should have dissuaded us but noooo... we kept heading up still at that point with a smile on our faces. Surely we would eventually reach snowline. Not to be! If you are thinking about being the first to make tracks on Baldy they will most certainly be tracks in mud for a split second before being washed away by the volume of water coming down the mountain. The entire trail was a non-stop rushing creek with Falls Road awash in mud and gravel. A narrow gulley before the creek crossing below the ski hut was a raging cascade that you heard as you rounded the corner. We were able to cross it but had it been raining any heavier it could become impassible. Within 30 mins of our [mis]adventure our feet were sloshing in our Gortex boots... why is it that if water gets in your boots it won't go out??? and before our 2 hr round-trip from car to ski hut and back was over were were both literally soaked to our skin. I don't care how much Gortex or Event you are wearing when rain is whipped by 50 mph winds and hitting you from every angle you get wet! In fact, make that soaked! A quick stop at the ski hut to share the covered porch with two other fools brought our body temp down and found us hiking back with numb wet hands. We exchanged a few words with a hiker who spent the night at the bottom of the bowl and he said it rained all night.
Oh, and then the fun part... trying to rip off wet outer clothes and get in the car as quick as possible. It didn't matter, we were just a bit less wet but so thankful to be out of the wind and rain and making our way back down Mount Baldy Road with the heater roaring. The dip in the road just south of Manker was a 6”+ deep current of mud and water with boulders creating currents. There was a plow there trying to push it off the road while we passed. A low clearance vehicle would have a hard time crossing with the boulders strewn about.
The pineapple express has pretty much washed away any remaining snow and until the temps drop there won't be a bit of the white stuff falling. I have a feeling that the cool rime ice trees Shin, Jeff and Patrick saw yesterday are all gone too. It certainly didn't feel much like Christmas on Baldy today, more like a Himalayan monsoon.
Ho, ho, ho!...
