Fuller Ridge attempt

Idyllwild - Mile 178 - May 13_th, 2010

We tried, but the snow on the San Jacinto ridges was a little too intimidating. We'd hoped to find some patches safe enough to practice self arrest on, and generally gain some confidence on, but the first few patches we hit were steep and frozen solid late in the morning. We then met a couple who had turned around after a scary slide themselves and they informed us the patches ahead were even sketchier than what we'd been through, so after some deliberation we made the wise but disappointing decision to turn back and skip Fuller Ridge. We'll miss about fifteen miles of trail, though with all our hiking up and down off the mountain we've more than made up for the miles. We really wanted a continuous hike, but we're not equipped for ice on steep ridges, and we're not going to walk miles of windy mountain highways on narrow shoulders, so unfortunately we're joining the ranks of skippers for this stretch. We really did give it a shot though, and confirmed for ourselves the conditions up there, so we're confident it was the right choice for us and we're still determined to keep the rest of our hike continuous - if possible. We've heard the re-route around last year's big fire involves something like forty miles of road walk, so we'll have to find out a little more about that.

So, back in Idyllwild to hemorrhage some more money, walking up Black Mountain Road in a few hours to reconnect with the trail after the snowy stretch. Made some great new friends on our way back to town, and had a fantastic evening socializing over dinner. It's been a full week since we first arrived in idyllwild & I'm very much looking forward to being past Fuller & making some forward progress again. Next update from Big Bear in five or so days.