High Sierra Topix

We are going to Kibbie Lake this weekend. I was wondering if crossing the outlet is possible this time of year? We would prefer to do the loop and use both trails, but am wondering if we would get stuck due to stream crossings, either at the outlet or on Kibbie Creek near Lake Elenor.

I'm thinking of a trip to Kibbie soon, too, so I will look forward to your report!

I have been to Kibbie in May, back in the late 90's, and the creek was booming
which made crossing at the usual places a little precarious.
That said there are places were the creek narrows enough were one can take a long
jump from one boulder to other, if you are comfortable with that.
There are some downed trees further down creek that I saw once across that
one could possibly use to get to the other side.
It was definitely easier than trying to cross Kendrick Creek or Falls Creek, but this year
things are really wacky, and though it is a very high snow year, our cooler than normal
temps will affect the peak for the run-off's, so you may just beat any serious issues
when crossing.

May not be able to rock hop, Kibbie Creek is never so big in May that one cannot easily wade a bit downstream. Just not that big a basin.

The eastern side of the loop trail goes to the Eleanor Trailhead and not the much closer Shingle Springs Trailhead. Decades ago the road to the Shingle Springs trailhead was gated, so one had to start from the Eleanor Trailhead that made for a long 8 mile each way route. Since they have allowed access, the eastern trail usually hasn't a reason for being except for horesemen with big trailers. Except currently the road across the dam remains closed. I just called a few minutes ago and the Stanislaus NF person related their supervisor is up there today evaluating whether the top of dam road gate should be open and which of the 3 trailheads will be reachable. Although snow may all be melted, there are always downed tree issues. There is one item of interest for me up that road I might do a visit one morning on this holiday.

David

We had this on our radar for next weekend. It was shot down due to travel. I am very interested to read about your trip. Cheers to it being epic.

IMHO, I do not see any benefit to following the trail which requires crossing the stream. Where the trail crosses the stream just follow the granite slabs to the lake (trail will be on opposite side of creek). Better campsites, etc. Especially if it is crowded which it indeed will be this weekend.

Wished I had seen this earlier. This won't help because you're already on the trip but...

I crossed Kibbie Creek fairly far downstream of the lake in peak runoff conditions in May 1986 a year with a lot of late snow and rainfall. The easiest spots were where the creek widened a bit (split into a wide zone of frothy channels) so it was not that deep--crotch deep for me. It was a very wet, but not what I'd call a dangerous crossing, whereas narrower and steeper parts of the creek would have been sketchy. As usual, these crossings were easier done early in the morning than later in the day. We crossed Bartlett Creek in Kendrick Creek canyon on that trip and it was a bit closer to borderline.

I hope you had a good trip. Nice choice for a late May trip this year. Wish I were there.

We just got back. Kibbie Lake was frozen! There was a little open water at the outlet and we fished for several hours with no luck. We are not great fishermen, so that does not mean much! There was almost solid snow at Kibbie Lake, 2-3 feet snow. We found a few dry places to camp below the outlet. I walked up to the northwest inlet area - totally snow. It was overcast and cold all day Friday. We walked out to Shingle Springs on Saturday, and awoke Sunday AM to new snow. We bailed and wet to Yosemite Valley. I will post a few photos when I get them downloaded. I think we may have been the first people in as we saw no footprints in the snow. It was very swampy in places. As we came out, about 12 people were going in on Saturday, some who did not look at least prepared for the conditions. I honestly do not know where they all were going to camp.

WE were in the same area this weekend...see our post on our trip to Lake Eleanor and beyond...

Frozen, at 6500 ft, well that speaks volumes on how fast things are thawing in
the backcountry.
I have seen Kibbie with patches of snow around it, but not with 2-3 feet around its
perimeter, and not solid frozen.
Looking forward to the pic's WD.