Bear Creek Twin Falls conditions Sep 13th-16th

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ejayerik
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Bear Creek Twin Falls conditions Sep 13th-16th

Post by ejayerik »

Hello Fellows,

I'll be making the trip with my girlfriend’s father who has hiked the area since the 70's.

Specifically, we will be starting at the Bear Creek Diversion dam and up the 4X4 trail if it's clear. From there we will be going to Twin Falls, then to Kip Camp/John Muir Trail and spending some time South of the Glacial Valley at Cirque Lake.

Any trail/weather conditions as of late? I've read up here on the forum and come across anything from 90 degrees during the day to freezing at night.

Any snow left? I heard there was quite a snow pack last winter.

Thanks for any info. Great forum!
Last edited by ejayerik on Sat Sep 17, 2011 11:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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ejayerik
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Re: Will be heading to the Bear Creek area come Tuesday. Conditi

Post by ejayerik »

hmm OK, Well thanks anyway.
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Re: Will be heading to the Bear Creek area come Tuesday. Conditi

Post by maverick »

Hi Ejayerick

Welcome to HST!
When are you heading up?
The thunderstorms are supposed to die down in that area by Friday, and sunny.
Temps are supposed to be at around 57/34 at 9400 ft, and 48/35 at 10800 ft.
Crossings will be fine, snow will not be an issue.
Have you visited this area before? Would highly recommend visiting Orchid Lake, especially
if you want to stick to the western side of the JMT!
The views east back towards Seven Gables, Feather Peak, Mt. Hilgard, and beyond
is sub-lime, and an easy climb to reach from the JMT.
Professional Sierra Landscape Photographer

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: Will be heading to the Bear Creek area come Tuesday. Conditi

Post by bluefintu »

Hi Ejayerick,
I think the boards are kind of slow for responce at this time, due too everyone went home.(The Mountains) Have fun, I'll be working and taking my kids to school. Wishing to be back. I hope to see a trail report from you.
Don
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Re: Will be heading to the Bear Creek area come Tuesday. Conditi

Post by caddis »

Has anyone crossed Bear Creek in the Kip Camp area lately (TR?) It was the highest I have ever seen it a month ago.



Are you planning to head uphill towards the Bear Twins or will you cross higher up?

I do agree that Orchid is a must-visit. It's one of the prettiest views in the sierra (If you walk below the outlet to the pond)
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Re: Will be heading to the Bear Creek area come Tuesday. Conditi

Post by ejayerik »

Hi there!

An update after the trip:

Parked at Bear Creek Diversion Dam. The trail there showed evidence of some two wheel road tear and we saw a few mini vans that shouldn't have been there half way up the trail. Parked and made our way up about another 1000' in elevation on foot.

Camped at Bear Creek Twin Falls. I think that's about 9500'.

Weather was hot during the day and started raining on Tuesday about 2:30 with thunder and lightning. Sheltered once along the way for about a half hour when it got really bad. We set up camp and started a fire and did some fishing. It started to rain again around 5 so we sheltered in the tents and drank wine.

Night temps got to be around the low 30's. Pretty nice but moist.

Wednesday was in the 70s-80s during the mid afternoon until about 3 when the thunderheads started our way and it started to pour. More wine. Saw a couple of rangers while out fishing who were on their way up to Cirque Lake. They had a shovel so I'm guessing they were there to tear down illegal camp sites too close to the creek.

Wednesday night was cold again as it rained till after we went to sleep at 9:30.

Thursday was warm again and we trekked up and down creek by about a 1000 feet in elevation looking for good spots to fish. We saw the trend of rain so we decided it would be a good idea to head back down to the dam and stay at Edison that night. Once group of two and a dog made it to Twin Falls when we were getting ready to pack up. Updated them some about the conditions.

On the way down we saw a few small groups on their way up and updated them on the past few days regarding weather and fishing conditions. It then started raining hard and then it was hailing. Pea sized hail that was really coming down. Makes you feel alive hiking in tough weather. Of course nothing compared to the snow stories of my Sherpa but for me; great. Got to the truck and changed cloths. Had a beer before we headed down the road.

Got to Edison and set up camp. Hung out at the VVR and talked a bunch. My girlfriends dad had been coming to the area since the early 70's and we talked about Butch and the old timers. Saw a few people he hadn't seen in many years and drank some more/had dinner. Later showered at Mono Hot Springs and chatted some more with old timers of the area that knew my Sherpa.

Fishing: the outlets/inlets/over flows and Edison lake were bare. No bites at all. This close to the end of the season I guess everything is gone.

Fishing Bear Creek we had a lot of bites. Used medium mosquito and caught plenty of small browns, brookies, golden, and some hybrid rainbows but all under 9" with the average being about 4".

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Last edited by ejayerik on Sat Sep 17, 2011 11:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Will be heading to the Bear Creek area come Tuesday. Conditi

Post by ejayerik »

caddis wrote:Has anyone crossed Bear Creek in the Kip Camp area lately (TR?) It was the highest I have ever seen it a month ago.



Are you planning to head uphill towards the Bear Twins or will you cross higher up?

I do agree that Orchid is a must-visit. It's one of the prettiest views in the sierra (If you walk below the outlet to the pond)
We made it to Kip Camp but only looking for more fishing. Didn't stay. Crossing the creek was a pain. The water was high and lots of the old points were no good from what I was told. We crossed a few spots and had to trek the fishermans trail. Found some strawberries on that side as well as blue berries that were nice and ripe.

Crossing for the most part has to be done by fallen logs which are few and far between and pretty hairy.

BTW some of the trails were a hard pass. We had to trek through some thick brush where it was obvious there had been a trail at some point but it had not been traveled all summer clearing it along the way. These were just north of the twin falls along the creek but not along the main path toward Kip Camp. Looking for good spots to fish for the most part. And in case anyone was wondering there was no snow at 10,000'.

Anyone lose a sock? We found a walmart brand sock on a really steep rock face that took us quite a while to get to on the way up the mountain past the falls.
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Re: Bear Creek Twin Falls conditions Sep 13th-16th

Post by Troutdog 59 »

Hey Ejayeric.

I think my son and I saw you guys Thursday afternoon (~2:00 pm) at the Bear Diversion TH. We were in the white PU just below you sitting out the storm when you guys showed up. We had intended to start hiking by about 1:00, but it began raining about 12:45 so we sat it out. We finally got going about 3:00 pm and got to Twin Falls by 5:00. It remained cloudy on the trail, but we made it to Twin Falls, set up the tent, and were instantly driven into the tent by more thundershowers. It stopped right before sundown.

The next day we fished around Twin Falls catching mostly brookies and bows, but we also got some hybrids and a few goldens :) . No brownies though, so no slam :( . All smallish, except one 12 " bow and 2 brookies just over 10". The weather was clear, but began clouding up at about 11:00. After lunch we hiked to Kip Camp and had cloud cover and cool temps the whole way. By the looks of the clouds and their direction, i was cerain we would get more rain, but it never materialized. We made camp and spent the afternoon hours fishing the pools in that area. All brooks and goldens up that way, but all less than 10". We slept in on Saturday, fished upstream in the morning, then out to the truck in the afternoon.

The flow in Bear Creek was incredible for this time of year, being much higher than years past. The high water made crossing the creek ( a big creek by Sierra Standards) more difficult than in years past. I in fact took a plunge on Friday morning, and is why I have no pics to share as my camera went with me :mad: . Crossing near Kip Camp was easier, but we had to scout around a bit to find some easy fords. Alas, the cameras still dead, but it was still a great trip!!
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Re: Bear Creek Twin Falls conditions Sep 13th-16th

Post by ejayerik »

Troutdog 59 wrote:Hey Ejayeric.

I think my son and I saw you guys Thursday afternoon (~2:00 pm) at the Bear Diversion TH. We were in the white PU just below you sitting out the storm when you guys showed up. We had intended to start hiking by about 1:00, but it began raining about 12:45 so we sat it out. We finally got going about 3:00 pm and got to Twin Falls by 5:00. It remained cloudy on the trail, but we made it to Twin Falls, set up the tent, and were instantly driven into the tent by more thundershowers. It stopped right before sundown.

The next day we fished around Twin Falls catching mostly brookies and bows, but we also got some hybrids and a few goldens :) . No brownies though, so no slam :( . All smallish, except one 12 " bow and 2 brookies just over 10". The weather was clear, but began clouding up at about 11:00. After lunch we hiked to Kip Camp and had cloud cover and cool temps the whole way. By the looks of the clouds and their direction, i was cerain we would get more rain, but it never materialized. We made camp and spent the afternoon hours fishing the pools in that area. All brooks and goldens up that way, but all less than 10". We slept in on Saturday, fished upstream in the morning, then out to the truck in the afternoon.

The flow in Bear Creek was incredible for this time of year, being much higher than years past. The high water made crossing the creek ( a big creek by Sierra Standards) more difficult than in years past. I in fact took a plunge on Friday morning, and is why I have no pics to share as my camera went with me :mad: . Crossing near Kip Camp was easier, but we had to scout around a bit to find some easy fords. Alas, the cameras still dead, but it was still a great trip!!
Oh yeah I remember. We waved at you when we got to the truck. You had your packs under the bed of your truck.

Yeah, the water was pretty high and made for bad crossing to get to some of the good spots to fish though we did find some prime locations for larger fish; just didn't catch many. We saw several campers on the last day there try to cross at the falls but it was risky. I hope you were able to make use of some of the dry wood we left at the site we used. I think the only other campers we saw there were camping near the "beach" at the bottom of the falls.

Sorry about your camera.

BTW what were you using on your lines? We had the most hits on Adams mosquitoes. Near Edison we used salmon eggs on a triple hook with no success.

Small world....LOL
packing like I'm going to need to be rescued is a bad idea
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