2023 River/Stream Crossing Reports

[maverick]

We'd appreciate any and all reports (with photos if you have them) of river and stream crossing conditions in the Sierra. Please include name of stream, creek, or river crossed, and the date, in the Subject Title.

This thread is for condition reporting only, do not request information about specific crossing, create a separate post for that.

[michaelzim]

Week of May 22nd. - May 27th. 2023

As expected rivers and creeks are running high. Near snow melt I suspect about every little valley and draw has water flow of some sort, which was the case on my sojourn up the PCT towards Olancha Peak from Kennedy Meadows South a few days ago. Some photos of the S. Fork Kern River below. Note that the sticks that I put at the first bridge 4 weeks ago to mark the water level are still there and unchanged. The flow has not varied much I believe though does increase by about 6" in the mornings and drops in the afternoons (think delayed catchment area re flow).

1. First Bridge.jpg

2. Water level same as May 1st..jpg

3. Valley above second bridge.jpg

The latter photo of the second S. Fork Kern bridge shows water coming around the concrete base in this morning shot. The water does not flow there by afternoons.

4. Second bridge.jpg

5. Second bridge.jpg

Best ~ Michaelzim

[treks]

Here is a report from someone that cross the Kern down near Lone Pine (https://thetrek.co/pacific-crest-trail/ ... -lone-pine).

What of course concerns us the most is the heavy melt. The water almost touched the Bridge across the kern river at MM 707.8. The water at the Bridge at MM 717.7 is already flowing around the foundations, so as a civil engineer, I am really afraid, that these bridges won’t survive the next month, as there is so much more snow to melt up here.

[treks]

From the SK-NPS Instagram page (https://www.instagram.com/p/CszgIyUslpC).

Following a winter that delivered 279% of the average annual Sierra Nevada snowpack, we're still in the early stages of assessing damage to infrastructure in wilderness areas.

Unfortunately, we have some bad news for backpackers and stock users in key areas of the Kings Canyon Wilderness. Thus far, we have identified significant damage to two crucial wilderness trail bridges. These are the Woods Creek Bridge and the San Joaquin Bridge. Both bridges are critical for the John Muir Trail and/or Pacific Crest Trail, and the Woods Creek Bridge is also critical for the Rae Lakes Loop. Neither bridge is usable at this time and timeframes for repair have yet to be established. It is not possible to safely ford the river at either of these locations.

More damaged trail structures are likely to be discovered. Wilderness travelers should be prepared for the possibility that streams and rivers may be extremely hazardous to cross due to high water or damaged infrastructure, and this may be true late into the season. In addition to water hazards, backpackers and stock users should expect snow and ice in the high country, and plan backup routes if intended routes are not safely passable.

We will be posting updated trail conditions here as we get more information: https://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/trailcond.htm

[ashleyamarsh]

May 26-28

Yosemite NW of Hetch Hetchy

Frog Creek crossing on trail up from Miguel Meadow to Laurel Lake impassable. Heavy, fast and deep flows. Ice cold. No signs of down logs. Reports from other hikers trying to reach lake from Beehive experience the same upstream.

Falls Creek running just under the bridge at Lake Vernon, but overflow on adjacent granite approach is slick and ice cold.

[treks]

Received email: Important Update for Sierra National Forest Wilderness Permit

JMT/PCT between the Piute Bridge on the southern boundary of the Sierra NF and Evolution Valley in Kings Canyon NP is no longer passable due to the winter storms severely damaging the bridge in the park that crosses the South Fork of the San Joaquin River. There is no other crossing in this area, and the river should be considered extremely dangerous to ford this year, due to the runoff from the heavy snowpack. There will be no direct access to Evolution Valley from the Florence Lake Trailhead until the bridge is replaced, but that will not take place in 2023. If you have further questions please refer to the Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park Wilderness webpage.

[Love the Sierra]

South Fork Cottonwood Creek-White Water and cannot see the bottom
Cottonwood Creek in Horseshoe Meadow- PCT Hiker reported slow enough water, “you could fish in it” up to his hips. He was about 6’ tall.
Cottonwood Creek parallel to the road, 9400’ 10’, whitewater

[Love the Sierra]

Cannot see the bottom, white water, bridge is fine at Mosquito Flat, ROARING loudly morning and night
Inlet/outlet Heart Lake, whitewater,

[giarcpnw]

JMT NB from Devils Post Pile.

Minaret Creek is a river. Bridge is out and under 3 feet of rapid water. We checked up stream a 1/2 mile and down a 1/4 before the falls. Maybe could have crossed at one point but 3 feet plus deep and one in our party could not swim so we had to turn around.
Considering temps are rising the level will rise further as snow melts.
Still 4 to 8 feet of snow above 8500 feet.

[michaelzim]

This report is for the past week and may be dated by this current heat wave (109 degrees forecast for Ukiah today)…Creeks were mostly 50% lower than they were a month ago and two months ago! Some exceptions but my overall impression was that in general they are nowhere near as high as I was expecting – in the places I was that is!

~ S. Fork of the American River along Hwy. 50 running about 50% lower than a month ago.
~ W. Walker River along Hwy. 395 running about 10% lower than a month ago. Still lots of white water but flooded areas in lower open sections much less.
~ Middle Fork of Bishop Creek at the N. Lake road turnoff bridge. Not sure what to compare this to, indeed good flow but not raging.
~ N. Fork Bishop Creek along Piute Pass trail. A nice little creek with almost no sense of high flow. Easily crossable even if no logs.
~ Lamarck Creek. This was bigger than the above and guess was knee deep at the Lower Lamarck Lake crossing. I did not cross it as all the round boulders there demanded shoes on and I did not want to get my boots wet at 8:30 am.
~ South Fork Bishop Creek at South Lake. Not sure as all I saw was zero by-pass flow as water level in the dam had been purposely lowered considerably.
~ McGee Creek trailhead. A nice little creek with no sense of high flow. Very crossable.

Again…a lot of what I saw may change due to these 3 or 4 days of the first real heat wave for this year. However, if cooler temperatures return for a while I suspect that creek levels may return to what I have reported here.