High Sierra Topix

Traveled over Glen Pass on Saturday. Lots of Snow on north side. Recommend micro spikes and Ice Axe. Can get by with poles though. Very slick by mid-morning. Exercise extreme caution in afternoon due slushy snow. South side snow approach is not as slippery ... trail to top not defined due snow and must scramble up a steep rocky gully to get to top. Must travel over much snow on approach to south face of Glen Pass.

Mono Pass, Trail Lakes, and the first lake in Pioneer Basin. Still A LOT of snow out there!

Evolution Valley from just south of Mt. Darwin, July 2.

Attached is a long word document of trail conditions from the past 5 days around Huntington Lake, Bear Creek, Bear Ridge, Rancheria Trailhead to Crown Valley and Chuck Pass, and a big loop through Dinkey Lakes. The short message is that snow is melting fast at high elevations and remarkably slowly in some forested stretches between 8,500-9,300 feet - maybe because it has been a relatively cool June and forested areas also don't get much sun. Feel free to cut text and share - I just didn't want to spam the group with too many long messages.

June 28, 2019
Upper Billy Creek Campground → Kaiser Loop Trail toward Nellie Lake → Marys Meadow connector → Kaiser Loop Trail back to Upper Billy Creek Trailhead (~5 miles)
•2 trees blocking access to actual trailhead. I parked in the campground
•Lots of trees down along the first length of the Kaiser Loop Trail (lots!)
•Still a fair amount of snow along the first mile of the Marys Meadow connector, but now broken enough you could always see the trail between snowy stretches. And that was 5 days ago – I suspect now it will be individual snow mounds with lots of trail between.
•Log across the first crossing of Line Creek
•Waded the second crossing of Line Creek – about knee deep
•Along the next length of the Kaiser Loop Trail, only a lot of down trees for the final 0.3 mile to the Upper Billy Creek Trailhead
June 29, 2019
Bear Diversion Dam Trailhead → Bear Creek → JMT → followed JMT north → Bear Ridge
•A really good loop for right now with no (really, NO!) snow along Bear Creek or that stretch of the JMT. About 20 steps on snow along the top of the Bear Ridge Trail which is probably now gone.
•Twin Falls (and all the Bear Creek falls) looks splendid
•I talked to some JMT hikers who also reported that the stretch of the JMT from Mono Creek to the top of Bear Ridge is snow free.

June 30, 2019
Rancheria Trailhead → Crown Valley → north along trail that passes near Volcanic Cone → Chuck Pass → Lucys Camp junction → Duck Lake junction → Duck Lake → Chain Lakes → Duck Pass junction to Little Rancheria Creek → Rancheria Trailhead
•Had to wade Little Rancheria Creek, but not difficult
•Small amounts of snow between the Rancheria Trailhead and Crown Valley, but no trail finding issues and only small stretches with any snow at all.
•Continuing north, started to reach considerable snow about where I crossed the ridge marked “8864” on the 7.5” topos. From here to Chuck Pass quite a bit of snow – between blazes and melted patches I was able to follow the trail, but walking on snow much of the time. There were certainly bare batches – mainly on less forested trail stretches – but lots of snow cover. Snow mostly good to walk on – not sun-cupped and hard enough you rarely post-holed, but tiring as you walked up and over endless drifts.
•The upper stretch on the west side of Chuck Pass was snow free – where there was less dense forest cover – but lower down lots of snow cover. Snow all the way to the Lucys Camp junction wherever there were dense trees and mostly bare where open sections.
•Continued almost complete snow cover on the climb to the Duck Pass junction. Just enough bare that you saw bits of the trail, but I did lose the trail several times and resorted to electronic navigation to stay on track
•First half of the climb to Duck Lake mostly snow and the second half about half snow. The lake itself is melted out and there is dry camping at the lake
•Traverse to Chain Lakes mostly snow and lost the trail several times.
•First half of the climb to Chain Lakes is almost entirely snow, but hard enough I never (or rarely) post-holed. Once you approach the first lake, and tree cover lessens, almost no snow. Lowest lake with lots of open campsites. Continued almost no snow on the climb to the second lake. At the second lake, good dry camping on the ridge west of the lake, but most sheltered campsites and trail along the shore snowier. Lake completely open. About 1/3 snow cover on the climb to the highest lake. Lots of snow cover around the highest lake, but also completely melted out.
•From the Duck Lake junction back to the Crown Valley Trail mostly snow cover – lots of “snow tunnels” over the trail, so have to be careful how you walk, but other than where there are holes, not much post-holing.

July 1-2, 2019
Backpacking trip into Dinkey Lakes that visited Nelson Lake, Cliff Lake, Dogtooth Peak, Rock Lake, Little Lake, Island Lake, Second Dinkey Lake, First Dinkey Lake, Mystery Lake, Swede Lake, South Lake, and Helms Meadow.
•Forded Nelson Creek 300 feet upstream of the crossing – about knee deep.
•Very little snow until Cliff Lake. Patches of snow around Cliff Lake, but lots of open camping. Lake almost completely snow free.
•Reach snow on the Nelson Lake Trail once you ford Nelson Creek. Quite a bit of snow from here on up. Lake is snow-free, but lots of snow in the surrounding forests, especially on the south side. There are snow-free campsites, but lots of wet ground.
•North of Cliff Lake, snow patchy up to the pass west of Dogtooth Peak, but easy to follow the trail.
•On the north side of the pass, nearly continuous snow cover to Rock Lake. Rock Lake still with considerable ice/snow cover. East side all snowy, but some open campsites on the north side.
•First part of the trail to Little Lake all snowy, but lower down all open. Lots of dry open camping at Little Lake – and spectacular waterfall off Dogtooth Peak.
•Continued lots of snow cover to Second Dinkey Lake. Second Dinkey Lake mostly snow free – small patches of ice still – and a mix of snow and bare patches where the lakeside campsites are.
•Trail to Island Lake snowy lower down and about 50% snow along the upper stretch. Lake is ice-free and lakeside campsites a mix of snow and open. Certainly places you could camp.
•Continuing to First Dinkey Lake, first stretch still mostly snowy and then about 50% snow. First Dinkey open with just snow patches in forested areas – these will melt fast.
•Down toward the Dinkey Lakes Trailhead, on and off snow all the way to the trailhead. Can always follow the trail, but lots and lots of drifts to climb over. Suspect these will be mostly gone in another week, with just some of the deepest drifts still present.
•Climb toward Mystery Lake almost all snow – couldn’t follow the trail.
•Mystery Lake snow free with plenty of dry camping along the shore (although still snow as well)
•Could follow the trail onto Swede and South Lake with no problem – although on-and-off snow the entire way, as always, with deeper snow in the forested areas, while the higher elevation ridges and meadow areas were open. Both Swede and South Lake are snow free with snow patches on their shores, but also plenty of open campsites.
•Going from First Dinkey Lake toward Helms Meadow, very little snow. A few patches that will all be gone in a week. A nice stretch to walk right now – Helms Meadow with flowers emerging and the walk along Courtright Reservoir full of annuals.

Hope these help!

Lizzy

Cottonwood Lakes on 7-1 - #1&2 ice free, #3 50%, #4 & #5 ~40% ice free. Mostly clear hiking, some snow w/suncups along the shores of the lakes. Cold at night, puddles melted during the day had ice in the morning. Everything melting fast.