with showers in the forecast I thought it would be a good day to hike to the upper crossing (suspension bridge)was I wrong. I got to the carbon river ranger station at 10:30 and it rained for my entire 5hr hike, pretty heavy rain too! The road to Ipsut campground is snow-free, but muddy & wet. The bridge to chenius Falls is out. After the Campground there's a couple snow patches here and there. And then about a 1/2mile past Ipsut campground, there's the blow-down to end all blow downs! it's like a blow-down & rock/mud slide. The tree's, about a dozen or so block about a 100' of trail. It's pretty difficult to get around, as the terrain is steep on both sides. However I was able to get through it by going down, going up looked a little more sketchy. I imagine this blow-down will take quite a few weeks to clear, as there was at least one giant old-growth tree in the mess of tree's. After the blow-down the trail was patchy snow for about a 1/4mi and then it was primarily snow covered. I turned around at the big avalanche chute, which was just shy of the lower crossing. The Avalanche had covered the trail pretty good, but one get over it pretty easily if they wanted.

sorry no photo's, didn't want to get the camera wet

Starting at the Carbon River Ranger Station, the hike is an easy six miles in to the Ipsut Creek Campgrond (permit required) where we set up camp.

On the way, we took a side trip to Chenuis Falls. All the footlogs were in place, so we could get across the Carbon River to see the falls. Beautiful! And an easy, short side trip.

From the campground it's a short (half mile?) to the trailhead for Ipsut Falls, another lovely, easy short hike.

From there, we hiked up the Wonderland Trail toward Ipsut Pass for a mile or two. The trail was clear. The WTA crew worked at a spot where Ipsut Creek likes to run down the trail. There was no water on the trail when we left.

Folks also took a day trip to the suspension bridge and tip of Carbon Glacier from the campground.

Nice place to go for a couple of days, taking a couple of trips from the campground.

7/21 hiked in to Ipsut and camped there (5 mi)
7/22-23 camped at Carbon River camp & did day hikes from there towards Mystic and Spray Park
7/24 – after lunch hiked out from Carbon R. Camp to Carbon R. Ranger Station (8.5 mi/3 hrs)

Overall - NPS-quality trails with recently installed stringers over every water course, newly worked drainage, and excellent signage. This is an amazing area with few visitors, lots of snow-free destinations (even this year!), and all the flowers, mountain views, stream/creek/river beauty, and wildlife you could possibly absorb.

Ranger Station to Ipsut – totally clear and well maintained – a lot of bicycles this sunny weekend so watch for that. Most bikers were very good about yelling as they approached which was nice with the sound of the river making it otherwise hard to hear. Campground is also well maintained and had few other campers the Thurs night we were there. Pit toilets and bear poles for food provided.

Ipsut to Carbon River Camp – the trail on the west side of Carbon River is closed, so you must cross the river to the trail that runs parallel on the east side. This adds only ½ mile total and allows you to cross the amazing suspension bridge more often! The trail is completely snow free with no issues all the way. Carbon River Camp had no other campers Friday, but someone left a tent in Site #2 – if it was you, the Ranger, Kyle, was going to go get it, so give him a call. Nice camp but tent areas are small (some site support only one tent) and the nearest water source is Cataract Creek a little way down trail – bring a water hang bag if you have one.

Carbon River Camp has a toilet and bear poles, which are really rodent poles as a bear could knock them over with a sneeze. However, we saw only one very shy black bear and several NOT shy rodents, so the poles seem adequate. The chipmunks and mice do show up every meal like long-lost relatives hearing of a lottery win, so guard and hang your food! I turned my back for a second to find a very cute mouse rustling in my food bag.

Carbon River Camp toward Cataract and Spray Park – if you like Glacier Lilies, is this the trail for you!! They carpet the woods like I’ve never seen, along with numerous other wildflowers. There are a few downed trees/debris on the trail before Cataract Valley Camp, easily negotiable. A WCC crew was working this trail when we were there and had been for 9 days. The sections they have worked are stunning – textbook tread and drainage maintenance and improvements – thank you so much!!!! Cataract Camp was NOT melted out in 4/6 sites as of 7/22. One site that was not entirely snow had a substantial pool of standing water and was basically a marsh. The one dry site was in the very back against the scree field - #6 maybe? Pics of several sites on Flickr link below. Back on the trail toward Spray Park, solid snow starts shortly after Cataract Camp, so we turned back there.

Carbon River Bridge towards Mystic via glacier and Dick Creek – trail snow-free until about 1.3 miles past Dick Creek with no other issues except some mud/water on trail in a few spots. The views are spectacular of both the mountain and the glacier, as well as surrounding crags. Wildflowers, pika, and cool insects abound (mosquitoes not too bad yet, though) on this indescribably beautiful section of trail. Dick Creek is completely melted out and in good shape. Snow starts in earnest about 1.3 miles after that. We encountered some hikers coming down from staying at Mystic. They were camped on snow, but the lake was starting to melt out and they hiked without crampons, reporting it wasn’t bad. We went only a bit past the snow to catch some views from the ridge.

All in all, this is a fantastic option for this crazy late-melt year. There are several destinations completely snow-free (in addition to those described, day hikes could include Yellowstone Cliffs and soon to Spray Park and Mystic Lake), no avalanche danger, and very few visitors.

Link to full photos (which I’m posting as I can – keep checking back for more! I’ve got most of the described spots pictured at least some): http://www.flickr.com/[…]/

The demise of the road to Ipsut Creek Campground created a cool bike-and-hike trail to the Carbon Glacier. In the future, this may be considered a classic easy "multisport" outing. Ride your bike 5 miles from the Carbon River entrance up to the beginning of the Carbon Glacier trail. Then, hike 3.5 miles to the mouth of the Carbon Glacier. But this weekend, I didn't do that. I just did a one night backback to the campground. That alone is a 10 mile roundtrip along the gentle former road. The pictures show some of the lingering damage.