Basin's ledge

Basin's ledge
Originally uploaded by kenmore_photos.

After the summit of Basin we proceeded onto the infamous rockfaces of Saddleback. This photo is taken on a ledge just below the summit of Basin. Mark is looking down into the "abyss" as they walk along this cool little ledge. Remember what I said about false steps.... The ledge is only 30 feet long and marks the only horizontal part of the hike between these two peaks. All the rest was a steep rocky scramble down followed by the equally steep climb back up.

The "trail" actually climbs the rock face seen in the center of this shot. For the most part the rock climb looks much worse then it is. There are a few tricky moves up onto ledges that require some scrambling but on the most part the ledges are far from vertical. They are however totally exposed which makes them feel pretty scary. That said a slip and fall could send one slipping/sliding/rolling to a nasty injury and rescue out here is hard to come by. All in all it was a lot of fun and the anticipation builds as one sees the rock faces getting closer on the approach hike. Of course there was much discussion regarding this section of the hike over dinner - those that had done it vs those that were going to do it the next day.