Team Hi-Ho Silver does San Jacinto

Day the first

We had planned this trip for a couple days, just barely getting the permit application in one time, and so Monday the 28th we set out from my house at about 8:15, and drove around the Camp Pendleton for a while to get gas and food. Once we were on the road we realized that neither of us had remembered to get directions, but I had been to the tram 2 times before, and to Joshua tree many times before so we made it there, without getting lost.
We finally arrived at the tramway at around 11:15, and got our tickets. But one Snag, the tram was so crowded that our lift off time wasn't until 12:30, so we got to count how many times some touron pointed out that there were rattle snakes in the area (we were sitting right by the sign) and how many times we got looks from people, or comments on our packs. All the looks pretty much said "you guys are bat-sh*t crazy" We did however meet a few people who asked about our equipment, but still seemed slightly worried about our mental state (Note: I am 15 years old and Lucas is *cough cough* 18). When we finally got to the top, we immediately set off, and stopped in the ranger station to check in. Not to self, if going with someone who isn't related to you, and you are under 18, bring a permission slip. We had a fairly uneventful hike in to Round valley, except we kept seeing this helicopter keep flying really low and saying something over a speaker. We couldn't hear what they were saying but shortly after we got our answer when we were hiking by the meadow. The helicopter was apparently looking for three lost hikers. Over their loudspeaker they said to us "We are looking for three lost hikers, if you do not require assistance, please raise and hold your left hands in the air." Which we promptly did and the helicopter was off with a quick "thank you!". We got to were we decided to camp for the night i Round Valley, 3 miles from the summit. While setting up camp, we were happy to see 2 people who had came back from the summit. We talked with them for a while, but they had to go. Me and Lucas were kind of afraid that we might need crampons and ice axes, which they had, but figured that if we had to we could always come down as all we had were snowshoes. After making dinner we hit the sack at around 5:30.

The next day

The next morning we got up at an early 6:30 after a restless night of sleep, but were fine. We made breakfast and set off as quickly as possible. We made quick time to what seemed like the impossible task of going straight up the mountian. We would take about 30 steps then have to take a break for a minute. We continues this way all the way up to what we though was going to be the summit, but was just a false summit. Amazingly out MSR denali evo ascent snowshoes wouldn't slip on some of the really ice parts, which was our main worry. We stopped for a lunch at the false summit and convinced ourselves that if we didn't get moving we would get frostbite. Shortly thereafter we came to the summit shelter, a place we didn't even knew existed. We felt stupid for eating lunch out in the cold when we could have had it in there were there was no wind and it was surprisingly warm. After reading the sign, and seeing all of the stuff inside, Lucas decided to leave matches, and I left a compass. I also made the shelter a way-point on my GPS and averaged it 74 times, just in case. Finally we made the quick jaunt up the last little bit to the summit! We decided to take pictures then get out of there!
We decided on the way down to, instead of stay an extra day like we had planned, to go out that day because of a few reasons, 1, we were tired, 2, we had nothing to do, and 3, we didn't want to wait for the tram to open and seven, and we REALLY wanted some rubys!


TEAM HI-HO SILVER, AWAY!

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