Advice on proposed trip starting at Crabtree TH

[mschnaidt]

I haven't taken your proposed route from Cherry to Hyatt but my brother has. Your route is pretty much what he did except he cut over to the north side of the lake down the big granite slope. There is a fair amount of basic route finding involved and there is the occasional cairn. I've camped at the location at the end of your purple route. It has great views but limited access to the water. There is a nice site in the smaller cove section on the big beach on the eastern end of the lake. Or the "Hyatt Regency" site to the west of the small beach on the western side is good.

The green route from Big to Hyatt should be a little more south. The brush and slope on the north side of that little ridge is not fun. Smooth going on the south side.

[mschnaidt]

If you get to Camp Yellowhammer, take a close look at the graffiti on the sign. Jack Dempsey and Rocky Marciano signed it in 1952.

[mschnaidt]

[edgeagg]

I haven't taken your proposed route from Cherry to Hyatt but my brother has. Your route is pretty much what he did except he cut over to the north side of the lake down the big granite slope. There is a fair amount of basic route finding involved and there is the occasional cairn. I've camped at the location at the end of your purple route. It has great views but limited access to the water. There is a nice site in the smaller cove section on the big beach on the eastern end of the lake. Or the "Hyatt Regency" site to the west of the small beach on the western side is good.

The green route from Big to Hyatt should be a little more south. The brush and slope on the north side of that little ridge is not fun. Smooth going on the south side.

Thanks a lot! I'll make the changes. The signatures by Dempsey and others is pretty wild.

[Schleppy]

... I'll just add my voice to those who think that Crabtree to Big Lake in a single day is long.

...Your first day could feel longer than anticipated, as @mschnaidt mentioned...

Yes.
I'm not sure it's been said, but once you hit the West Fork, most of the route to Big does not have maintained trail. Often there's none at all. Not crazy difficult, but you shouldn't expect to be moving at a full clip or to walk on autopilot. Furthermore, none of the approaches to the shores of Big are straightforward saunters. Takes a bit of figuring out on the ground.

@edgeagg, your tentative plans will be fun, though I'd temper expectations around a Louse to Hayatt Alt.

Alternatively, you could aim for Hyatt lake the first night. Drop down louse canyon and up and over to Hyatt...

I was trying to find the route that you suggested. It seems rather cliffy overall if going from Louse Canyon to Hyatt. The only happiness that I see is this small green slot near the text that says VFGI below. Is there a different route?
Screenshot from 2025-04-09 06-44-08.png

I must disclose that I have not taken this exact route to Hyatt. I've only traveled to Hyatt starting from Bourland Meadow TH....

I've done this cross country a few different ways. It's a good exercise in route finding, but also a challenging one that takes time and energy. Most of it is not open granite. Little, if anything, is marked.

@edgeagg, be advised that the rough purple line you've marked from Louse to Hyatt is manageable, but is not easy or obvious. Nor can it be adhered to strictly. The climb is steep, rugged, and forested; the decent down and across to Hyatt will take some attention and time on your first visit. (though a little less so if you cut over to @mschnaidt's suggested camp destination on the NW side).

It will be slow. Lots of micro navigation, lines aren't always clear, views often obstructed, and the terrain is rugged. Time for doubling back/changing tactics should be anticipated. Additionally, the walk all the way down Louse will not be terribly fast, especially if the creek is flowing high for August.

If time is a constraint and if you haven't done it before, getting to Hyatt from the East is likely going to be faster. Almost certainly easier. It will also take about as much time as the other routes described for CT to Big, which means still a big day.

....And I suspect it is way easier than the route I took from Bourland.

I think they're both pretty rough, easier on repeat. The way from Boreland is more tried and true, definitely faster, and I'd dare say prettier. Not sure about easier or harder though.

Sometimes those shared maps are a record of someones nightmare or a tentative plan that may or may not have been fruitful. Specific to that route, there's only the one shared track climbing out. I can attest to it following a steep, forested, boulder laden cut.

[edgeagg]

Thanks. Good reminders that finger hiking is always easier. We probably will stay on the "standard" route since that gives us bailout points at Louse Canyon, Rosasco. The plan is to get an early start, no later than 8 - 8.30 am. I think that the trail to Louse should be easy to navigate and we expect to make good time on it. We hope to do lunch before starting the climb to Rosasco Lake. Depending on how folks feel after that (~700 feet), we can evaluate what the next steps are. We won't get target fixation on Big. Hyatt is most likely out. The terrain looks challenging.

We do plan to a number of Cascade backpacks before this though, and we generally cover between 16-20 miles per day if good trails on these trips with significant elevation gain. However these are not trips where routefinding is hard. We will have to see how the route finding between Rosasco and Big is to see if we should bail to Pingree if deciding to go on to get an idea of timings.

[BillyBobBurro]

"I think they're both pretty rough, easier on repeat. The way from Borderland is more tried and true, definitely faster, and I'd dare say prettier. Not sure about easier or harder though."

There was a fire in the Bourland area last fall and it was a bit trickier to follow the route down to WF cherry creek. My first trek in the area and it was easy to follow cairns and other's footsteps but last summer it required a bit more navigation effort.

[Schleppy]

There was a fire in the Bourland area last fall and it was a bit trickier to follow the route down to WF cherry creek. My first trek in the area and it was easy to follow cairns and other's footsteps but last summer it required a bit more navigation effort.

Good to know! Didn't realize the Quarry fire did much to the forest between the trail head and the creek. That area was wasn't fun before. Perhaps another season of rafters trotting through will help re-establish some trail.

Exploring different cross country routes to/from Hyatt was a kind of personal project I was fixated on––seemed like there had to be an easier way than crossing Cherry Ridge from Bourland, but still faster than the gentle approach from NE.

I came at that lake from near every angle I could think to (there are many), but familiarity with the specific pitfalls was the only thing that made things any kinder. Part of what makes it such an interesting problem is that the easiest final drops involve the most difficult/precarious treks to those descents.

Funny thing is, I don't even like camping at the lake that much!

[Schleppy]

I think that the trail to Louse should be easy to navigate and we expect to make good time on it.

Yes, zero impedance before Louse. Can space cowboy all that.

We do plan to a number of Cascade backpacks before this though, and we generally cover between 16-20 miles per day if good trails on these trips with significant elevation gain. However these are not trips where routefinding is hard. We will have to see how the route finding between Rosasco and Big is to see if we should bail to Pingree if deciding to go on to get an idea of timings.

Good plan, though maybe decide to bail or not during drop from Ros, before committing to final push. The last 2 miles to big take more time than the distance suggests, but quickly becomes just as long to track back for Ping. Also nice to not be hurried through the views towards the end.

Great trip!

[edgeagg]

Good plan, though maybe decide to bail or not during drop from Ros, before committing to final push. The last 2 miles to big take more time than the distance suggests, but quickly becomes just as long to track back for Ping. Also nice to not be hurried through the views towards the end.

Great trip!

We will make sure not to get too target fixated on Big. We can get up early next AM and head over to Big and Day 2 is mostly just farting around Big. So I'd rather have it be enjoyable overall. But not having to set up camp each day is kind of nice. Suppose one assumes a 2 mph "normal" pace, any idea what the multiplier might be for Ros->Big? I'm sure it depends on line of sight and the level of micro route finding needed.