bit lower.  I contemplated completed the trifecta and going for Thunder but looking down it, it didn't seem worth the effort since I had to hike back down to Icehouse to meet my friends.  So after resting a bit, it was back downhill for a while.  Then uphill again for some last torture.  Near the turnoff for Timber summit, I meet up with my group.  We then headed down to the saddle together.  From there, I got the urge to run down the canyon.  This turned out pretty fun and I made it down in an hour.

Timber summit

They should put this sign near the trailhead.

Telegraph summit

More Winter Books

• The Log of a Snow Survey by Patrick Armstrong
• Cities of theAncient World by Steven Tuck
• California Plants: A Guide to Our Iconic Flora by Matt Ritter
• The Practical Geologist: The Introductory Guide to the Basics of Geology and to Collecting and Identifying Rocks by Dougal Dixon
• Building a Bug Out Bag: Create a Plan To Get Home In the Event of a Disaster by Kevin Kiernan
• The Six Day War: The History and Legacy of the 1967 Arab-Isreali War and Its Impact on the Middle East
• The Promise of the GrandCanyon: John Wesley Powell's Perilous Journey and his Vision for the American West by John F. Foss
• Around the World in80 Trees by Jonathan Drori
• The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart
• Atlas of World WarII: History's Greatest Conflict Revealed Through Rare Wartime Maps and New Cartography by Neil Kagan et. al.
• Smithsonian Civil War: Inside the Collection by Neil Kagan
• How to Listen To and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg

Cactus to Clouds Hike

Over memorial day, a buddy and me tackled one of the hardest day hikes in the world: Cactus to Clouds (aka Skyline trail).
Use the awesome Hiking Guy guide, we go to the museum a bit after midnight.  The trail started steep and stayed steep.  We got a lot of light from the Palm Springs so didn't really need headlamps until a few miles in.
We were making good time but started to slow up as we approached rescue box #2.  And after Flat Rock, we were dragging.  When we got to Long Valley, we decided to skip the summit since we had been there before and also it was covered in snow and ice still.
It was a great hike but might be a one-time experience.

Parked by the museum

Trailhead

Still 8 miles to go?

This should be posted much closer to the trailhead

Sunrise

The top

Flat rock

Burnt Rancheria Camp

For the last campout of the season, the troop headed up to Mount Laguna, Burnt Rancheria campground.
It got cold, windy and rainy but we had a great time hiking and working on skills.

Camporee

Troop campsite

Friendly duck

Pioneering gateway

Portland Getaway

• Mount Tabor Park
• Cannon Beach
• Drive from Cannon Beach through Astoria and back to the airport
• Oregon Historical Society Museum
• Walk along the river
• Powell's City of Books
• Diversion
• Olympic Provisions
• Tasty n' Daughter
• Stumptown Coffee
• Short Round
• The Cavern

 

San Jacinto Snow S24O

With the snowing melting fast, I wanted to try and get one more snow camp this season so I headed up to San Jacinto for a S240.  I left mid day for the nice drive up to Idylwild.  The town was pretty empty since the two main routes from LA are closed due to storm damage.  When I arrived at Humber Park and there only a few cars there.  I got my gear together and started up Devil's Slide.  There wasn't any snow at the start and I made good time.  A volunteer ranger checked my permit about 2/3 up and we chatted for a bit.  There started to be snow on the northern slopes but I didn't need to use my newly acquired microspikes.  I got to the saddle and found snow about 1' - 3' deep.  I put on my snowshoes and looked for a good camping spot.  I found a nice level location next to a large felled tree.  I brought my GoLite Shangri-La 2 tarp to try it out in the snow.  It was easy to setup using my homemade snow anchors. I melted snow for water, made an early dinner and settled in.  I read and listened to podcasts for a while until the sun set and I feel asleep.

The night started pretty warm but cooled quickly.  My Tyvek ground sheet froze and had to use my fleece liner.  I woke up at 5 and got an early start.  It took some time to dig out my snow anchors since the snow froze up pretty good.  I packed up and started back to the saddle in the dark.  It was a quick hike down to parking lot.

I think my equipment is pretty good for next winter's snow camps.  I need a larger dry bag for my sleeping bag and liner in order to get more room inside my pack but everything worked great.

Humber Park

Saddle Junction

Tarp in the snow

My kitchen