High Sierra Topix

I was thinking about an overnight hike from Barker Pass to Echo Lakes. I know this may seem like kind of a silly question, but given the winter we had I was wondering if the higher passes and altitudes are still significantly snowed in. I suspect that it may still be a bit early, especially on the north facing slopes, but I thought I'd ask anyway. I drove thru Carson and Ebbets Pass the other day and a lot of the higher slope was melted off which made me think there was an outside shot at the desolation situation. Maybe somebody has been up in the vicinity lately? Thanks in advance for any info.

This is Cascade Falls Saturday. You start getting into snow above 8000'. Actually, it snowed up there last night...

Tightlines,

Although I'm far from an expert I was up there about two weeks ago.

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It looks like your biggest challenge will be Dick's Pass at about 9400 feet. I bet there will still be a lot of snow. My girlfriend wants to bag Tallac on Saturday, so what do I know????

Have fun and post a report so the rest of us know what it is like.

-Russ

thank you for the responses. I appreciate it. As for a trail report there may not be one for that area after what you all have passed on to me. We were interested in doing kind of a "training" run to cover a certain amount of miles each day, most likely a one nighter. Although I have done my share of it, I am not so sure about the snow sloggin for this particular trip. I can deal with with the hard packed stuff but the softer variety can be a real slow down if there is much of it. Who knows though, I'm not the only one who has a vote in this. We'll go somewhere though I think around the Tahoe area so we'll see. I will not be tackling a trail like you did though Russ this time around. The pics tell a good story on that one.

This has to be my favorite subject line of the year. I've known a thing or two in my time.

Why are you starting at Barker Pass? That is about 5 miles due north ot the Deso boundary and you would have to cross the Rubicon 4x4 trail even before you got to Deso. I would start at Meeks or Loon, depending on your logistics. Anyway, the local number: (530) 543-2600 will get you to the front desk of the USFS LTBMU office after pressing zero a couple of times. They will usually have up to date trail conditions.
This site has good info too:
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Scroll down to the bottom for the most recent reports!

On June 2 I was in the area you are going. There is still a fair amount of snow over about 8500' on the north facing slopes. Its generally pretty slushy once the sun comes out, and melting quickly. Attached is a photo of Dick's Lake and Dick's pass that should give you some idea. Some areas nearby were also fairly snow-free, depending on sun exposure.

Jeff, to answer your question, the possible route was taken from a section of the Tahoe Rim trail where a pretty precise mileage was given. Like I said we are doing kind of a training/see where we're at hike in preparation for long 2 week hike in August, where we anticipate trying to cover 15-16 miles a day along with the altitude changes that go with it. I've covered that kind of mileage before, but I have since had a knee operation, so I want to see where I'm at with that and conditioning...anyway.....I read that Barker to Echo was about 32 miles so we were considering that route for that reason. I recently bought a better map of the area so maybe we can concoct something different. Given the photo that Matt provided it is probably a moot point anyway for what I was thinking. I am not keen on the possibility of long stretches of soft snow for what we have in mind for this trip. I'd do it if I was targeting goldens or bigger trout but that is totally secondary this time around. Now we're looking at the Bronco Creek trailhead out of Floriston (off I-80) and making our way over to Mt. Rose meadows on the Nevada side. We'll probably still run into snow but it won't be as bad and that hike will take in some of the altitude gain we're looking for. Thanks for PN by the way. I'll check with them.