Hiking In Style to Round Valley

DAY THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY

When I watched Ken Burn's special about the National Parks I was quite impressed by how people used to dress while hiking, exploring and camping. Men wore coats and ties and the ladies wore long flowing dresses. Going to the parks was not a time to get grubby but a time to celebrate the wilderness and to dress in finery befitting the occasion. By comparison, today's hikers are slobs.

Walk up any hiking trail and you'll come across a motley assortment of poorly prepared and ill dressed tramps wearing T-shirts, baggy shorts and cheap shoes. It didn't used to be this way. People cared about how they looked and today I decided to follow their example. I put on a pair of Zanella trousers, an Emenegildo Zegna coat, a Neiman Marcus dress shirt and a Brooks Brothers tie and went out for a little hike. Of course, with a wool coat and trousers, there was no way I'd be hiking in the desert so I headed up to the Tram for a little walk to Round Valley.

One of my hiking heroes is John Muir. He thought nothing of hiking 50 miles in two days without anything but a wool blanket and a pocket full of hard biscuits. He did numerous first ascents in the Sierra Nevada Mountains including Cathedral Peak, Mount Ritter and the Mountaineer's Route on Mount Whitney. This man was no daisy sniffer. He was also quite a snappy dresser. Before going hiking with President Theodore Roosevelt, he went out and bought a new wool suit. There's no way he'd go hiking in a T-shirt. He had way too much style. I've really got to get a hat like that...and grow a cool beard, too.

The weather at the Tram was perfect for my little five mile hike. I needed to get a permit for my hike tomorrow so it was important I come up here anyway.

There are a couple of new signs up here. The two bottom signs are new.

There was a little dusting of snow last weekend and some of it remains in the shaded areas of the trail. Winter is on the way and I look forward to breaking out the woolens more often.

There's water still flowing at Round Valley but it won't be too long until there will only be ice and snow in this area.

Tomorrow I'll be back with the hiking slobs but for today, at least, classic style takes the day.

I'm not the only dapper dandy out on the trail today. This guy, Ron from Indio is sporting a real snazzy set of braces, or suspenders for those of you not up on your GQ vocabulary.

On the way back I come upon two deer cruising along the creek bed.

That reminds me that some deerskin gloves would be a nice addition to my wardrobe.

Even though it is after noon there is still ice in some little pockets along the trail. Next time up I'm going to have to remember to get a proper hat to complete my ensemble.

The Buck Stops Here

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY TWO

Every day the forecast for the desert shows a high of over 110º. Whenever possible I will be going to higher elevations for my hike. Luckily for me today, I was able to.

The closest place I can get to that is out of the heat is the Pacific Crest Trail. The temperature there is almost 90º but compared to home it feels cool to me.

Mercifully, a lot of the trail is in the shade so that helps make it very comfortable. Kahlua doesn't know what it's like to hike in such nice weather. She runs around and tries to catch anything the moves: butterflies, blowing leaves, ants and a baby rabbit. I'm happy when the rabbit gets away.

I hike up the trail a bit and see this clearing has been cleared out a bit. I don't know if it's been logged, if it's being cleared as a fire break or if development is on the way. Whatever is going on, it is a shame that it has to happen within the view of the trail. In my opinion, the trail corridor should be kept as pristine as possible.

There has definitely been some logging going on.

And this road is new.

Here is what is creating this destruction. This little area would make a nice yellow post campsite but I doubt that is what's going on here.

We decide to do a little investigation so we walk up this road to see what's up here.

OK. This sign is persuasive at getting me to turn around. If I ever had some property that I didn't want people to come onto I'd get a sign like this. Explosives and lasers! Adios.

We decide to go back and see if the road we're on takes us back to Hwy. 74. In the meadow, I see this buck grazing.

He's very wary. He takes a couple of bites and looks up. I think he senses Kahlua running up and down the road although I don't think he can see her with all the vegetation. Shortly after this he heads off into the woods.

We continue up this road, through this open gate, putting distance between us and the lasers and explosives.

There's a sign showing the Forest Service boundary. Unfortunately, we are on the wrong side of the fence.

We work our way to a place where we can hop the fence and get back to Highway 74. It'll be an easy mile to get back to the parking area and the Jeep.

The sun is going down just as we reach the parking area.

Kahlua enjoys are well deserved drink. She's not bottle trained but this bottom of a Del Taco cup works very well. For her birthday, though, I think I'll get her a real doggie hiking bowl. She's earned it.