Vicki and I decided to take one last backpacking trip in the mountains this year, to get in some high-altitude relaxation before the holidays, and also to get in some hiking before the snow starts falling.
First, the backstory: Long ago in June the two of us had great plans for getting in shape for our big summer trek. (Ten days in the North Cascades!) One small part of that greater plan was to backpack up to Little Round Valley via the Fuller Ridge Trail, spend the night, hit Folly Peak and San Jacinto Peak the next day, then stay a second night at LRV, and hike back out. A fun trip! But other things happened, instead. Annoying things that just HAD to be dealt with, and our plans were postponed. Meanwhile, the rest of our summer weekends had already been allocated. True, we had lots of fun on those other hikes, but Folly Peak remained unconquered.
What with one thing and another, we couldn’t get away until mid-October. And we also got lazy. We decided to take the tram and camp in Tamarack Valley. Our big trek back in August was finished and we no longer needed to get in shape! And that’s why we decided to take life extra easy this time, hiking in on a Friday, day-hiking to Folly Peak on Saturday, and eventually dragging our still-out-of-shape butts back to the tram on Sunday.
It sure sounded easy when I got the permit. But soon enough I read on the internet that even the Round Valley Spring had dried out! OK, we said. We’ll hike in, set up camp, then hike on back to Long Valley for more water. Three trips total, not one. With all this extra hiking the Fuller Ridge Trail started sounding a whole lot better, but it was far too late to change the permit.
Click on the photo to read the complete Trip Report
hikingtales.com 