Betty, Austin and Betsy were waiting at the trailhead for the five of us who had left the Santa Ana Cyn carpool point a bit after 6:30 am. A large contingent of San Diego Sierra Clubbers were also there for a separate peak bagging trip with car shuttle. Our group of eight was on the PCT at 8:44, according to the Avocet altimeter watches worn by the two leaders. As the San Diego group were climbing other peaks, we had the trail to ourselves.
It was a bit cold and breezy before we began, but quickly became a beautiful day for hiking, sunny but not too hot. We passed two lovely pools on the trail. Our one blight was ticks. We did frequent eyeball tick checks on each other.
Betsy signed out after about 4.5 miles, because she felt she was on the verge of the flu, but the rest of us made it to the top by 12:03. Although we had several previous List finishers in the group, it was the first ascent for us all, Ken Point being a relatively new addition to the List.
After lunch and discussion of the entry by Vi Grasso in the peak register, we began our descent. About 100 yards from the trail's end, Betty found a tick tenaciously attached to her abdomen, and was luckily able to detach it on the spot. We were back at the cars by 3:30. Thanks to all the participants: Betty & Austin Stirratt, Betsy Horgan, Homer Meek. David Beymer and Mike Fredette.
