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(Photo by Chad Eagle) Day 1: Early morning start from the Palm Springs Desert Museum parking lot.
(Photo by Chad Eagle) Day 1: As predicted we head up into warm weather and blue skies.
(Photo by Chad Eagle) Day 1: Early morning view of Palm Springs.
Here is a picture from about 4,800 feet looking at San Gorgonio (11,503′). Notice the blue sky. But below the peak is a thick cloud and it just sat there for a couple hours as I watched it while gain elevation. At the time I mentioned to the team that it looked very strange, because it seemed the windmills were not turning from my vantage point and normally with that kind of a weather front they would be spinning full speed.
Picture at around 6,600 feet. That ridge in the foreground runs from about 4,000 – 4,600 feet. We came up from the back side of the ridge on the right. Pretty much a straight up climb from 600 feet to 4,000 feet. Notice the blue sky. From here we could see the south end of the San Jacinto range, and it was perfectly blue. It is now about 2 PM.
The weather “looks” nice. When we go to the ranger station, the rangers told us to get off the mountain immediately — a severe weather event was building!
So we took the Tram done, had pizza at Shakey’s and discussed our options.
(Photo by Chad Eagle) Day 1: Descending the mountain. Top of the mountain looks clear.
(Photo by Chad Eagle) Day 1: Looking down as we descend the tram, bad weather is rolling in quickly.
(Photo by Chad Eagle) Day 2: We start the hike from the mountain tram station.
(Photo by Chad Eagle) Day 2: The day starts out clear, crisp, and cold — around 32 F.
(Photo by Chad Eagle) Day 2: Clearing trend — at least the weatherman and our group thinks so.
(Photo by Chad Eagle) What could possibly go wrong?
(Photo by Chad Eagle) Weather starts to change for the worse
(Photo by Chad Eagle) Weather starts to change for the worse, and worse
(Photo by Chad Eagle) Weather starts to change for the worse, and worse, and worse
The trees become large icicles… and it is Memorial Day weekend in Southern California
