N/S Lake Loop side trips in a snowy year...

[c9h13no3]

Ugh, the ongoing boot vs. trail shoe debate. How many poor threads have been derailed by this silly back & forth.

I have both, I use both. I find myself gravitating towards shoes more, using boots more for shorter mileage, bring the crampons type trips.

Pick what you like.

Also: Boxer shorts are inferior, strawberry is the best ice cream flavor, and all my personal preferences are the right ones.

And I second the "stream crossings are the real crux" advice.

[Matthewkphx]

I’ll be sure to pack my bearcan full of strawberry ice cream. ;)

Agreed regarding creeks. I understand and accept that they are likely the most dangerous obstacle we will encounter (other than mosquitos).

[AlmostThere]

The boot vs low-cut light hiking shoe is an ongoing debate. I used boots for years, changed to light hikers and never looked back. Nowadays there are some pretty sturdy trail running shoes and light hikers.

I used to be this. I used to say I would never go back to boots. If you go hiking every week, if you go long and hard often, if you use your feet to the point of overuse - protect them. If I knew then that I would have neuromas and bad neuropathy every night with spasms in the foot that keep me awake, I would have stayed in boots. Only thing that reduced the problem was a good podiatrist, the insole he recommended, the anesthetic lotion he prescribed, and real boots.

[Matthewkphx]

Perhaps this is thread drift but it's such a minor question I didn't think it warranted a new thread...

Are the little 1.5"ish "trekking baskets" the right choice on my BD trekking poles for consolidated snow on this trip? The big snow baskets seem more appropriate for snowshoeing in unconsolidated snow.

[kpeter]

Perhaps this is thread drift but it's such a minor question I didn't think it warranted a new thread...

Are the little 1.5"ish "trekking baskets" the right choice on my BD trekking poles for consolidated snow on this trip? The big snow baskets seem more appropriate for snowshoeing in unconsolidated snow.

Nothing more than that. Think of it as ice rather than snow. I've walked for miles on the stuff with the mud baskets that came standard on my Black Diamonds and almost never did the snow get up as high as the basket. I don't think you'd notice very much if you had no baskets at all, unless you are hiking in the late afternoon over a bank in full sun.

[Matthewkphx]

Thanks Peter. I usually go with no baskets because I lash my poles together for my ‘mid so I might just start off with the baskets in my pack and put them on if I need them.

[Gazelle]

I also hike in trail runners in the snow as they dry quicker, I also just go right through streams etc with them on as they are already wet. I do carry camp shoes as I like to get out of my shoes and can set them in the sun. Some trail running shoes suck! in the snow! Some have great grip to me the correct shoe makes a HUGE difference of sliding on the snow or actually gripping the snow. I do not take microspikes I have the petzl fl and think they are fantastic! I also carry a ice axe right now it is the camp corsa nanotech in a semi long length 60 cm light but still a real axe. If I do real mountaineering then completely different gear.
Kristine

[Matthewkphx]

Bumping my thread from a couple of months ago... Thanks for all of the earlier advice. I thought I’d update with my current plan and see if anyone has thoughts/suggestions:

Two nights at Parcher’s to start the acclimation process.

Enter July 10, parking car at South Lake and taking the morning bus, jumping off at the North Lake intersection by Sabrina Lake. We will road walk (maybe catch a ride?) to the North Lake Trailhead.

General plan is to enter with about 4 days of food and mail a bucket with another ~5 days of food to MTR. Four days to MTR is a lot of time to cover 20 trail miles so it gives us some time to mess around on the snow in Humphreys Basin and see how we feel. Then we have 5 days to complete the loop to our car at South Lake.

I’m hiking with my cautious but strong 16 year old son.

We are both concerned about crossing Evolution Creek at high flow. If it’s too deep even at the meadow crossing we turn around, maybe go hike up Goddard Canyon and hit MTR and raid their hiker barrels and head up to Selden on the JMT before exiting back to North Lake.

If we make good time and the conditions are nice we can explore Dusy Basin or Darwin Bench.

Gear notes:

We will be carrying fairy light loads. I’m at ~10 pound baseweight. Boy is at ~11.5#.

We have Hillsound Trail Crampons to augment our beloved Cascadia trailrunners. We plan to treat our feet with Bonnie’s Balm nightly as per Skurka’s advice. Two pairs of merino hiking socks each + dry socks for sleeping.

We will hike with trekking poles with the smaller trekking baskets.

Duomid XL with 2p bug inner seems prudent rather than our preferred big tarp and splash bivies.

Sungloves, Sunday Afternoons birth control hats and buffs to keep the sun off on the snow (long pants and long sleeve shirts which have been treated by Insectsheild). Headnets for mosquitos.

Generous first aid kits. Fresh WFA certification. Ace bandage seems prudent given chance of ankle twisting. We carry an InReach.

Does this all seem like a good plan? Please note we are both very cautious and willing to change plans or turn around. We’ve done it before. We feel like this will be a learning experience and we are not focused on any particular goal or outcome other than seeing what travel over the snow is like.

One other plan (vaguely) appeals to us: cancel the permit and thoroughly explore Sabrina Basin instead. We like that area and have only spent a little bit of time there so it would be mostly new to us still.

Any thoughts?

[kpeter]

I'm not sure you mentioned a GPS. The Inreach is not (I discovered) a good all-in-one device. Since you will be walking on snow for very long stretches an important concern for you will be route finding. Then again, much (though probably not all) of the time you will be able to follow other people's tracks. But when walking on snow for miles at a time, a GPS is quite helpful.

I like your contingency planning. The best way to make this safe is to prepare yourself mentally in advance to turn back if you need to. For example, if Lamarck Col looks too hairy with the snow, try Piute Pass. If WFPinacles Creek is too much, hang back and explore Humphries Basin. Take plenty of maps for things off your planned route so you can improvise if you should want to.

Those Hillsounds look just about the same as Microspikes--plan on using them a lot. But do so in the mornings. They will be worthless when the snow gets even a bit soft. Make sure you ascend and get down each pass early enough in the day for the spikes to bite in. Once the sun hits the snow, the spikes won't help much, and with nothing but trailrunners you will be pretty helpless once that happens on any steep slope.

[Matthewkphx]

Thanks for your response.

We both have waterproof phones with Gaia GPS with maps and gps tracks as well as printed maps and a compass.

I’m not familiar with WF Pinacles Creek. Where is that?