Over July 4 weekend, we attempted a 2 night backpack loop from the Esmerelda TH > Lake Ann (night 1) > Van Epps Trail > Jack Creek Trail > Lake Ingalls (night 2, at campsites below lake) > exit back to TH. In total, about 17-20 miles.
We made it, but readers should know that the Van Epps Trail is effectively nonexistent and the Jack Creek trail is extremely overgrown and covered in blowdowns. Kind of a suffer-fest. This loop is only possible if you're cool with 5+ miles of off-trail hiking through a burn scar. Once we left the jeep track by Van Epps Mine, the trail very quickly petered out into nothing, which left us navigating by dead reckoning through the 8-year-old Jack Creek Fire burn scar. The footing was actually ok, with a lot of open ground and good visibility between the dead snags, but we still had to climb over tons of dead trees and the going was slow. Because we were already bushwhacking, we opted to "cut the corner" transitioning from the Van Epps drainage to the Jack Creek basin, as shown in the Gaia screenshot, which probably shaved 2 miles off. Our ascent up the Jack Creek trail to Stuart Pass went better - there was at least a trail to follow there, though it was in quite poor condition (faint, overgrown, covered in blowdowns) until the last couple miles below Stuart Pass where the trail quality finally improved.
Overall, I would not recommend this route for anyone but the most experienced hikers comfortable with off-trail navigation and challenging terrain. This adventure was a reminder that trails marked on Gaia don't always exist in real life.
On the bright side: no snow, minimal bugs everywhere but right at Lakes Ann and Ingalls, beautiful wildflowers, and lots of solitude.
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