Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Cactus to Clouds Hike

I would like to go on this hike realizing it is an official unofficial trail. That being said I am looking for a map or directions. It would sure be helpful if anyone could direct me to a decent map.

Thanks TL

Check out this board...
http://www.palm-springs-photography.com/...189738f04be2d72

and...
http://www.geocities.com/cactus2clouds/skyline.html

Are you just hiking up or hiking all the way up and then back down? I've wanted to do the whole thing as a calander day hike for awhile. Parking at the top and car shuttling seems like cheating. LMK if you're looking for a partner..............DUG

Great info.

Thanks

We are going up and taking a cab back into town.

Dug, its a good feather in your cap for you. 10,500' (about) gain, if you toss in San Jacinto, makes it amoung the highest 'lift' trails in continental US. The eastern Sierra would almost make you start in Death Valley to do same altitude gain. This trail does it in about the length of Whitney's main trail.

The trail you might want to consider as well is up San Jacinto and end in Idylwild for a late lunch at the Gastrognome (a trail parallels the road), then hoof it back (bypassing San Jacinto summit maybe) to your car in Palm Sprngs before midnight.

Good mid June daylight (sun up - sun set) hike too.

Have you thought of this?

http://mattmahoney.net/nolans14/index.html

or this gent's vacation?

http://mattmahoney.net/2001/index.html

You can't park at the top. What most people do is hike to the summit (from the museum or Ramon Rd) and then hike down to the tram, taking it down to the base of the mountain. At that point you either take a cab or bum a ride back to your starting point.

After more than 20 miles and over 10,000 feet of climbing, it doesn't really feel like "cheating" at that point
I'll be doing it this Sunday.

Dave

Post your question at outdoorsclub.org. I think you'll get more responses since they have a lot of Southern California members.

Yup, I agree with you Dave.

Actually, the place for all things cactus is:

http://www.mtsanjacinto.info/

Ken -

FWIW - your link and Gigamike's first link resolve to the same bulletin board.

Getting to the top is ONLY 1/3 of the work. The real pain is always on the downhill part. There have been plenty of hikes where I wish I had a car on top to take me home. I guess doing everything the hard way must be a sickness. .......................................................DUG

Well, of course it's a sickness, DUG. That's why we do it.

-L

Sickos

LOL... Careful there Doc. This is THE Moose and DUG you're calling names...

Moose carries 75 lbs packs all over the Sierras so she can eat Fillet Mignon and drink single malt scotch from the bottle while DUG runs the Sierras 40-50 miles in less than 24 hours without stopping to eat or sleep.
What should I call them? I think the shoe fits.

Dedicated? Maybe... um... determined?... but "sicko" is probably not the safest term

You forgot to mention that I'm awfully cute while I do that, Rod...

Check this out:

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=3209

I saw a post with that link on the San Jacinto message board (http://www.mtsanjacinto.info/).

That route starts at the museum. You can also do it starting where Ramon St ends.

brian

Did I read recently that Palm Springs has closed, or is planning to close, hiker access via Ramon Street? Maybe due to neighborhood congestion? Seems like I read that somewhere ...?