Info Wanted: North side of Monarch Divide week of 7/4

[Asolthane]

Hi,

I have a permit to explore the lakes on the N. Side of the Monarch Divide from 6/30 - 7/8. Thanks Maverick for the route suggestion. Here is a preliminary route on caltopo: https://caltopo.com/m/F23B

Level 4 backpacker comfortable with class 3 travel. No experience with crampons or ice axe, but have crossed high passes kickstepping lots of times. I have never snow camped.

- Is this possible this year at this time, or should I assume there will be too much snow at that elevation? By which date can I make a call?
- If I go what gear will I need If I go ahead with this itinerary.
- I have arranged to take that week off of work, so I will need an alternative itinerary if I don't do this route. I live in San Francisco. Any suggestions for a week long solo trip featuring cross country travel on those dates would be welcome.

Thank you!

[AlmostThere]

If you don't want to hike in snow, you may be out of luck. Two short trips might be possible if you choose locations below 9-10k.

The real challenge for you on a week in the backcountry will be all the creek crossings. My shorter itinerary for that holiday weekend was chosen because there were bridges and reroutes possible in the case that the water is still very high due to runoff.

[Asolthane]

I don't mind some hiking in the snow. It didn't look to me like the creek crossings on this trip would be much of an issue. Which ones might be dicey?

Where did you decide to go that weekend? I can always do Emmigrant or Desolation last minute.

[AlmostThere]

I'm counting on the road over Kaiser Pass being plowed by then. We're only doing 4-5 days, and if one creek looks higher than is safe, we're going out and back and sticking to lower elevation. But we fish.

Creeks are appearing where there have not been creeks this year, so I wouldn't place bets on anything at this point. I'm remembering a point six years ago in spring, when I turned around on the way to Frypan Meadow because the stream was barely crossable in the morning, and we wanted to come back down the same day. There are multiple creek crossings on Lewis Creek and on Copper Creek trails. With snow deep up high any of those are going to be higher in the afternoons, possibly difficult in the morning, so my aspirations of seeing the alpine are being pushed much later in the year than last year. Not because I'm sure it will be unsafe, but because we want to be sure we aren't going to have to turn around and waste our time not getting where we want to go.

[Wandering Daisy]

Your route does avoid large creeks. The south side of Monarch Divide will likely be past peak flows; the north side near peak flows, but you appear to stay high in the watersheds which helps. CDEC river forecasts has some wonky tables for peak snowmelt- giving dates for the peak flows for probable, minimum and maximum forecast snowmelt. The stations shown for the Kings RIver and Keweah River are unforunately at low elevations. The Merced at Pohono is an example of flows nearer the snowmelt source. The creeks on the east side are also higher elevations. My take of these projections is that flows on the Kings will peak in June, early for lower elevations, end of June at higher altitudes (if you use the maximum values). So you will be out at high flows, if not peak. You will have some serious wading but I would not think anything that would stop you. Nevertheless, you have to go out with the possibilty of having to turn back in order to stay safe. Also, streamflows are often significantly less early in the mornings. If you look up towards the Monarch Divide and there is little or no snow left on the south side, I suspect you will not have stream crossing problems. The north side will still be melting, but north sides melt slower than south sides, so perhaps not high flows, but the flows will last longer before they beging the recede.

I think the more serious problem will be steep snow on the north side, post-holing, unsafe snow on top of granite slabs, and unstable edges of frozen lakes. Mosquitoes could also be really bad. The only trip I bailed on after only two days in was from States Lakes. The mosquitoes were so bad that I could not even get out of the tent and fish. If there are still freeze-thaw cycles at the higher altitudes, the north slopes could be quite icy. You may have to wait until noon or so to go up, and at that time perhaps you will post-hole a lot. "Windows" of time for easier or safe travel may be limited. I did the High Route to States Lakes very early one year, and getting from Grouse Lake to the valley south of Goat Pass involved some really steep short sections of packed snow. The north side dropping from Glacier Lakes is on steep slabs. There are quite a few steep north slopes on your route.

But you could, if you had to, return to the main trail and go out on it and skip Kidd Lakes and Glacier Lakes. You need to have a lot of alternate routes to use if needed.

This trip would not be the best time to be a newbie at self arrest. The slopes are steep enough that you would likely need crampons and micro-spikes may not work. Ideally, wait until late August or September.

[commonloon]

I'm going to be doing a similar route June 16-20. I will try to post pics and conditions info asap when I return.

I would echo everything Wandering Daisy said... particularly being flexible and having backup routes. We're planning on bringing ice axes and crampons; we have experience with and are planning on traveling as much as possible on hard snow.

[Asolthane]

it would be awesome to get a trip report from you. I'll have to think of an alternative route.

[sekihiker]

I've done the east half of this trip and I would be concerned with snow in at least one place; the crossing between Kid Lakes and Glacier Lakes. You will need to be careful going over Mungoat Pass, also. The east side of this pass is steep. You will be missing some beautiful lakes if you go down Glacier Valley to the trail. I recommend going via the western Glacier Lakes instead.
See my trip report at: http://www.sierrahiker.com/MonarchDivide/index.html

I've never been on the trails of the western half of your proposed route. Maybe it's time I did so.

[Asolthane]

Unfortunately, given my level of experience and that this is a solo trip, it is looking likely that I will need to save this itenerary for another time.

If you had the 9 days around 7/4 this year off, what would you do?

[AlmostThere]

Something in Arizona?

I have a five day planned, not sure it's going to work out either... and I wasn't even going that high.