North Fork Cherry Creek in fall🍂? SE Emigrant Wild.

[Schleppy]

...I've done a route from the East side of Yellowhammer....

...If we get lucky and get some precip before your trip there might be some flow in Cherry...

Last weekend I took that approach from N Fork to Yellowhammer. Worked great! Thank you. Yes, there was a (very) little bit of flow in Cherry and N Fork, probably because of melting snow. No impedance to navigation.

[mschnaidt]

I'm glad that worked out for you. Looking forward to the trip report!

[Schleppy]

I'm glad that worked out for you. Looking forward to the trip report!

Sadly, I stopped sharing detailed trip reports anywhere online or on apps a while ago. Not without reason.

I am trying to get in the habit of reporting conditions and contributing to general discussions here, and posted some pics of the trip on that thread. Also, much of my weekend was similar to a recent post by another member and I commented there about the state of the trail.

Also realized that ramp approach is now popping up on the Google Terrain map. Kind of crazy.

[murphtron]

Hi Shleppy,
I walked from Shingle Spring TH to Lord Meadow, through Cherry Creek, just last week. There was no surface water flow but plenty of clean pools for drinking or fishing. I am certain there is no flow in the north fork and most likely some pools. With expected rain tomorrow, your mileage may vary.
From Lord, I went up Styx Pass to Boundry and then out Kibbie ridge back to the TH. I did not enter the north fork. Kibbie Ridge trail is a major bush wack with some very thorny brush.

Hey @swimjam, how did you get from Shingle Springs down to Cherry Creek? In the 90s it was an easy trek from the old fire rd just below SS trailhead. By the early 2010s it was an impenetrable mess of brush. Never been back that way since. Is it better now, or do you have a new route? I always followed the Schifrin route.

Wow I’m surprised to learn that Kibbie Ridge trail is so overgrown. I guess that’s why it’s not on AllTrails. Ha! That trail was always an easy cruise, if a bit of a long grind, to Boundary Lake. Boundary is one of the finer lakes in that area IMO. Haven’t been since about 2003.

[murphtron]

Hey @schleppy I’ve hiked the entire West Fork in sections. I think there’s info I posted on here. Happy to answer any questions. I also have an annotated topo map.

There are malicious sections of brush along the way. But it’s very doable. And quite awesome.

If you are thinking of using Box Springs TH to avoid the Crabtree grind there is a nice alternative from the Pine Valley Horse Camp…

Nice! That is a great bit of advice. I’m not sure I’ll use that entry right now, but you better believe I will in the future. I’m ready to give that “Crabtree grind,” as you’ve appropriately called it, a rest. At least as a way to Pine Valley.

Have you ever used the Bourland Meadows Trailhead? There is a faint use trail that drops into the West fork of Cherry Creek. From there it's an interesting cross country trek up to Hyatt. It can be done in a day and will minimize your water concern.

I like Bourland Meadows TH for getting to the W Fork when there’s more water, but have never driven further up the road to Box Springs TH. Reports about the route to Grouse Lake via Chain Lakes have left me curious. It’s an itch that will probably get scratched only once considering how difficult the road up there is on my little car. I’ll try in the fall some year. 3N16 is presumably easier to navigate after being driven on all season.

I’ve hiked Hyatt from Bourland TH, but the Bourland TH trips I’d really like to try are walking the West Fork all the way up to Louse Canyon or down to Cherry Creek where it ends just up from a very nice pool. It’s a big rafting camp spot in spring, but empty from July on. Are you familiar with it?

Tangent, but there were both wild fires and prescribed burns near Bourland Meadow last fall and they were presumably using 3N16 for access and staging, perhaps the crews graded that road a bit better. Either intentionally or from just riding on it a bunch with heavy trucks.

If you want to drop into the North Fork of Cherry and avoid Lord Meadow I’ve done a route from the East side of Yellowhammer….

I saw you reference this once before and took note. Your description matches what Schifrin describes as “a prominent ramp” and a way to avoid a more technical approach. It’s in the front of my mind for this fall. Earlier this season I spied it from the ridge south of Kole Lake. Bad photo attached. Blue is YH, red is the ramp/your path, and orange is Gillet. Look about right?

Thanks for the ideas and tips.

[Schleppy]

Hey @schleppy I’ve hiked the entire West Fork in sections. I think there’s info I posted on here....

Hi Murphtron. Good times. We actually had a back-and-forth on this a couple years ago, on this thread here: viewtopic.php?t=19685&start=20

I've been back to different parts of the West Fork a few times since, in spring, summer, and fall. Your descriptions informed some of that. Mostly I've walked the whole creek though more spotty to the southern confluence. I'm not sure when I'll get back to scratching that itch, but may may hit you up when I do. Much appreciated.

[swimjam]

@murphtron, Just below the Shingle Springs TH, there is a short spur rd. It's probably what's left of the old fire road. I just picked my way through the brush and trees. I also made a pretty big descent to a large rock outcropping above where the creek joins the lake. There was no clear trail but it was not a terrible bushwack either. It was quite steep and at one point I was turned back by cliffs.

East - upstream Cherry Ck

West - downstream to Cherry Lk

[murphtron]

@swimjam the orange rock on the right ridge looking upstream is a familiar landmark. At the base of that ridge there was a pretty well worn path that goes up to a natural ramp that leads to the large pool that's just below the confluence with the West Fork. That pool used to be a fairly popular camping spot.

Sometime around 2011 I found an old hand drawn map of climbing routes in that West Fork confluence area. It was on a Stanford Professor's personal website that is now gone, but he has the images https://www.mountainproject.com/photo/1 ... todd-vogel. In fact, the map refers to the red ridge as Big Red Hill. There was also an annotated topo of the forest service roads on the west side of Cherry and indicated a way down to that large pool. So I thought, yes, this would be a great way to take my 7 and 4 year on a weekend backpacking trip and explore a bit of the lower West Fork. Well, my Subaru couldn't quite manage an obstacle on the road, but I knew we were close. I told my wife to wait with the kids while I scouted. Maybe 200 yards further was a large cairn on the side of the road. I saw that as a sign. We got our gear together and after a quick bushwhack through the trees broke out onto granite and there was a well marked route that went straight down to that pool and a great campsite. There was one tricky move where we had to hand shuttle the kid backpack that had my 1 year old. heh. Anyway, it's a lot easier than the way from Shingle Springs. Although you are on the west side of Cherry, and the main route that follows the canyon is on the east. Easier to cross in late summer/fall. I've attached a topo I annotated with the route after the fact.