So grateful for a chance to do this hike in full yesterday with some badass women!
(the same one I did part of with Della and Maegan for Della's 50th and the one Anna cranked out a few days before graduation this year!)
Palm Springs airport restaurant on Sunday afternoon
bringing out the Cactus to Clouds spirit in the car with Della and Maegan
planning on Sunday late afternoon (Originally, we were going to do the hike Tuesday and then we talked about doing it Wednesday-- but here we were at a Mexican restaurant making the decision together that we were going to do the hike on Monday due to weather forecast-- so we had such a quick turnaround.)
Monday morning at 3:04 am
warning sign at the trailhead
white dots along the way (like the yellow arrows on the Camino!)
mile one!
(Kate came up with us 2.5 miles and then went back down so she could take the tram up and do the last half of the hike with us with two other friends who were joining us)
Della and Kate at Rescue Box #1 (where folks leave water and snacks for other hikers)
heart shaped cactus
morning glory
sunrise, sunrise!
so happy!
These are our smiles when we got the phone call from the tram that they were indeed running today!
(It reopened today after being closed the last 2 weeks, but we were not 100% sure it would be open when we started the hike based on their communication with Kristina. If that had been the case, we would have had to hike down a different way, and it would have been a much longer day)
at the ranger station at 10:45 am
surely heart rocks don't count...
picnic at the ranger station
(Joanna, Kate, and Alison took the tram up and met us at the ranger station for the last 12 miles of the hike 🎉)
fall beauty near the ranger station
on the trail to San Jacinto Peak
Alison, Joanna, and Kate
I brought tutus for everyone for our final summit (green ones with cactuses and blue ones with clouds)
snacks before the hike down
We did it!!
on the party tram on the way down with "Free Falling" and "Living on a Prayer" playing on the way down
Here's a Tiny Love Story I put together to summarize the day:
Tutus at 10,834 Feet
We were supposed to hike Tuesday — but the mountain threw a tantrum: snow and 90-mile-an-hour winds. So on Monday, we made the trek. Della, finally chasing her 50th birthday dream; Kristina, Maegan, and Emily climbing through cactus and switchbacks toward the tram. Joanna and Kate scooped up Alison and met us at the top.
At the summit, Emily pulled out tutus — green for cactus, blue for clouds. Serious hikers turned into sugarplum fairies, twirling in the thin air, so happy with our mountain high.
On the tram down, “Free Fallin’” blasted. We sang loud, off-key, gloriously happy. Joy looks good at 10,834 feet.
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