Dinkey Creek Trail

[robbrandt]

Thank you so much.

Did you see snow?

I don't know where Moro Pool is. I googled it with no luck. How far UP Dinkey Creek did you go?

Also hard to know where the gaging station is.

Was the burn area all over? Or just downstream/upstream from the campground?

Snow runoff will surely increase between now and memorial day, I would think(?).

[Harlen]

Great looking dog! Looks much like our hiking partner Carleton's former friend, who was a Chihuahua-Jack Russell mix. It went all over the backcountry- no worries. Good luck.

[Troutdog 59]

Hey Rob,

I really don't know much about the area above Camp El O Win, but from the info from others, it sounds like some sort of trail exists at least in the upper sections. I believe the gaging station FHTW was referring to is just below Camp El O WIn on the east side of the creek. It sounds like they hiked down the east side, but who knows. I am however fairly familiar with the creek below El O Win and I access it along an old mining road that heads south through Strawberry Meadows (ends at an elevation shown as 5,311 on the topos). My family and I used to go quite often in the summer after the flows have lowered (typically around 7/4, but will be later if we go this year) for BBQ,n, swimming and fishing. KIds are grown and moved on, but I still visit the area for fishing about every other year. There is or at least was a trail down there in the past, but I'm not sure its still maintained. I began going to the old mine area in 1995 and in those days I would often see folks on horses down that way doing trail maintenance. However, about 10 to 12 years back, my daughter and I tried to use the trail to get down a little further and we eventually gve up to due downed trees and flat out just losing the trail. I'm not saying don't go and I'm not sure that you wont find a trail, but I just wanted to chime in with my experiences of late in that area.

PS. Nice looking pup.

[robbrandt]

So Memorial Day weekend has not turned out as hoped, the weather sucks. Snow predicted tomorrow. So the hike was scrubbed.

Nevertheless, I am up at Shaver Lake hanging out with my family. This afternoon the weather was clear so I took Bentley on a trip to Dinkey Creek to scout it out for myself. The Recreation.gov people at the camp site guard station knew nothing about the Dinkey Creek Trail. The people manning the cafe knew nothing about it. I went to look for it, based on the approximate location shown on the map I referenced earlier in this thread.

It's there. It's obviously barely used. Can you see it in this photo? I hiked about 1/4 mile down the trail, crossed a brook, and stopped when I came to a brook I wasn't interested in crossing (no trail sandals for water crossings). The trail is barely visible, but indeed visible. In many places there are plastic streamers tied to trees to help mark the trail, as shown in the photo. Just before I turned back, I even encountered a fire ring, as shown on this map:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/37%C2 ... 677339,15z

The area is beautiful. Pines, shady and cool, above the rushing creek below. Not sure that 1/4 mile is enough to show what the rest of the trail is like, but it's promising. I still need to give Bentley a test overnight hike before my longer hike in August, and as we get more into summer I will have many other options at higher altitude as the snow melts. But this one might still be a good option.

dinky.jpg