SEKI Trails Damage c/o Monsoon + High & Silted Creeks / 18-Wheelers on 180

[michaelzim]

Just back last night from 9 days in SEKI. Morning coffee report here as know that timely info helps a lot and I'm not ready to deal with normal life stuff yet anyhow...plus I am seeing nothing on this so far through a skim over the Board.

1. THE STORM(s) on Sunday July 31st.!!!!!!! Even the exit ranger at Roads End had no clue what had happened. I mean that must have been one of the biggest rain dumps in a long time in certain places. Parts of the JMT/PCT took some damage for sure, but the Bubbs Creek trail down from Sphinx Junction to the bottom got hammered. The top half of it seems to have almost no 'water bars' (those angled rock barriers to feed water off the trail) and it sure tells. I went up that trail on July 26th. and came down it yesterday, August 3rd. and it is very sad to see.
Areas of the trail are completely covered by rocks, gravel and sand. About 90% of the top trail sections look like they were primarily one continuous creek with no exits. There are plenty of ruts and gouges. And so on.
I don't want to be dramatic, and for sure, the trail is totally doable especially if used to X-country. The sad part is to see how different it is from the week before, when it was firm, smooth, good condition. Main thing now is it will slow speed down due to rougher trail and much more 'slip and skid' rolly-poly loose rocks, etc.
The PCT took it much better where I was on it due to better water channeling. Forester was unchanged. However, there were some places adjacent to the Kearsarge Pinnacles - Bubbs trail that looked like an avalanche of water must have come down and carried big fans of silt and smaller rocks over sections of the trail. No big deal to get over but again NPS is going to have a lot of work to do and big $$$ to get.

2. Judging from the height and colour of the creek coming out of Center Basin, like the K. Pinnacles it must have had a cloudburst. Very high still and no way I could cross (even 2 days after the storm) at same point I did outbound and super milky-silty. Bubbs Creek is the same creamy colour all the way down, but I think a lot of it's silt is coming from Center Basin.
Side streams were clear and I figure all the creeks should be going down and clearing up rapidly unless more water dumps occur.

3. Be lucky or be prepared for huge degree of frustration following or being stopped by big 'belly-dump' 16-wheeler trucks crawling up 180 (and down) into SEKI for road work...and I mean LOTS of them. I passed dozens coming up yesterday late morning and they have to go down presumably in the afternoon?! Let alone the usual slow RVs and trailers. I was lucky to hit a mostly free road out but that was all it was...luck.
SEKI has info on this here - https://www.visitsequoia.com/explore/tr ... conditions
I'm not a fan of going forever behind very slow vehicles, so if you can time it I would make the effort to avoid them.

Best ~ Michaelzim (TR to follow with more details in due course - Lots to digest on this trip!)

[commonloon]

Thanks @michaelzim. I'm about to head into SEKI and this helps.

[SSSdave]

Thanks for that personal witness report. Despite the storm damage, IMO this Mexican monsoon flow into our otherwise droughty range is extremely welcome. Would imagine some of those caught unawares this last week have been expecting storms would quiet down but latest forecasts say otherwise with another big surge today. Have seen this same situation in the past during previous major monsoon events. Wise strategy is to be aware of forecasts that in this era are increasingly useful out to 10 days.

Personally frustrating having to delay plans but this is all for the good as water is critical for the healthy life of the range. As soon as it quiets down, this person will be heading out. I had plans for Volcanic Knob or Red Mountain Basin but given health problems that may be too strenuous this summer. Looking at how much is surprisingly open at recreation dot gov am thinking of a more leisurely 5 day base camping trip to the aquamarine colored waters of Moonlight Lake in the Sabrina basin. My last visit there was smoked out.

[BigMan]

Thanks so much for this timely and valuable info.

[OutdoorRandy]

Thank you. I appreciate the timely information. I'm heading to Roads End tomorrow.

[druid]

Sixty lake basin was also hammered on Sunday afternoon. We went out over Kearsarge on Tuesday and the trail down to Onion Valley was washed out in a half dozen places but still easily passable. Independence Creek was still running very high. Didn't find out until we got home that the road had been closed the day before and that our timing had been lucky.

[michaelzim]

Talked to SEKI office today and asked how long the Semi-Trucks will be working for and slowing up the road...MID-OCTOBER!
So if I go to Kings Canyon again this year I am going to plan to arrive and leave on a weekend if possible when traffic is least = very early mornings, or late evenings going up. Mornings going down.

Michaelzim

[Enigmagic]

we camped between Sphinx and Charlotte Creek on the 31st and exited the morning of the 1st. the trail down to Roads End was in pretty good shape at the time, but the creek was running high and silty as described. Glad we forded Bubbs from East Lake/Reflection the day before when it was knee deep and clear.

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[michaelzim]

@Enigmagic Thanks much for posting those great pics of silty Bubbs. I kind-of kicked myself for not taking any photos of it all but was pretty intent in getting down to Roads End early enough to avoid Bay Area traffic snarl en route home.

Enough is coming out now on the forum here about this year's wetness and the "weather events" last week, so no need for me to add much more. However, the Sphinx Creek to valley floor damage puzzles me. If you went down it on Monday Aug. 1st. and it did not see much change it makes me wonder if the storms on Monday evening and Tuesday did the number there?
The 'big rain' event for me was on Sunday 31st. (high up in Milestone Basin) and it came from the east. However, the Monday and Tuesday weather came from the west. For instance I rapidly backtracked to a poor campsite near Junction Meadow being chased by rain coming up the Bubbs Creek valley. Perhaps these 'localized' rain dumps had enough precipitation in themselves to trash the trail as I described v. what it looked like before.

In any event, I am going to hold off on my next trip until the overall weather settles down. Rain aside, crossing raging white-water creeks at this time of year is a novelty I don't particularly want. Now just have to hope the fires and smoke stay away!

Best ~ Michaelzim

[thegib]

I hiked down Bubbs from lake Reflection Monday morning Aug 1. I was at Road's End by 2:30. Bubbs was high and dirty but there was no trail damage to that point.