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Today Sunday, completed html coding my June 13>19 Styx Pass backpack trip feature on my 2017 Trip Chronicles web page that is on Page 12 from the Index:
I had to revise my original detailed plans when I found there was a lot more snow than the MODIS satellite image showed that Stanislaus NF linked to. The trip was a considerable success photographically so now have good whitewater stream material that was relatively weak in my body of work. Also have numbers of 15, 30, and 60 second 1080p whitewater videos shot with my A6000 that are rather impressive but will need to wait till I figure out how I want to set those up on Youtube.
Water levels will have decreased quite a bit by now from the peak flows I experienced during the big heat wave but are no doubt still above peak flows for average years. I would still recommend it as a current destination given still too much snow at most traditional backpacking timberline destinations, were it not for the dam gated trailhead issue noted in my above thread that makes the hike unpleasantly long. On the other hand by now lake areas as Boundary Lake about the upper Barlette Creek areas will have melted out.
Thursday returned from another rather photographically successful 4 day road trip with a couple days spent up in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest and then a couple days above Mosquito Flat on Rock Creek, one night of which was an overnight backpack. Also drove over Sonora Pass on June 26 then back over Tioga Pass June 29 and will relate there is still snow is shady forest areas above 8k with quite a bit above 9k. However there is much melted out even well above 10k depending on exposure.
The road into the Bristlecone forest is open to as far as the entrance to the Patriarch Grove where a big snow drift will continue to block further access for a few weeks. The Barcroft road that splits at that point is open to as far as slopes above the Patriarch Grove where another large drift blocks that road. Personnel at the new Schulman Grove Visitor Center related they are allowing people to park overnight at latter blockage if they put a note on their dash, that is within the forest reserve boundary and then backpack out toward White Mountain or whatever as long as they do so beyond the reserve boundary.
Note per long decades policy, it is illegal to park or camp anywhere overnight within the reserve boundary. Thus one otherwise needs to camp say at the Grandview Campground or at the top of the ugly Silver Canyon 4WD road near the microwave radio towers that is just outside the reserve boundary. However it is a horribly rocky bumpy 9 miles from there to the Patriarch Grove, a prime reason I did so for just one day while fearing my Subaru would be rattled to its death from shaking. Also note the current reserve boundary shown on topographic maps or old INF maps does not include the expanded boundary added a few years ago. The new boundary that is on the most recent INF maps is 2.5 miles further east along the Mt Barcroft Road where it crosses the 11680 foot elevation.
Little Lakes Valley above Mosquito Flat at 10k west of Rock Creek is also an excellent zone to backpack into now as long as one stays below the outlet of Long Lake at 10550 above which is too much snow. Long Lake was about 30% ice free rapidly melting out during my visit that made for some nice image foregrounds of the big peaks. Mack, Marsh, Heart, and Box Lakes are melted out. Rock Creek itself is too high to cross without wading and areas east of the creek being shadier have more snow. Have already processed images for that work and am starting to code the html for Page 13 that should take a few days.
Do you have your route drawn on a map? I was curious about your route from Styx Pass down to Cherry Creek. I camped at the lakes west of Mercur Pk last year (Memorial Day holiday) but returned to Styx Pass and took the trail to Cherry Creek (and Bondary Lakes). Although flows were not as high in Cherry Creek last year (even a month earlier) it was wet enough that the day-hike down the creek was challenging and required wading in a few places.
Last year, I thought the trail was in good shape compared to when I did it the year after the first big fire, when the trail was basically gone. CCC crews have worked on the trail since then. I am surprised that you found it in poor shape. I also could drive to Shingle Springs, which shortened the hike but nearly did in my car!
I did the same as you- since a lot of the trail on the top west of Styx Pass was flooded, I just stayed higher and went cross-country. I regret not having stayed another day on Cherry Creek- there is so much great day-hiking you can do and the camping is really nice. On my previous early sesaon trip I slogged and post-holed into water all the way up to Huckleberry Lake. Not recommended- not really worth the effort.
You are correct, the Kibbie Ridge Trail is in far better shape now than it must have been after the Rim Fire. However especially further up the trail, there are still numbers of blocking logs as more of the still standing burned dead trees topple each winter during storm winds or branches and bark falls atop trails. Additionally whitethorn ceanothus brush rapidly grows new branches into narrow trail widths. Trail crews with pruning shears would be wise to prune wider paths through such brush than minimal trail widths. All that is of minor annoyance to me since I'm often off trail. In any case the worst part of the trail was far easier to hike than where I by my own fault embarrassingly went "thrashing around for an hour in a nightmare of marsh, dense willow, whitethorn ceanothus, bog blueberry, and fallen logs."
After crossing Styx Pass as I relate in my feature, and after I climbed down a steep section of snow where the trail was buried, I left the trail and vectored northeast to the one class 2 spot along an east-northeast trending steep joint crack at these cross hairs where one can easily gain the top of the joint crack, above which is an easy open ramp down east to the creek:
I'd viewed all that the previous afternoon because I climbed up to this cross hairs spot for photography. Many climb to tops of peaks while I research topos then climb to places with best views:
On my return Sunday to the pass, I came straight up easy slabs from the creek pools on the map at 7080+. The real problems as I related in my trip feature are down at that dell with two outcrops just below 7000. Is that where you are referring to walking through water? Nasty place with considerable tall willow above marshy areas and brush. Kicked my butt on the way in haha. But just beyond there is superb open camping on on the north outcrop.
Thanks for the route information. I mistook your comment about going down steep snow (on the trail) as dropping northeast from Mercur Lakes. Yes, you can drop off the trail at several places for a "short cut". When I did it the trail was dry enough that it was easier to just trudge down the trail. When I returned I just went uphill and intersected the trail.
It was not the Rim Fire after which I did my first trip, but the first fire that burnded Kibby Ridge, much earlier (maybe 6-10 years ago??). Not sure when the trail was actually worked on. I missed a few spots on the trail last year too. It is pretty faint in a few places.
