Wonderful balance of the spectrum of trails right now with some very clear easy going, and some deep snow or significant trees down. The road is totally clear and holiday Sunday turns out to be the perfect time with only 3 other cars in the main parking lot at 11am.
Right away there are a number of trees down over the trail, but have already had some clearing done (thanks to the person who came through with a hand saw and cleared some paths through some) which I added a bit to, so you don't have to feel like you're bushwhacking or going to get poked in the eye. There are a few large logs angled over the trail that I like to call crotch-wetters that are a slight challenge for shorter legs but everything is doable. A few tree clusters over the trail have a recent path made around them. See pictures for a sample.
As for snow- totally clear easy walking until about mile 4, around the trail turnoff up towards Flapjack & Black&White lakes. There is snow on the two boardwalk sections and one with some tree branches over it (cleared a few off so you just have to walk over the rest, nice & safe now). Around the Madeline Creek crossing is where the snow got significantly deep and I needed gaiters for my pants. That's also about where the hiker ahead of me had put on snowshoes and made a decent compacted path to follow until about the last 3/4ths of a mile where it got wonky. In the last 1mile up to Flapjack lakes the snow is several feet thick and you'll sink about 1 foot or more with just boots. I never felt the need for spikes but had them in case.
Route finding- around mile 7(ish) the snowshoes go too much up & to the right making a loop on the east side of the little ridge you can see on a topo map just N of the western flapjack but should have gone further east over the Donahue Creek. So look for that turn & follow my lone boot path out of the trees a bit into an open valley where you'll see a big cut log up-slope that indicates the trail. There are orange tree blazes that I partly followed where the snow-level was manageable. I was definitely sinking above my gaiters but determined to get to the lakes when so close. My path will get you there safely and a less steep climb. Lakes area all snowed over and will probably all yours. I saw some snowshoe tracks around them but NO idea how they got there because they didn't come up the "official trail" nor did I see where the snowshoer I followed connected to the lake, so... ?? It was a lovely day, great exercise and nice trail even with climbing through/over some trees and getting my pants soggy while slipping / sinking in thick snow. I even had to excavate a bit of sections to climb up thick snow piles but made steps for the next folks to use. ENJOY! All in all, with the route finding and some trail clearing and dinner+drink at the lakes, I made it up & back in 9 hours, so you can probably do it in 8 or less. Legs and knees are sore though after a bit of a hike-break (thanks weird spring weather...). On to the next adventure, happy trekking!
Comments