High Sierra Topix

Oh, and I don't know if you are familiar with this map from the water resources website:

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecstation/?sta

It shows all the data sites, so you can find the ones closest to your route that are snow survey sites, and check them when the May 1 numbers come in at the end of this week/beginning of next.

And this shows which sites are scheduled to be measured when. In the column labeled dates to be measured, the numbers mean that course will be measured the first day (or close to it) of the month indicated.

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snow/SNOWTAB2

A few years ago a couple of us did a June backpack from the dirt roads northwest of Hells Mountain to Bear Meadown and then down to the West Fork of Cherry Creek. Some nice fishing for pan sized rainbows. Was not something I would want to cross and in May on a year like this is going to be bigger water. So yeah you could follow the north side of the main Cherry branch all the way past Cherry Bomb Gorge but that is not really the crux. About 3 miles below you would need to cross the West Fork. Of course the main fork will be out of the question.

One can predict there is going to be zoo in that area early season because since about a decade ago that has become for kayaking what Yosemite Valley is for the rest of us except the kayakers have been frustrated by the drought flows and having watched various youtube videos for the last 4 years so there will be a lot of pent up enthusiasts carrying their boats up there. And one can expect not a few will not have wilderness permits or have a clue about policies or care.

I will predict this year mosquitoes will be so numerous about Cow Meadow Lake by late June that any human unlucky to be thereabouts will end up looking like a shriveled prune.

There's a CDEC gauge on Upper Cherry Creek - http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/queryF?UCC. It has river stage and CFS. Best I can tell it's just above Cherry Lake at 4750' elevation. I hope it is helpful.

My brother and I will be doing the Kibbie Ridge route, through Styx Pass, then North to Hyatt Lake in August. I've been crawling around in the Sierras for more than 50 years, but have never been in there.

Yes, I was wondering about crossing West Fork of Cherry Creek. The peak flows depend on the size of the watershed above a crossing as well as the timing of melt (dependent on elevation and slope aspect) of the watershed. North Fork of Cherry Creek drains a much larger watershed with much more high elevation area. I suspect that West Fork would come down off its peak earlier than the main North Fork of Cherry Creek.

By the way, if you look at the current Google Earth, just above the West Fork confluence, there is an error in the image. It puts the creek up on the north wall of the canyon! That would excite the kayakers if it were real!

Oh yeah Google Earth is very very unreliable in that way. Very common to see streams displayed up away from what looks like the bottom of ravines. Further up the main fork just look at how Cherry Bomb Gorge is displayed and compare it to the topo. Google "kayak cherry creek" for lots of images and youtube links. I have some digital images of the West Fork. Will look them up this evening and post something.

Or lakes that look like this:

For what it's worth, I once embarked on a misguided early June solo from Crabtree and was stopped cold at the West Fork crossing (across from Gem Lake) which was, I guess, 80 feet wide and chest deep, not sure what year. I realize you are not proposing to cross. I retreated up and offtrail to Leopold which was buried in snow. I've also done a late season Cherry Creek trip up Kibbie Ridge and then back down Cherry Creek Canyon. I believe we followed the guidebook route. We were looking for rock climbing. Anyway, we were on the east side of Cherry Creek Canyon, not the northwest side of West Fork Cherry Creek,as you're proposing, however, I think it's worth mentioning that on the latter half of our route the canyon constricts so much that we often felt forced onto steep sloping slabby rock beside narrow, fast and deep water. We were ok with it, but a slip was out of the question. We never felt the need to backtrack and find a line further from the creek, though I suppose we could have if we had needed to.

WD, I agree with SSSdave. Crossing the W Fork early season with this large winter is very risky. It carries a lot of water. It will burn out much quicker than the main fork, but I would wait until at least July. Also, getting down the main Cherry Canyon on the west side might be possible. We hiked stretches of it late season, but wound up crossing to the east side eventually. But there was a very small flow. You can definitely hike down the west side of the West Fork. Well, there's one section that may require a crossing, and then a re-crossing. Right near the end of Louse Canyon it constricts and there's a waterfall.

Thanks for all the advise. I delayed this trip until later in September, or maybe next year. I was up at Lord Meadow a few days ago (trip report coming in a few days) and walked between river mile 25 and 26 on Cherry Creek. Although the high water was amazing, it forces you to walk quite high above the creek. I decided that lower water and being able to walk down next to the creek would be a better choice. I will be in Wyoming July and August, so if the creek is too dry in September, I will have to wait until next summer in July.