TR Long Lake - South Fork Bishop Creek 6-23-17

[cloudlesssky]

I took a quick hike up the south fork of Bishop Creek to see the snow conditions for myself. I have a overnight permit for Dusy Basin in a couple weeks and was curious what the snowpack looked like. The trail turned to predominantly snow starting at the switchbacks below Long Lake. The water is really running and the rocks normally used to cross the Chocolate Lakes inlet to Long Lake were all submerged. By the time I hit the Bishop Creek inlet end of the lake it was 100% snow. I saw very few snow-free spots to camp. I sat at the south end of the lake and enjoyed the view while I ate a Clif Bar and then turned back and hiked out. I think I'll try Dusy Basin later in the season.

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[maverick]

Thanks for the report and telling photo, thought the lake would have been a little more thawed out.

[giantbrookie]

Wow, thanks for the first hand conditions report and photo. Yes, this is an impressively late thaw, and like Maverick, I too expected to see this lake much more thawed (if not completely ice free) as of this date. Anyhow, this is a very important 'calibration point' that I will use to add to my "thaw" dataset for future years (I compare thaw times for various years with snow course measurements for predicting thaw times in various seasons).

[hikerchick395]

That is just about what Long Lake, up Rock Creek looked like last Friday. Thanks for the report.