High Sierra Topix

I was planning on a trip up Cherry Creek Canyon to see the power of the water runoff. Because of the low elevation, I assumed Cherry Lake would be accessible, and wanted to find out if I could get all the way to Shingle Springs TH, so I called the Groveland Ranger Station. Thankfully I did make that call, because she said the road to Cherry Lake is closed, and they are hopeful to have it open in a few weeks. When I gave her my start date of June 22, she thought that may be wishful thinking (reminder, this is just to Cherry Lake, and not continuing on to Shingle Springs). I just wanted to pass this info on for those hoping to try to get out there to the lower elevations and considered Cherry Lake...

How far out is the road closed? A bike/hike in feasible?

c9h13no3 wrote:

How far out is the road closed?

Stanislaus NF:

Forest Road No. 1N07 (Cherry Lake Road) from its intersection with Forest Road No. 1So2, continuing north to its intersection with Forest Road No. 3N01

Yeah, that's closed AF. About ~18ish miles to Cherry Lake Dam.

Edit: 3N01 is a no go.

I guess you could go in from hetch hetchy>Eleanor>Cherry Lake.

Going in from Hetch Hetchy would mean fording Miguel Creek, and crossing the dam at Eleanor which might have water going over it. And as of today, June 9, Kibbie Lake still is mostly snow covered, although there are beginning to emerge some clear spots near inlets and outlet.

From the Tuolumne County roads department, this map shows 1N04, from Tuolumne City from TC, via Buchanan Rd to Fish Hatchery Rd to Cottonwood Rd to Cherry Valley Reservoir has been OPEN without issues.

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewe ... 9%2C102100

Note in 2017, I dealt with the same issue of having to hike in much further from the dam on a warm day. So did that in 2 days with the first day 6.5 miles and the second day over 8 as my not always on the trail route added a bit more.

https://www.davidsenesac.com/2017_Trip_ ... 17-12.html

...From there, Shingle Springs was already a too long for one day effort of 9.8 miles and 2300 feet vertical. But from the dam, meant 14.3 miles and 3500 feet or a difficult effort in 2 days for this person carrying my heavy load...My carrying weight was a bit over 60 pounds that included 16 pounds of camera gear and 9 pounds of food in a Garcia canister... reached the bench on Kibbie Ridge at 6400 along its small stream...

SSSdave wrote: ↑Fri Jun 09, 2023 10:25 am From the Tuolumne County roads department, this map shows 1N04, from Tuolumne City from TC, via Buchanan Rd to Fish Hatchery Rd to Cottonwood Rd to Cherry Valley Reservoir has been OPEN without issues.

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewe ... 9%2C102100

Note in 2017, I dealt with the same issue of having to hike in much further from the dam on a warm day. So did that in 2 days with the first day 6.5 miles and the second day over 8 as my not always on the trail route added a bit more.

https://www.davidsenesac.com/2017_Trip_ ... 17-12.html

...From there, Shingle Springs was already a too long for one day effort of 9.8 miles and 2300 feet vertical. But from the dam, meant 14.3 miles and 3500 feet or a difficult effort in 2 days for this person carrying my heavy load...My carrying weight was a bit over 60 pounds that included 16 pounds of camera gear and 9 pounds of food in a Garcia canister... reached the bench on Kibbie Ridge at 6400 along its small stream...

I've thought a lot about your 2017 trip, which inspired a similar trip by me a year or two later. And it does seem that it might be possible to get to the dam via the long alternate route. I've certainly entertained the thought. But it is still too soon for me. Kibbie Lake is still frozen over, and Kibbie Ridge would be mostly snow hiking. Even the granite slabs west of Kibbie are snow covered. I've been watching the Sentinel Hub daily and not much seems to have changed in the last week--the melt is very slow. We have the double whammy of a very heavy snow year and an exceptionally cool spring. Very discouraging for an early-season backpacker like me.

kpeter wrote: ↑Wed Jun 14, 2023 5:22 am Kibbie Lake is still frozen over, and Kibbie Ridge would be mostly snow hiking. Even the granite slabs west of Kibbie are snow covered. I've been watching the Sentinel Hub daily and not much seems to have changed in the last week--the melt is very slow. We have the double whammy of a very heavy snow year and an exceptionally cool spring. Very discouraging for an early-season backpacker like me.

I've also been checking the Sentinel Hub daily and I'm not seeing much change either. I'm wondering if maybe the satellites don't scan all of Yosemite each day. Maybe they only do it over weeks, littles strips each day.

Kibbie Lake is at 6500 feet. The Sentinel Hub shows that Little Yosemite Valley and the surrounding mountains are clear of snow. Little Yosemite Valley is at 6200 feet and the mountains around it go up to 7,000 feet or higher. The Half Dome webcam https://yosemite.org/webcams/half-dome/ seems to back this up based on the elevation of the mountains in the shot and the lack of snow. I just saw a post this afternoon of a scout group that went to Little Yosemite Valley https://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?17,98301 and the only signs of snow are way off in the distance in their pictures.

The El Capitan webcam https://yosemite.org/webcams/el-capitan/ shows no snow on El Capitan or the surrounding mountains which are somewhere around 7,000 to 7,400 feet.

The Badger Pass Ski Area Webcam at 7,300 feet https://www.travelyosemite.com/winter/b ... ea-webcam/ shows patches of thin snow.

So I'm not sure why Kibbie Lake is showing as only melting at the edges and the surrounding granite slabs just starting to melt as well.

phoenix2000 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 14, 2023 3:59 pmSo I'm not sure why Kibbie Lake is showing as only melting at the edges and the surrounding granite slabs just starting to melt as well.

It is in a hole, sheltered from the sun & wind. It also has no larger mountains to the west of Kibbie Ridge, so it will receive more snow than similar elevations to the east.

Also, it is thawed as of June 5th.