Gary, sorry about the slow response. Had a death in the family on the 10th. Was out of town for a few days and trying to catch up on some work also.
I could'nt have asked for a better hike. Spent 3 nights on Mt. Charleston. 9000 ft., 10,700 ft., and 7500ft. South loop trail very nice. It is about 4-4.5 miles from trailhead to ridge that leads another 4 or so miles to summit. Only prob.-no water on trail, so I had to pack in 2.5 gal. of water. about 20 lbs. of water. Pack was 47 lbs. on the way in. Felt strong the whole time, but my pace was snail like. Strange, but for some reason I was able to nose breathe vs mouth breathe most of the hike.
Met Chad and Kristy on the 4th day and drove to Lone Pine. The shortcut road from Pharump to Death Valley worked out well. Good sleep at the hostel as usual. Planned on getting a nice early start at the Portal, but Kristy said she was'nt stepping one step until she had one of Doug's breakfast works of art. So around 9 am after pancakes and damn near everything else on the menu we hit the trail. My pack was 31 lbs. for 3 nights out although we only stayed out 2 nights. We were not out to set any records and average about 1 mile per hr. Had lots of little breaks and one 45 min. lunch break at Outpost Camp. Rolled into Trail Camp at 3 pm. Not to many people at TC so we stayed there instead of closer to Consultation Lake. No wind and only one breif marmot sighting. I found some really nice camping spots on the other side of the ledge/bench that makes up the southern edge of TC. Had planned on spending all day Thr. at TC loafing to allow Chad and Kristy more time at altitude, but because of incoming bad weather on Fri. we decided to go up on Thr. Having spent most of my hiking life in the Appalachian Mts. I have no concept of the "alpine start". So at a reasonable 8am we started up. Chad and Kristy did well, no problems at all, helped out by our snail pace most likely. Reached Trail Crest at 10am. Spent 45 min lounging and snacking. Out to the west were low and laden clouds with rain streamers. Luckily the clouds were moving in a strict south to north pattern and I felt we were in no danger of being clouded out on the summit. Reached the summit at 1:20 with plenty of good views. Stuck around for about 45 min. then started the decent. A little below Trail Crest we were served up a little snow and sleet by mother nature. I loved it. Spent Thr. night at TC. Woke Fri morning to light misty rain. Broke camp and headed down to Lone Pine. Showered up at the hostel, drank a few at Jakes, pizzaed up at the pizza place then drove to Vegas with side trip to Badwater.
All in all things went smooth. I had been suffering with plantar fasciitis all summer so was not able to do the running I so enjoy. Most of my workouts were at the gym with free weights and some hikes in the local mts. with weighted pack. I managed my PF well and by the time of the trip was pretty much pain free. Slept well, ate well and drank well while on the trail and suffered none. Will post photos when I learn how. Hey Gary how about a tutorial?
