[pct-l] update: baden powell

[pastafly at hotmail.com (jeeves wooster)]

hey there,

my name is tyvek,  i am at the saufleys now.  just last friday may 20th, 
myself and whoopin stick went up over baden powell.  so we thought that we 
should post what it was like.  on the way up the trail is clear until about 
1/3 up the mountain and then we started to run into snow. the are very clear 
footprints up to the summit. slow going but other than that not really bad.  
going down the other side was more difficult than coming up.  there is still 
quite a bit of snow all the way down to islip saddle, but there is enough 
clear rocky ridgeline to follow so you dont have to deal with much of the 
snow.  the actuall trail is still 95% covered with snow, but just following 
the ridgeline down get you to where you need to go.  that is also slow going 
because it is very loose rock and steep slopes. we made it all the way over 
baden powell to islip saddle in one day. we averaged around 1 and a 1/2 
miles per hour.  about 3 hours later there was a group of 3 other hikers 
that also did baden powell.   the snow up there is melting extremely fast 
and by this time i am sure that almost every other hiker could make this 
portion of the trail.

        i hiked through fuller ridge right 1 day after fresh snowfall and 
comparing baden powell to fuller ridge-  baden powell made fuller ridge feel 
like a playground.      baden powell is definately hikeable but also 
difficult.

   just thought we should let you all know how it went for us recently.   
please let other hikers behind us know that their chances of succes for 
baden powell are good-excellent.

soon i will be going through the sierras,  i will post on my experience 
through the sierras when i am through.

tyvek,  pct 05