Today a friend and I hiked/ran up the gold creek trail to Joe Lake, scrambled up to the PCT, and finished at the Kendall Katwalk TH. I did a similar adventure solo in July 2023 and wasn’t sure I ever wanted to do it again, due to the steepness of scramble up to the PCT and to a lesser extent the steep trail up to Joe lake and all of the wet brush. But I’m glad we went today, because it was a much more pleasant experience with a friend!
The brushy sections on the flat gold creek trail were a little annoying but not problematic. We got a bit wet but not as wet as last time. We briefly lost the trail a few times after the Alaska turnoff but were always able to find it again pretty quickly. The steep trail up to Joe Lake was a little easier to follow with another set of eyes. We used our hands on the steepest pitches but it was still solidly in the realm on Type 1 fun.
Our route up to the PCT was quite brushy and slow, but never felt any danger or exposure. We aimed for a gully that intersects the PCT and can be seen from the lake, but took a “brushier than necessary” route to get there. Once in the gully, we stayed in it or next to it for the final 100-150’ of vert to get to the trail.
I don’t want to oversell it. This is still a “not everybody’s cup of tea” kind of route, with the steep sections and brush and likelihood of losing the trail a few times.
The smoke was rather visible today and we could smell it at times, but we didn’t feel discomfort from it.
NF-144 to gold creek pond is closed and gated at its intersection with NF-4832 due to the restoration work at the pond itself, but I believe the trail is open. We parked along NF-4832 and jogged an extra 0.75-1 mile to get to the trail. I believe this was an acceptable thing to do?
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