If you are looking for maximum Larch overdose, this is the place. I would have loved to camp out, but only had a day, so here's the stats on one big larch loop. I went up Phelps Creek to Leroy basin, up to Freezer Pass, tagged Freezer Peak and then ran the Carne Mountain High Route, over Carne and out. Gaia said 15 miles total, and I'm estimating total vertical at or above 6000 ft. While I suspect the navigation is a little trickier this direction, it has the benefits of a) not having to go down the quad-busting Leroy basin trail, and b) reaching Carne after the hoards have left - had the summit to myself at 5pm on a Friday. Larches start at Leroy basin and it's just a solid larch march, a veritable larchapalooza for the next 7-8 miles.
A few quick notes on running the loop in this direction: Up through Freezer pass the trail is in decent shape and easy to follow although steep scree just below the pass. I tagged Freezer peak and cut down to the Carne High Route which was visible partway back towards the pass. Would love to have jumped in the lake but didn't have that much extra energy. The first mile+ of the High Route has the least defined trail, and a couple times a secondary trail branched to the left (which I followed in error) - both times I think people were trying to stay higher and contour, but the real trail drops - you have to drop all the way to 6200 ft no matter what, so trying to stay high doesn't help. Gaia was pretty accurate in both cases showing me off-track. Once you're down in the Box Creek area the trail gets really nice - I expected a scratchy climber's route, but this is a solid, well defined, and well routed track. Box creek had plenty of water, but the other streams were just a trickle.
I will be back to do this again - hopefully with a night or two in the middle next time. Fantastic route, and avoids most of the crowds.
Comments
surrational on Leroy Creek High Route, Carne Mountain High Route, Carne Mountain
Publicly promoting a hike to "avoid most of the crowds"... make it make sense!
Posted by:
surrational on Oct 10, 2023 04:57 PM
ejain on Leroy Creek High Route, Carne Mountain High Route, Carne Mountain
Sharing information that helps people spread out better is a good thing -- and this isn't exactly a secret place (judging by the number of established campsites at and above Ice Lakes)...
Posted by:
ejain on Oct 11, 2023 09:31 PM
surrational on Leroy Creek High Route, Carne Mountain High Route, Carne Mountain
So to be clear, you want to send more of the crowd here, to avoid the crowds. You still aren't making any sense.
Posted by:
surrational on Oct 12, 2023 12:56 PM
'Ivy' Clark on Leroy Creek High Route, Carne Mountain High Route, Carne Mountain
It's called dilution. When you send a portion to other areas it spread them out, diluting the crowd. This is instead of adding more people by spreading the word about larch-hikes, which is not what's proposed here. Basic chemistry; to dilute the larch-march.
Thanks for the info Talusrunner. I was aiming to camp this one and not be part of a crowd, so it's good to know it's not a boulder scramble with a winter pack.
Posted by:
'Ivy' Clark on Oct 16, 2023 05:50 AM
surrational on Leroy Creek High Route, Carne Mountain High Route, Carne Mountain
That's not really how dilution works. You can only reduce the concentration if the total amount of solute remains the same. That's clearly not what we see happening, as trailheads and parks are continuing to see record numbers of visitors, and the most popular areas have not seen any reduction in traffic. None of these locations need more advertising, but advertising uncrowded locations makes the least sense of all. If you appreciated a location for having less of a crowd, then why wouldn't you want it to stay that way?
Posted by:
surrational on Oct 18, 2023 04:05 PM