Backpacking - Chilnualna trailhead - Chain Lakes

[fpb56]

Original intention was to leave Chilnualna Falls trailhead and head straight to Chain Lakes then on the way back go through Moraine Meadows to Givens Lake and then to Buena Vista Lake and back to Chilnualna Trailhead. About 55 miles from June 21-27. Had to adjust considerably due to high water and a lot of snow. Day one we took a left at the “Y” at the top of Chilnualna Falls. There was no way to cross the creek there due to powerful flows. That left took us up to another possible crossing which we passed on again and opted to go counter clockwise the above route to get to Chain lakes. We started hitting snow at about 7500’or 7800’. It became pretty solid and up to 6’ deep at 8000’. Micro spikes are a must and we all had them. The trail was deep under the snow and travel slowed as the unevenness of the snow and weaving around trees while trying not to punch through in some areas took time, but was a great adventure. We found an open area at around 9.5 miles to sleep at our next trail junction. Nights were in the low 30’s but no mosquitoes day or night. As we continued towards Buena Vista Lake the earth became completely covered in snow and lakes were all frozen. Although it was beautiful and a great adventure we realized we would not see dirt again for days and decided to back track and enjoy the area we had for a couple days. We had a a creek coming off one of the lakes, great weather and absolutely no one had come that far. It was great. We were prepared for the conditions but 2 of our party had to leave a couple days prior to us and were not comfortable navigating the snow or multiple creeks we passed over so we cut our trip short to get everyone back safe. We left them back at the top of Chilnualna Falls and went back up the trail a bit to find a nice secluded camp site for one more night. Instead of about 55mi we did a bit under 30. The snow slowed us and high flows changed our plans but it was still a great experience and we were all safe.

[grampy]

Thanks for the report ! Very informative and to the point.