4th of July Sentinel Hub update

[SSSdave]

Latest Sentinel HUb for June 30 shows up north at Desolation Wilderness, Grassy Lake out of Glen Alpine has been snow free for awhile while Susie and Gilmore are just now showing water so ought be open in days. Mid and Lower Velma Lakes and all the Meeks Creek lakes are open with patchy snow about shores.

The trail up Kibbie Ridge over Styxx Pass at 8k is about at the passable state I found during June 20, 2017. However there are questions about driving to Cherry Valley Reservoir one will need to speak with SNF about.

For fishing enthusiasts the best choice now would be to at 7.9k backpack from the dirt road end above the Lake Crowley BLM campground, up the 29E42 trail to Davis Lake (aka lower Hilton Lake) at 9808, a modest 2k vertical of less than 6 miles. Two of us were there last year and found it to have an abundance of rainbow, and eastern brook with some browns. One of the best fishing lakes in the range early summer before its waters warm up mid summer. Part of that is because the lake has superb spawning and food production. Scenery is spectacular too. So few use that route that even last year, it did not have an INF selection on Rec dot gov. Hiking in from above Rock Creek on the very heavily used in mid summer horse trail shows enough spotty snow that the 29E42 trail is a wiser choice.

A reason am aware of this Hilton Creek trail is below Davis is one of the better zones for mule ears and arrowhead balsam wildflowers. @khamike just posted about Carson River basin areas showing plants in usual sunny exposures are though a bit delayed now exploding with flowers.

https://www.davidsenesac.com/2022_Trip_ ... html#jul13

[khamike]

Funnily enough, I was up at Hilton just last week. I went up the regular trail instead of the old road, which is nicer and only slightly longer, depending on exactly where you park. I ran into a conservation crew coming down from spending a weekend, looked like they had cleared and brushed up to the creek crossing. The crossing was pretty deep but there is a good log a few hundred feet back down the trail, easy to access from the west/downhill direction, requires some moderate bushwhacking on the east/uphill side. I only went to the meadow below the first lake but it was almost completely snow-free up to there. With this heat I'm sure the two main lakes will be good to go.