Want to get this out of the way but holy crap this trail kicked my ass @ 6k feet in 6.5 miles. I would say even more than Whitney. Some of the inclines towards the pass were super steep and relentless. I knew it was going to be extremely difficult but wow.
In any case, both the road to Kearsarge and Baxter were closed but no gate across. We were able to take the road in without issue. Some deep rivulets and potholes on the dirt road carved out but nothing difficult to get around in a hatchback. There were 2 sedans at the trailhead as well. Obviously this is a sensitive issue with regards to getting to trailhead given road conditions. Inyo Roads Dept reported the road is passable. They don't declare these things as open though due to liability. It takes some common sense and discretion. Last thing to do is blindly barrel past the sign and get the car stuck in a deep hole and/or create a situation that inhibits Sherriff and Roads to do their job.
Give the low priority of Baxter compared to other trails, I wouldn't be surprised that a lot of the poor road and hiking trail conditions stayed around for at least another year (if not more).
https://caltopo.com/m/T11JH
The first segment of the trail was from trailhead to basecamp below the pass. Generally speaking, the creek lays in a deep gorge of varying depth along trail. A lot of it exacerbated by the 2023 snow conditions.
The first crossing was a bit below the knees and about 8 feet across at one of the wider openings. The current was strong but not a problem with poles and firmly positioning with each step. Further upstream there were weaker current crossings since the creek got broken up into several streams that would fork and join. I can only assume conditions would be more risky in late Spring.
The second crossing was similar but a bit wider. Also the way into the gorge containing the crossing took some straddling along the gorge angled wall through foliage and then under these massive ~5ft diameter logs. It is a bit awkward because there were a few logs like this stacked along the creekside and one slightly over the creek itself. Not sure if one served as a ad-hoc crossing before the snow. In any case it was a large break in the path that required assessment of the best crossing area and then taking a bearing back onto the path.
At about 8,600 feet the valley starts to open up.
- There is a lot of overgrown foliage the entire way. I was constantly pushing myself through it. I would have to pause at times to make sure I was still on path. Looking at the root system (see two bushes joining), the greatest worn path, and dead reckoning hinted me in the right direction.
- Felled logs frequently cover the path and require some walk around. Getting the general bearing of the path before going around usually brought me back to it. It is easy to veer off though, especially in areas without as much dense vegetation.
- The massive amount of water has created a fork in the creek of equal volume and size to the original running north parallel (both seated in gorges). This also swallowed up the path in a few parts. Once I saw that the path fell off I would go towards the valley wall (north), proceed parallel and then angle back southwest until I found the path come back in again.
There were a few sun cupped snowfields up around here, but nothing too problematic. Really a piece of cake by this point if you exclude the hellish incline and altitude gain. Once I hit the pass I made sure to yell "f Baxter Pass".
So in all, Baxter is pretty beat up and not in a well maintained state. I expect it to stay this way for 2024 season as well given the workload on the trail crews across the parks. Keeping on path required deliberation and caution when obstructions came up. Having a bit of cross country hiking experience helped me stay close to the intended path. There were some hikers we met that ended up getting a bit lost. Originally I wanted to go over the pass in a day but given what I know, it was the better move to stay at the basecamp overnight, then go over in the morning.
