goddard creek

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rainwalker
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goddard creek

Post by rainwalker »

hi there from ireland, anyone bushwacked up goddard creek from simpson meadow? this august im going from cedar grove up to yosemite part of which drops down from the state lakes and up to the ionian basin via the goddard creek i have read of serious dive in and take it like a man stuff, the big question is if youve done it once would you do it again and if so east side or west side or hike straight up the creek? i hiked up murro blanco a couple of years ago and about half way up decided to take a break, i sat down on a flat boulder and there right next to me was a full litre nalgene bottle, some thirsty hiker left behind! so any advice let me know, and if you want to come along!!!!
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Mike M.
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Re: goddard creek

Post by Mike M. »

I hiked down Goddard Creek from the Enchanted Gorge many years ago. (See link to that trip here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4775" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). It is a hard bushwhack through lots of gnarly cottonwood. It took me many hours to go about four miles. If you like fighting your way through underbrush and don't mind the fact that there is no view to speak of (whatever view might exist is obscured), this might be the ticket. There are better options! Most hikers who choose to tackle The Enchanted Gorge start from the Ionian Basin, then return via Goddard Creek, avoiding the bushwhack to Simpson Meadow completely.

I went down the Murro Blanco in 1986 -- an excellent hike, a piece of cake bushwhack wise, compared to Goddard Creek to Simpson Meadow.

Mike
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Jimr
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Re: goddard creek

Post by Jimr »

I hiked down Goddard Creek to Simpson Meadow many years ago as well. I will echo Mikes response and add that going down from the west slope, we had to drop our packs and scout ahead far too many times. It took us two days to navigate down that sucker. I don't envy your trip from roads end over Monarch Divide. It's alot to do on the first day. As far as which side, you'll find yourself crossing the creek many times, but the upper reaches approaching the broad bench above 10K is best from the west as the east is steep cliffside, from what i remember. It was in 1989.
If you don't know where you're going, then any path will get you there.
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gdurkee
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Re: goddard creek

Post by gdurkee »

I will join in the caution chorus here. That's a major thrash down and difficult route finding. I ran into a couple of guys who came up it about 4 years ago. They were young (18 & 20 maybe) and did fine still, would be at the very bottom of my list of trips to do. I've been down the whole thing and also up half (went down Enchanted Gorge, then up Goddard Creek -- but that's the easiest part 'cause it's out of the vegetation by the time you hit the confluence to go up).

How about reversing it and end up at Cedar Grove??

George
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rainwalker
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Re: goddard creek

Post by rainwalker »

first of all thanks for your replies and advice, the adrenaline is pumping already, i think i will give it a go and try to get to the junction of disapearing creek to camp, if not back down and up trail to le conte, i think i will go past junction of simpson river and goddard creek for a few miles and try to traverse around and up into the canyon hopefully bypassing the really hard stuff.
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