At 9:30 Saturday morning, 11 of us rode the Palm Springs Tram up to the Mountain Station. There was a little over 4" of snow at Long Valley, and 9" at the peak, so we did not need any ice axes or crampons.
We had a leisurely hour's hike to Round Valley, where we stopped to fill our canteens.
The second hour brought us to Wellman Junction. When we arrived at the peak, it was quite windy, so we signed in and dropped down to the cabin for lunch.
The trip back was cold but invigorating, and everyone expressed their enjoyment of the beautiful terrain, especially with the light cover of snow. We saw tracks of deer, coyote, squirrels, and birds. We had a desire to follow the deer tracks to see if we could catch up with them, but that was as far as it went -- just the desire.
