Trip Report: Crescent Meadow to Hamilton Lakes (HST)

[giantbrookie]

Great report. It's really neat looking at the early season conditions that you captures so nicely in your photos. The stream crossings are both informative and interesting, too. Bucks Creek looks pretty wild--I always wondered what it would look like with really high water.

How was Lone Pine Creek flowing beneath the bridge in that slot canyon? That must have been particularly spectacular.

[elimvzq]

How was Lone Pine Creek flowing beneath the bridge in that slot canyon? That must have been particularly spectacular.

[youtube_vid]<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7RjvAScUvbw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[/youtube_vid]
Lone Pine Creek and Bridge High Sierra Trail June 9, 2017

[giantbrookie]

Nice!

[sekihiker]

Here's a link to a slideshow I made from the trip. Includes photos and videos, super boring!

I really enjoyed the video. It was almost like walking the trail. The crossings at Mehrten and at Nine Mile looked pretty dicey. Thanks for all the care you put into your report.

[sambieni]

Awesome report.
Curious about the Nemo tent. What kind is it? How you like it?

sambieni,

It is a Nemo Hornet Elite 2P. It's a good tent, if somewhat fragile (weighs <2 lbs). Bought the footprint. Be gentle.

It must be staked out fully for maximum internal volume. The walls attach to the fly via strap. It's pretty good about moisture but we still got some drops inside at Hamilton during tear-down (no rain, just condensation). Packs down in a stuff sack that can be cinched halfway if you want to split the load and have someone else carry the poles.

I'm 5'10" and my husband is 5'5" -- we fit inside just fine.

It replaced our Kelty TN2, which was too heavy for backpacking but a bit more rugged. We use it for car camping now.

Cool. I picked up a Hornet 1P (not Elite), but have not given it a whirl yet. Still debating if return so good to hear you like yours. Thanks for the review!

[tim]

We were there on Tuesday and Wednesday this week (6/20-6/21), but just went as far as Mehrten Creek for Tuesday night. It was quite a bit higher than shown in the pictures above, and was higher on Wednesday morning than on Tuesday afternoon: at 8am Wednesday it was flowing over virtually the whole log (at the first Mehrten crossing) so about 6 inches deeper than last week. The hike was nice but very hot, with some nuisance skeeters at Mehrten in the day time (about a 3), but they disappeared when the temperature dropped around 7pm and didn't reappear until about 7.30am when the sun finally hit the campsite.

There were quite a few backpackers coming back on Tuesday (we saw about 12, though one group of 6 hadn't been beyond the creek) and more going out on Wednesday (again we met about a dozen backpackers plus some more day hikers). It seems to be basically the only multi-day trail in the park that the rangers are suggesting right now (they are strongly advising against going up Silliman Creek to Twin Lakes after the drowning on Sunday). But I can imagine some people could get stuck (or worse) in the next day or two if the creeks continue to rise in the hot weather.