Mike
John and i would be driving out there Friday after work. Would probably be in the Palm Springs vicinity some time between 4-6 pm. if you need a pick up we could arrange it.
have not even thought about Sunday and leaving time, somewhat flexible.
I am definitely in favor of at least one water stash, two if its convenient, would make the run more enjoyable.
I will be bringing a large 2 person tent that could "squeeze" 3, can also bring a second tent if need be.

Mike, we can easily stash water at the halfway point; this can be done when driving out to the start on the morning of the run.

I can bring a shelter and any other gear you might need so your flight is easier.

If Art and John can pick you up, I could get you back to Palm Springs on Sunday. Not to put it all on them, but I think Palm Springs is more in their travel direction. Regardless, I don't think I'd be leaving any later than 10am on Sunday, staying long enough for coffee and packing up.

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I'm thinking the best way to run this is to start at the North entrance backcountry board (start of the CRHT) on Saturday morning and run back towards camp. The CRHT ends at Black Rock; that way people can get in at whatever time/pace suits them.

We can all pile into a car early Saturday, drive into/across the park, stash water, get to the start, and leave the car there. Saturday night or Sunday morning we can go pick up the car; leaving it overnight at the North entrance backcountry board is OK.

sounds like an efficient run plan.

Hey, thanks everybody for being flexible on dates so I could get in on this one!! Looking forward to it. I'll be bringing my 6man tent again, so there will definitely be room for you Mike. Same goes for cooking by the way. We will likely bring stove, pot, etc so it would be no problem to bring extra food for you, drinks, etc.

Edited by Lopez on 12/18/2012 23:31:52 MST.

that would be great Adan :)

I've got an email alert on airline tickets- my hope is w/ fuel costs going down and the holiday season about to end, that tickets might drop a bit

I can get cheap flights into Las Vegas, but the costs of rental cars have sky rocketed for some reason, clearly cheaper (and easier) to fly into Palm Springs

Mike
Vegas airport would probably be my last choice, a 4 hour drive after getting the car.
the drive from Palm Springs to the campground is a half hour or less.
if you absolutely needed a big city airport, I'd probably look into one of the LA area airports.
But the closeness of Palm Springs combined with no need for a car ... well ...

is flying into LA an option? flights are a quite a bit cheaper into LAX vs Palm Springs, not sure where everyone is located so don't know if LAX is an option or not

danke

I could easily get you form LAX. I work about 10 minutes from there. I get off at 3PM, would be heading out to JTree right after that on Friday.
Could take you back to LAX by Sunday afternoon/evening.

If I pick you up on Friday after work, I've got to warn you; the normally 2 hour drive to Joshua Tree will be 4 hours of freeway sitting in traffic.
This ain't Montana....
So we'll get you there either way; the only downside is you'll sit in the car a whole lot longer from LAX.

Let me know what flight times/days you're looking at and I'll chime in on what's best with drive times, etc...

Craig- I'll check into the flight times and report back

yeah we're a little spoiled here- we talk miles instead of drive times as we take it for granted we'll be driving 65-75 the whole way w/ no traffic :)

Mike

Craig - that's Great!
LAX is about 1.5 hrs out of the way for me not counting Friday traffic.

Mike - Don't you live in Montana ? I thought standard road speed was 90+.
We do 75 bumper to bumper down here.

Billings must not be that big of a travel destination as the flights are rather limited :)

on Friday there is a flight landing at 11:30 AM or 4:20 PM (couple later that won't work), Sunday they have a couple of early morning flights that won't work, but there is one at 5:15 PM

I'm strongly considering taking the day off of work Friday just to be able to avoid traffic and get out there to relax earlier. So the 11:30 AM could work good.
Adan will likely ride out with me as well; don't know if he can get the day off though. It would be nice f I could get you at 11:30 and we just head straight out.
A 5:15 return flight on Sunday would be fine. We could relax in the desert for the better part of the morning or until about noon and then head out to LAX.

Would letting you know by Sunday afternoon be too late to make the reservations?

Craig- no problem at all, I'm still not 100% at this point (but getting closer! :))

Mike

Craig- is Adan able to get Friday off? Still keeping an eye on flights

thanks

Mike

I have been having a serious west coast mountain withdraw since moving to PA. I have been doing a fair number of 40+ mile days lately so I'm pretty sure I am ready physically. Put me down as a very excited maybe. Have a lot of things going on with life right now. Seems like plenty of time to calm things down and take a trip. The R2R2R was a blast. Use Craig's mug everyday for my morning caffeine.

I've checked in on this thread with great envy and bitterness. ;-)

Really wish I could join you guys for this get together. Have fun out there.

I'll second Greg on the mug, it's a daily affair for me and my pressed coffee.

Mike- Adan said he's OK to take Friday off so a Friday morning flight into LAX would work. Any time works for me. Also check out Ontario airport; we would have to drive right past it in order to get to Joshua Tree.

Greg and Eugene- it would be great to get out with you guys again, we'll figure out something. I'd still like to get out to NM and check out the land with you Eugene. One of these days I'll make the drive. We still have to get you out here and into the High Sierra as well.

Keep us posted Greg, you're more than welcome to come out. I can hook you up with camping gear so you don't have to carry too much on a flight.

Edited by xnomanx on 01/19/2013 10:59:58 MST.

Craig/All,

I've been quietly watching the thread. I'd say I'm still very likely on this. I've been nursing an injury, possibly ligament, for a while and have been running less but I'm on the mend and as long as my body is feeling ok I'm still down. Short runs and some snowshoe trips have felt ok, so I'm optimistic.

David Wage expressed some interest in joining along if I go. Should we look into reserving a second camp site? David is still tentative as well, but if he does go it's possible we'll make the drive down Friday night for a late arrival.

Watch this thread is not working. Excited about this trip. My knee seems solid again and I hope to keep up with the pack this time. But we'll see. Getting Friday off shouldn't be an issue. Let's rattle them bones fellas.

Jacob...

You and David are more than welcome.
I have reserved one campsite.
They say sites are limited to six people, two cars, and 3 tents.
We'll be showing up with 4 people and two cars for sure, with Mike M. making the 5th person if he can make it.
I don't know if the rangers will stress about it, but technically, I think we'll need one more site if you guys come.

Our site is 81 for Friday, March 1st thru Sunday, March 3rd at Black Rock Campground.

If you can't reserve one, just come anyway and we'll figure it out.

Hope you can make it.

Edited by xnomanx on 01/23/2013 20:11:33 MST.