Horsetail Falls Hike & Snow conditions in Desolation
Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 4:16 pm
This report is one week old..so a lot more snow has melted im sure
I hiked last week on Tuesday 6/27 from the Twin Bridges TH. to the top of Horsetail Falls, from there we went to Ropi Lake, Lake of the Woods & out to Echo Lakes.
I will report on what we ran into as far as snow. It was totally snow free up to Horsetail falls & to Ropi Lake. From Ropi up to Lake of the Woods was pretty much snow free with some water running down until you get into the forested area, Once in the forested area we were walking on snow most of the way to Lake of the Woods, there were some dry spots along the way at times. Walking along the East shore of the lake we were on snow, that is pretty shaded in there. From the North end of the lake where the trail starts up out of there it was snow free, just a few snow patches. At the top at the sign post was snow & from there starting down to Haypress Meadows was solid snow to the end of the meadow.
From there all the way to Echo Lakes was snow free, but had water coming down in places.
Ropi Lake was totally thawed, Lake of the Woods on the South end more thawed then the North end, still a lot of floating snow on it, but the middle was pretty much free. Tamarack lake thawed.
The North side slope of Ralston peak had a lot of snow still.
East slope of the Crystal Range especially from Mt. Agassiz to Mt. Price has still a ton of snow. The South slope ridge going up to Pyramid looked to be snow free. Horsetail Falls is hugh right now there is a lot of very fast water coming down, it is so beautiful right now!
Hope this helps some that may be going into this area of Desolation!
I did take a few pictures
http://community.webshots.com/album/551828147HEskeq
I hiked last week on Tuesday 6/27 from the Twin Bridges TH. to the top of Horsetail Falls, from there we went to Ropi Lake, Lake of the Woods & out to Echo Lakes.
I will report on what we ran into as far as snow. It was totally snow free up to Horsetail falls & to Ropi Lake. From Ropi up to Lake of the Woods was pretty much snow free with some water running down until you get into the forested area, Once in the forested area we were walking on snow most of the way to Lake of the Woods, there were some dry spots along the way at times. Walking along the East shore of the lake we were on snow, that is pretty shaded in there. From the North end of the lake where the trail starts up out of there it was snow free, just a few snow patches. At the top at the sign post was snow & from there starting down to Haypress Meadows was solid snow to the end of the meadow.
From there all the way to Echo Lakes was snow free, but had water coming down in places.
Ropi Lake was totally thawed, Lake of the Woods on the South end more thawed then the North end, still a lot of floating snow on it, but the middle was pretty much free. Tamarack lake thawed.
The North side slope of Ralston peak had a lot of snow still.
East slope of the Crystal Range especially from Mt. Agassiz to Mt. Price has still a ton of snow. The South slope ridge going up to Pyramid looked to be snow free. Horsetail Falls is hugh right now there is a lot of very fast water coming down, it is so beautiful right now!
Hope this helps some that may be going into this area of Desolation!
I did take a few pictures
http://community.webshots.com/album/551828147HEskeq
