Re: 2011 BACKCOUNTRY CONDITIONS UPDATES
Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 7:16 pm
We day-hiked from Onion Valley to Golden Trout Lake (7/16/11).
The trail to Golden Trout Lake was snow-free beyond the stream crossing above the waterfall but became difficult to follow with water hiding portions of it around the area where it supposedly leaves the hillside to join the creek. Additionally, the creek in this area was still covered in snow. We had never hiked here before and weren't sure about the course of the creek under the snow. Not wanting to risk falling through, we climbed the talus on the hillside above the creek for about 100 yards before spotting the trail emerging out of the snow below us. We got back to the trail below the open meadow where the trail forks to the unnamed lakes north of Golden Trout Lake. At this point, the trail kept alternating between snow-covered and melted-out, though the meadow itself was snow-free. There were lots of fallen trees as well. Unfortunately I didn't get photos where the patches of snow were huge (ie, where we first lost the trail shortly after the top of the waterfall). Here are the smaller patches of snow covering the trail, though:
After the fork, it looked like it'd be easy to get up to the bench holding the unnamed lakes (ie, no snow-travel required until the bench), so long as you hadn't already lost the trail when hiking near the creek.
We lost the trail in snow again and ended up finding a use trail up the hiker's left side of the creek spilling down from Golden Trout Lake (official trail is on the other side) until we reached an unnamed lake. From here you could scout Mt. Gould if you wanted to climb it from this side.
Golden Trout Lake itself is not completely thawed but is on its way.
If you've never hiked this trail, I'd say be ready to do some talus hopping since chances are you'll lose the trail in a few spots. On the plus side, we didn't posthole once throughout the day (we were out from 9 am to 6 pm) despite all the snow. There were lots of suncups, however.
The trail to Golden Trout Lake was snow-free beyond the stream crossing above the waterfall but became difficult to follow with water hiding portions of it around the area where it supposedly leaves the hillside to join the creek. Additionally, the creek in this area was still covered in snow. We had never hiked here before and weren't sure about the course of the creek under the snow. Not wanting to risk falling through, we climbed the talus on the hillside above the creek for about 100 yards before spotting the trail emerging out of the snow below us. We got back to the trail below the open meadow where the trail forks to the unnamed lakes north of Golden Trout Lake. At this point, the trail kept alternating between snow-covered and melted-out, though the meadow itself was snow-free. There were lots of fallen trees as well. Unfortunately I didn't get photos where the patches of snow were huge (ie, where we first lost the trail shortly after the top of the waterfall). Here are the smaller patches of snow covering the trail, though:
After the fork, it looked like it'd be easy to get up to the bench holding the unnamed lakes (ie, no snow-travel required until the bench), so long as you hadn't already lost the trail when hiking near the creek.
We lost the trail in snow again and ended up finding a use trail up the hiker's left side of the creek spilling down from Golden Trout Lake (official trail is on the other side) until we reached an unnamed lake. From here you could scout Mt. Gould if you wanted to climb it from this side.
Golden Trout Lake itself is not completely thawed but is on its way.
If you've never hiked this trail, I'd say be ready to do some talus hopping since chances are you'll lose the trail in a few spots. On the plus side, we didn't posthole once throughout the day (we were out from 9 am to 6 pm) despite all the snow. There were lots of suncups, however.