Icicle Creek Trail is wide, easy to navigate, and is well described in the WTA posting. The access road in was freshly graded as we left on the 26th of June so any potholes should be smoothed out.
French Creek Trail is easily navigable for the first two miles with a bit more elevation gain than the Icicle Creek portion of trail. French Creeks' Trail is severely overgrown from about mile 3 (overall mileage from Icicle Creek Trailhead) until about mile 5. Horses use these two trails as well and poop all over the trails here so that was an annoyance (along with mosquitoes and flies) particularly through this overgrown portion where seeing your feet and any obstacles in the trail is especially difficult. Returning it had rained overnight and this portion was drenching because of the overgrowth.
The bridgeless creek crossing just before going up to the lakes was passible without getting wet. We hopped rocks and grabbed a stick to stabilize ourselves. We had brought extra shoes for this bit but didn't need them after all.
Klonaqua trail is rough! It feels a lot like a game trail that a few people have walked down to form a trail. WTA says it's 1.7 miles to the lower lake but I clocked it up and down at 3 miles each way...with a heavy pack and the straight on up style it certainly felt longer! The lake was incredible though with beautiful mountain views, tons of trout, and some interesting bits of history left behind to explore. We planned to stay overnight but a thunderstorm came in a day earlier than expected and chased us back down to French Creek to camp for the night under a little more cover.
We had also thought we'd take "the unmarked spur trail" to upper Klonaqua but never actually saw it and with the weather change thought we'd better not risk it this time. This was a butt kicker with a lot of mileage and work for the payout.
Comments
I would like to say, some of that horse poop is from my husband and I when we logged out French Creek trail in mid June. We cut 40 logs out of the trail in 2 days time beginning at the Icicle Creek TH to 9 miles in on French creek. We would not have been able to accomplish this without a mule packing in our camping gear and my horse carrying a 5 ft. saw plus axe, wedges, handles for the crosscuts, small handsaws for limbing, and loppers. My husband hiked in carrying a 6 ft. saw. If we have time available in between our other log outs and work parties this summer, we are going back to brush out the trail. We are always looking for help on our projects! There is a small group of us trying to keep these trails clear since the Backcountry Horsemen's state wide work party last year. It's difficult to find time to clear all these trails, plus work on other trails, such as the PCT. There's too much work to do and not enough time and help to get it done.
Posted by:
highcountryrider on Jun 30, 2019 03:26 PM
Thank you for the work you do!
Posted by:
Gabep on Jul 05, 2019 03:13 PM
Your report says you hiked this with a dog. How did your pup do on the super brushy section? I'm hoping to do this with my dog this summer!
Posted by:
Ms.Math on Feb 06, 2020 10:15 AM
Ms.Math, yes we did hike Klonaqua with our pup! She's an ambitious hiker with lots of energy and had no trouble getting through. The best thing about this hike may have been that she actually took a full day to sleep when we got home. Part of what made the brush so bad on our trip was the heavy rainfall which meant very very wet bushes to walk through.
Happy hiking! I hope you enjoy the lake!
Posted by:
TrailTime on Feb 07, 2020 09:22 PM
In July, my husband and I went back in and brushed the worst part of the trail. With only two of us we were not able to finish the entire trail but it is greatly improved.
Posted by:
highcountryrider on Feb 09, 2020 04:10 PM