If you get your news from the local experts at the Tribune or KSBY, you would not have been surprised to see light traffic and mostly empty hiking trails on the morning of Friday, September 19th.  You might have been hunkered down at home behind piles of sandbags awaiting the torrential rains and flash floods forecasted.  Emergency services were on full alert.  Out of “an abundance of caution” the Thursday night Farmers Market had been cancelled.  Parents in town to drop off Cal Poly students and the many vendors who hoped to benefit were disappointed.  But Warming shelters opened early! The San Luis Obispo airport will be closed on Monday and Tuesday.  Hopefully Cuesta Grade will remain open, but if not, it is hoped that horse-drawn freight wagons will be able to make it through.

Back on the trail, brave RAM hikers began their trek up trails that at any minute could turn into rushing rivers of mud and stone.  Curiously, the skies were mostly clear with not a drop of precipitation.  In fact, there had been virtually no rain all week. The air temperature was in the high seventies but humidity was high—likely 80%—which made the temperature FEEL like it was in the mid 80’s.  The “official” distance traveled was 3.8 miles in 3 hours 20 minutes.  The maximum elevation was 1000 ft with a 825 foot elevation change.  The total UP waypoints was also 1000 feet. The close correlation between elevation change and total UP waypoints means that the trail was consistently upward toward the summit and down on the way back.  This is how it felt too.

​

The actual recorded track of our hike is shown directly below.  At the bottom is a one minute video taken at Vista Point.