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Clouds Canyon - Colby Pass

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 8:14 pm
by shadow11
Just wondering if anybody knows how the trail conditions are in Clouds Canyon/Colby Pass area from Roaring River to Junction Meadow? I was reading a couple of places that talked about it being an unmaintained trail and difficult to follow in spots.

Thanks in advance

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 7:21 am
by Cloudy
The last time that I went across (about 3-4 years ago), the trail was in good shape and easy to follow on the Cloud Canyon side except for snow-covered areas. Headed down the other side, I found that the trail was faint in a few spots but other than that, it seemed to be well maintained regardless of what the books say.

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 9:24 am
by copeg
I went over Colby about a month ago. I believe technically it is unmaintained, but in the last two years since I last crossed it someone had laid out more stones and cairns on one of the trouble spots on the north-west side where it crosses some granite slabs and the trail gets lost. Easy to follow this time. The places where I have found it difficult are on the Junction Meadow side, about 500ft below the pass I lost the trail both ways, more so going up when I lost it for quite a while. Also further below there are minor stretches around and below Gallets Lake. Best piece of advice when this happens is to just keep going pretty much the same direction you were when you lost it, keep your eye out for the trail or cairns and you'll most likely pick it up again quickly. With Colby though, its always the grade of the trail rather than losing it that bothers me. It has some steep stretches that just hurt thinking about.

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 10:10 am
by Steve Bearman
When I was out in Cloud Canyon four years ago, a trail crew was working on the trail as it goes up over Whaleback, so the way up has definitely gotten attention.

A few weeks ago I came down part of the Colby Pass trail out of Kaweah Basin down toward Junction Meadow. The trail was easy to follow. In one spot, the trail became a deep trench filled with cut branches, and we realized that we had wandered off onto an old segment of trail that was being rehabilitated. We backed up and found the newer trail. That work was also done recently, so at least a little care has gone into the Kern side of the trail as well.

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 6:54 pm
by shadow11
Thanks all again. Sounds like it isn't too bad and I'll just pay a little more attention. Heading up this weekend and can't wait.

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 10:01 pm
by ndwoods
When I was at Colby Lake we camped at the west end and I think I swam for well over 30 min-heaven! Dee