Hetchy Hetchy hike coming up- critique or enlighten me!

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rjones787
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Hetchy Hetchy hike coming up- critique or enlighten me!

Post by rjones787 »

Hey all,

Here is my current plan for my hetch hetchy backpacking trip this week. We can either go out and back to Lake Vernon via Laurel Lake, or make a loop out of it. Has anyone been out there recently, and knows the conditions? anything I should be aware of?

Mileage approximate.

Thanks!

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justm
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Re: Hetchy Hetchy hike coming up- critique or enlighten me!

Post by justm »

It's been a few years since I've done this trip. When I did it, it was early in the year and a pretty good snow year. Crossing Frog creek to get to Laurel lake is going to be potentially dangerous. When we crossed it, it was raging and thigh high deep. Be extremely careful crossing it.
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Re: Hetchy Hetchy hike coming up- critique or enlighten me!

Post by balzaccom »

Same here. We forgot about Laurel lake because the creek was so high. And the Beehive might be pretty much a snow bog right now. Tilltil could also be pretty messy. But so what? Should be a great hike. Be careful with Wapama Falls, as well!
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Re: Hetchy Hetchy hike coming up- critique or enlighten me!

Post by Maryl »

My plan is to do a similar shorter route... If I can get a permit out in Thursday.
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Re: Hetchy Hetchy hike coming up- critique or enlighten me!

Post by maverick »

Hi RJ and Maryl,

Would highly recommend you postpone your trip, snow is forecasted for the entire week and into this weekend.
NWS for the Treasure Lakes area:

This Afternoon Scattered snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 36. South wind around 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Tonight Scattered snow showers. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy, with a low around 18. South southwest wind 5 to 9 mph becoming light and variable. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.

Tuesday A 50 percent chance of snow showers. Some thunder is also possible. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 33. South southwest wind 3 to 6 mph. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.

Tuesday Night A 40 percent chance of snow showers. Some thunder is also possible. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 17. Calm wind becoming north northeast 5 to 8 mph after midnight. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.

Wednesday A 50 percent chance of snow showers. Some thunder is also possible. Cloudy, with a high near 35. North northeast wind around 8 mph. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.

Wednesday Night A 50 percent chance of snow showers. Some thunder is also possible. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 21. New snow accumulation of around an inch possible.

Thursday A 30 percent chance of snow showers. Some thunder is also possible. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 41. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Thursday Night A chance of snow showers, mainly before 11pm. Some thunder is also possible. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 24.

Friday A slight chance of snow showers. Some thunder is also possible. Mostly sunny, with a high near 44.

Friday Night A slight chance of snow showers before 11pm. Some thunder is also possible. Partly cloudy, with a low around 24.

Saturday A slight chance of snow showers. Some thunder is also possible. Mostly sunny, with a high near 45.

Saturday Night A slight chance of snow showers. Some thunder is also possible. Partly cloudy, with a low around 23.

Sunday A slight chance of snow showers. Some thunder is also possible. Mostly sunny, with a high near 43.
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Re: Hetchy Hetchy hike coming up- critique or enlighten me!

Post by Maryl »

yes, ive been watching the weather as well. It looks like its going to clear up by the weekend. Im thinking below 7000 feet I should be good.
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Re: Hetchy Hetchy hike coming up- critique or enlighten me!

Post by maverick »

yes, ive been watching the weather as well. It looks like its going to clear up by the weekend. Im thinking below 7000 feet I should be good.
Yes, better at lower elevation and on the western side of the Sierra.

NWS forecast Vernon Lake area:

Friday A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 11am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 53. East wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west southwest in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 15 mph.

Friday Night A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 11pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 32. West southwest wind 10 to 15 mph becoming south 5 to 10 mph in the evening. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph.

Saturday
A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 53. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west southwest in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 15 mph.

Saturday Night A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 33. West wind 5 to 10 mph becoming northeast in the evening. Winds could gust as high as 15 mph.

Sunday A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 53. East northeast wind around 5 mph becoming west in the morning.

Sunday Night A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 33. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming east northeast in the evening. Winds could gust as high as 15 mph.

Memorial Day A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 53. East northeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 15 mph.
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I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.

Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member: http://reconn.org
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Re: Hetchy Hetchy hike coming up- critique or enlighten me!

Post by jgaffney »

The most important thing to remember about hiking out of Hetch Hetchy is to START EARLY. You can spend the night at the backpacker's campground near the dam and get on the trail by 6 am. Any later than that and the south exposure, especially going up the switchbacks to Laurel Lake, can be brutal!
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Re: Hetchy Hetchy hike coming up- critique or enlighten me!

Post by longri »

jgaffney wrote:The most important thing to remember about hiking out of Hetch Hetchy is to START EARLY. You can spend the night at the backpacker's campground near the dam and get on the trail by 6 am. Any later than that and the south exposure, especially going up the switchbacks to Laurel Lake, can be brutal!
We started recently at around noon. Last time it was the same, a noon-ish start. It was hot but there was no drama.
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Re: Hetchy Hetchy hike coming up- critique or enlighten me!

Post by kpeter »

You have probably done this hike by now. In 2010 I hiked from Hetch Hetchy to Vernon in the third week of June. Falls Creek became passable at the bridge below Vernon only the week before, and even so there had been a casualty with a hiker who was swept away at the crossing. The beauty of the hike, however, was that there was no major stream crossing at all before that point. I was also able to dayhike from a basecamp at Vernon up the Morraine Ridge and down into Jack Main Canyon without crossing any streams. There was quite a lot of snow in the staircase down into Jack Main, but it was passable. The beauty of the trip was centered mostly on the roaring water and cascades in Falls Creek--leaving Vernon, entering Vernon, and in Jack Main canyon. Gorgeous, and all accessible without a crossing.

Now, I'm not at all sure how the third week of June in 2010 stacks up in runoff with the last week of May in 2016.
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