Josephine Lake

[Wandering Daisy]

I have been to the lakes west of Josephine from Deadman Canyon, but not to Josephine from Cloud Canyon. I read the trip reports and am not totally clear where the route is that Old Ranger described. I think his route is what I have drawn as the dotted blue line. Arnot's route the dotted red line?? From Google Earth the solid blue line also looks feasible. Arnot's description does not look feasible on Google Earth but I may have it misplaced. I appreciate any information from someone who has done this route.

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I think the left route is Old Ranger's route- not sure how the upper part goes.

[giantbrookie]

I descended from Josephine L. to Cloud Canyon, but because I was aiming to head upstream I descended the drainage that is S of the inlet (ie the one that descends from that little unnamed lakelet NE of Josephine), which is not supposed to be the usual route (aka that of Arnot, I guess). In looking at Arnot's route on the topo, it looks far better than the gully I descended, to be sure (more below). Regarding the southern gully, although it looks daunting on the topo, it is all class 1-2 except for the step at the bottom, where there one can breach the cliff band with a single class 3 step that is about 10' high. My recollection is that nearly all of the descent was done on the N side of this gully rather than in it and that I crossed the drainage only when downclimbing the cliff band. This route would go much better ascending it because you actually see what you're doing. Descending it blind (steepest steps aren't visible from above) was quite adventurous because I was never sure it would "go" until I had broken through that cliff band.

In any case, the average angle of the terrain along parts of the "standard" outlet route are certainly milder than the route I took. There seemed to be a reasonably well developed use trail following the "standard route" and my foggy memory seems to being shocked to see a few pieces of old horse poop but perhaps that memory is now being mixed with other places where I have been similarly surprised.

The bottom line is that if I were ascending to Josephine from the Cloud Cyn after ascending the canyon (rather than descending), I would take something like the Arnot route even though I haven't done it because I'm confident it is easier than that southern gully.

By the way, when I visited Josephine the funky route noted above, was part of a crossing of Glacier Divide (part of a loop that went Wolverton-Tablelands-Ferguson Creek-Deadman Cyn-Cloud Cyn-Colby-Triple Divide-Lion-Tamarack-etc), so the entry into Josephine was from the Deadman Cyn side with exit on the "upstream" (S) Cloud Cyn side. That was a really fun off trail route, although I would have enjoyed it much more had I not been quite sick (moderately high fever) with the worst blisters I've had in all of my decades of hiking. Josephine is a truly gorgeous lake with very nice places to camp.

Little fishing info. In the distant past (report I heard when I met someone in Deadman Cyn in 1979) the fish in Josephine were supposed to be quite large but they reproduced well so they are much too numerous to grow really big. My visit there in 2002 found an abundance of rainbows running to 12". My notes say I had a strike on pretty much every cast.

[Wandering Daisy]

I read your old trip report, GB. I would be going up, not down. I will go down the Deadman Canyon side, which I have done before so know what to expect. Josephine Lake would be at the end of a trip so my pack would be fairly light. The plan is to go to Sphinx Lake, over to Big Brewer, down Brewer Creek, up Cloud Canyon, with a side trip (day-hike) up Table Creek, then up to Josephine, down the other side and up to Big Bird (if I have time), then out the trail. Probably late August. I do not care if fish are large or not; it is just nice to have a few small fish for dinner. I have already been up Cunningham Creek and am not too keen on using the pass west of Thunder Mountain, because it seems to have too much loose rock for my taste. I recall Rogue described it as a farily miserable pass. I do not mind doing more elevation loss and gain, if I can avoid a more dangerous route.

[giantbrookie]

I read your old trip report, GB. I would be going up, not down. I will go down the Deadman Canyon side, which I have done before so know what to expect. Josephine Lake would be at the end of a trip so my pack would be fairly light. The plan is to go to Sphinx Lake, over to Big Brewer, down Brewer Creek, up Cloud Canyon, with a side trip (day-hike) up Table Creek, then up to Josephine, down the other side and up to Big Bird (if I have time), then out the trail. Probably late August. I do not care if fish are large or not; it is just nice to have a few small fish for dinner.

Sounds like a wonderful trip and off trail route and the fishing should be very reliable for providing you with some good dinner. The Sphinxes (bigger lakes) and Big Brewer have both quantity and quality. There are lots of fish in there for a high rate of return and the top end is not bad at all (up in the 15" range). It's a long time from now, but best wishes for a great trip.

[oldranger]

Daisy,

Cross roaring river as close to where josephine outlet stream meets roaring river. Quite a bit upstream from the red dotted line but downstream from the blue dotted line. Head straight up the talus until you get to the steep slab, work your way left at the base of the slab until you get to an easily climbed class 2+ chimney (need hands but little exposure), approximately where the black line goes up in your google earth pic. Near the top of the chimney you will move right out onto the slab but there is a thin crack with green veg that provides a nice surface across the slab to get to the vegetation line that is visible in the google earth pic. From there on there is no bare rock to cross--the solid black line that veers left in the google earth pic is the way to go. It actually leaves the Josephine Creek drainage a bit and the route is pretty obvious. Keep close to the top of but s. of the ridge that separates Josephine Creek from this drainage. When things start to flatten out you can recross the ridge and you should soon approach the tiny tarn just below Josephine lake. Across the outlet on the n. side of Josephine is a large flat area for camping.

Also if it were me I would not drop all the way down Brewer Creek but about the time you get even with 9735 (there should be a decent user trail heading down Brewer creek that eventually leads to Moraine Meadow) look for a faint trail veering directly down to Brewer Creek and Crossing the creek before contouring around to Barton Meadow (Barton Meadow is the white area just s of Barton Creek the se edge of the meadow just touches the 9200 ft. contour. This old cow trail then follows the top of the lateral moraine that trends SSE until you get to a spring fed creek that starts just above where the trail crosses the creek--you can see the drainage on the topo map. At that point the trail will become quite brushy as it zigzags down the morainal debris and ends up near the lower end of Cement Table Meadow, not far below where you need to cross to head up to Josephine. I used to ride down this trail a couple of times every summer as part of a day patrol loop from Roaring River to Moraine meadow, up Brewer Creek to 10,000 ft level, back down to lake 9735, across to Barton Meadow then down to Cement Table and back to Roaring River. One of my favorite patrols. Don't think any subsequent rangers have used this route so it may be a bit sketchy but probably easier than following Brewer Creek which gets kinda ledgy. Hope this helps.

[Wandering Daisy]

Thank you both! I am going to have to digest all this information. I may have more questions later. GB, I have fished Sphinx Lakes and Big Brewer before. I did catch fish but nothing very large, which was just fine with me. But I was in quite a hurry on that trip without much time to really fish. (We were in ther to climb North Guard and Brewer). I hope to have more time to fish on the trip this year.

[oldranger]

Big Brewer used to produce really nice rainbows but it seems they figured out how to spawn in the gravels near the lake shore and the numbers of fish increased and the size decreased. Did see a 17" caught in the late 80's, but not a lake I would target for large fish anymore. Hint: Little B. has 11" rainbow/golden hybrids that are pretty easy to catch (or at least they used to be easy). Table Creek is a great trip, too. I could never find a sign of a trail up it but I know they used to graze sheep up there. Feel free to ask for any clarification. And the lake basin on the Deadman Side of Glacier Ridge is really fantastic, few people linger there since it has no fish.

[Wandering Daisy]

I suspect sheep that grazed in Table Creek got there via Colby Lake. I can go that longer route too if Table Creek looks too ugly. Talk about tons of little fish, Colby Lake is the place. You get a bite on every cast so you have to tease the fish and pull up on the fly if the fish looks small (which unfortunately most are). But it would be a great place to take kids fishing. Or a scout group.

I hiked to all the small lakes on the Deadman side of Glacier Ridge several years ago. Yes, it is really pristine with no sign of any use. I day-hiked up from Ranger Meadow. Because I already have explored that area I am passing it by hoping to have time to go to Big Bird, which I have never seen.

[giantbrookie]

Because I already have explored that area I am passing it by hoping to have time to go to Big Bird, which I have never seen.

You will enjoy Big Bird. It is way above average in terms of scenic beauty. The lakes above it to the west are nice, too. It is another place where you will probably get a fish on nearly every cast, so as to be assured of a fish dinner. They (brookies in this lake) are super numerous, top out at about 9-10", and are rather skinny. The lakes above to the west are fishless.

[balzaccom]

Colby was a bit like that fifty years ago, although I caught the largest golden trout of my life in the outlet stream--about a foot long.