High Sierra Topix

Hi all,
I am in need of some beta: we are planning to head out on Friday for a two night bp trip, starting at Eagle Falls TH. We are planning to stay at the Velmas on Day 1 and then Lake Gilmore on Day 2. My wife is very worried about creek crossings. It sounds like the creek right by the Velma Lakes is the iffy one.
Has anybody tried it lately? Also what are the conditions at Dick's Pass? I suspect it is well traveled by now (PCT) but wanted to make sure.
Many thanks,
H

Cannot answer your question, but be aware that finding parking at Eagle Creek is really hard on weekends. Parking lots usually fill up early. Two years ago this happened to me. We found one parking spot at Bayview, and then took the trail from there to Velma Lakes. People park along the road between Bayview and Eagle Creek, but not sure if it is legal for overnight parking. Best plan is to get to Eagle Creek trailhead early as possible.

We did the trip June 6 in a low snow year. Not sure that would be similar to August this year. But we had no problems with crossings. Even waded across the Rubicon quite easily, as we headed for Schmidel Lake. PCT journals do not mention any stream crossing problems here this year so I think you will be OK. However you will likely have to wade so wading shoes may be useful.

I forgot, but we did come back over Dick's pass, which had snow on the north side. The only problem was that we lost the trail in the snow, but it was not too bad because we intersected the trail enough to know where we were. In fact, we purposely left the trail in a few places to avoid the snow. There was no snow on the south side. By the way, Half-Moon Lake is really nice. You may want to consider a day-hike to it. For what it is worth here is a photo of Dicks Lake, first week in June, 2015.

Hi,
Thanks for your input, much appreciated, it probably is very comparable this year August to normal year June. Thankfully we will get dropped off at Eagle Falls TH, so no parking worries at that one.

The creeks, streams and rivers have dropped dramatically in the last couple of weeks.
The LTBMU office may have a handle on the current conditions:530-543-2600.

Ok, so we did the trip. Not much snow left towards the pass and creeks are easily fordable

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