Just made the trip from Crescent Meadow to Hamilton Lakes last week (Thursday June 8th thru Sunday the 11th).
- "Big" Hamilton Lake, 8235 feet elevation.
Trail was snow-free all the way to Hamilton. They're not kidding when they talk about the swiftness of the creeks! 9-Mile was roaring.
- 9-Mile Creek, roaring
The easiest route was straight across, from the rock in the bottom right corner up to the rock in the top right corner (a slight veer left doesn't hurt). Water was about knee-high. There's a shallower portion just to the right, off camera, that we saw some people take. But the water felt swifter there and you're also closer to the edge. No thanks.
Mehrten Creek, which is the first major creek crossing encountered along the HST, around mile 6, requires two crossings:
- Mehrten Creek Crossing #1 -- wade across the pool created by the log.
- Mehrten Creek Crossing #2 -- wade across the pool a bit downstream from the first crossing (note that this was taken on the way back from Hamilton).
You can see this sign when approaching Mehrten from Crescent Meadow:
- Mehrten Creek, around mile 6. Instructions for crossing -- we never found the log. Ended up fording both legs of the creek.
The campsites at Mehrten were a bit cramped and full. Either because it's always that way, or because the nature of the creek crossing at Mehrten is turning the place into a hotel. Either way, we had to climb really far up just to find an open spot.
- Our campsite at Mehrten (Day 3)
Buck Creek, about 1-1.25 miles after 9-Mile, was also roaring. Thank goodness someone had the decency to build a bridge across this one:
- Buck Creek bridge crossing
Aside from the creek crossings, another challenge presented along the HST was the snow bridge, just a few hundred yards before Hamilton Creek (about 5-6 mi after 9-Mile Creek):
- The snow bridge just before Hamilton Creek -- red highlight shows the route across some people took. NOT RECOMMENDED!!
I highlighted the route that we saw someone take. We wouldn't call that the safest route for the following reason:
- Almost completely hollow. Do not cross the bridge.
- snow-bridge-hollow.jpg (341.9 KiB) Viewed 548 times
The bridge is almost entirely hollow underneath. Instead, climb down some rocks just off trail and then scramble up a rock chute on the other side of the creek. Your trip back may be a bit harder unless you're comfortable climbing back down the same rocks. On our return trip we wedged ourselves between the rock and the snow. Probably not 10000% safe, but it got the job done and we felt reasonably comfortable doing it:
- Navigating the snow bridge on the way back from Hamilton.
- snow-bridge-climb.jpg (301.13 KiB) Viewed 548 times
Your mileage may vary on how you want to tackle this crossing.
The last creek crossing was Hamilton Creek. It's also roaring like the others but crossing is no problem. Just look for the big log about 10 feet upstream and hop across, into the brush on the right.
- The log to cross the final creek before Hamilton Lakes.
We ran into quite a few people who forded the creek, but given the slipperiness of the rocks and the crazy height of the waterfall (you can even see it from just outside Bearpaw) -- why??
Other than that there is not much else to report. The trail beyond Hamilton Lakes looked inaccessible to us, but seasoned snow experts might disagree:
- The trail beyond Hamilton looked pretty snow-heavy.
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