Is There A Maintained Trail Over Crabtree Pass?

[bob adams]

Caltopo.com shows a trail. Is it for real? If not is it a hard slog through sand and scree? Boulder hopping? Class of climbing? And going down to that upper lake. What's the difficulty of that leg if no trail? Thanks for any insight.

[AlmostThere]

I was in Miter last year. Two of us went up to the pass, did not go over. Class 2, but there were snowfields they did not like that were present at the time. There are use trails, no official trail. Check out the thread in the Cross Country Pass forum: http://www.highsierratopix.com/communit ... 31&t=14995

[bob adams]

Thanks AlmostThere.

[Hobbes]

There's so much traffic over Crabtree that the use trail is almost like a regular trail. It's become a popular back door route to Whitney, either by hiking down to the meadow and back up to Guitar, or simply going up the scree slope to catch the MMWT @ Discovery pinnacle.

There's also some good fishing in Miter and beyond, and since it's a simple shot from Horseshoe, you can hit a bunch of lakes over a long week-end trip. You can even speed burn back on the PCT over Cottonwood if you really want to get home.

[cgundersen]

Hi Bob,
Go to the off-trail passes section of HST for photos and a description of the route. There are a couple of interesting spots where the terrain can slow you down, but in general, it's straightforward and scenically rewarding!
Cameron