Yesterday we went up from Idlewild to Black Mountain Road to return to the bypass. We left Wasatch Front and Old Geezer at the campground as Grumpy picked us up for a shuttle.
At the trail head there was a bolder climber, Casey, who gave us a ride a few miles up. The road had serious wash outs and needed real four wheel drive.
He got to where he was going and we started hiking, with our thanks.
Then Christian passed us and offered a ride to within about a mile of the trail head.
I had started the day drinking almost three liters and carrying six. By the trail head I had only my standard three.
We started down. First it was Alpine. Beautiful.
We then got to mid-Alpine and then high chaparral.
There was more water on Black Mountain than indicated but as we hit the trail that ended.
On the other hand, it was downhill all the way and the trail wasn’t so bad.
Endless switchbacks down we got into heavier and heavier wind.
We passed the famous water spigot and headed through the flatter parts towards the end point about four miles away.
The gusts were pretty intense and straight into our faces.
We had leapfrogged with some other hikers and we saw them last as we were picked up by our Uber driver.
Win also hiked some with a Polish kid who was pretty overwhelmed by the wind and sand for a while.
But now we are doing laundry in Palm Springs.
Instead of writing this entry last night I just collapsed in bed after a shower.