High Sierra Topix

We'd appreciate any reports (with photos if you have them) of the Sierra's river and stream crossing conditions. Please include the name of the stream, creek, or river crossed and the date in the Subject Title.

This thread is for condition reporting only; do not request information about specific crossings; create a separate post.

Crossed Symnes Creek 4 times during dayhike on Shepherd Pass trail. Fast moving, 1-2' high fords, water turned muddy by late afternoon. snow line about 10,000'

A friend and I did an overnight from Crabtree Trailhead to Hyatt Lake in Emigrant Wilderness this weekend. We followed the Crabtree Trail to Groundhog Meadow, then hopped on the Bell Meadow Trail to West Fork Cherry Creek, and then the usual use trail to Hyatt Lake past Rosasco Lake.

Lots of water out there. Two crossings are note-worthy. Piute Creek on the Bell Meadow Trail is waist deep (I am 6'4") and slow moving. West Fork Cherry Creek at Bell Meadow Trail is fast moving and scary. We spent an hour finding a series of log crossings where it braids out south of Bell Meadow Trail.

Illilouette Creek was uncrossable on June 1. This is the crossing that one reaches by taking the middle of the 3 southbound trails going that direction from Panorama Trail about 3 miles. We later ran into someone who said he'd successfully crossed it; he was about 6 feet tall and he said the water came up to his chest. In addition to being deep, the water is fast-moving at that location. One could walk about a quarter-mile upstream to where the water is calm (if still deep). The better idea might be to just try the uppermost/easternmost trail crossing, about 1.5 miles upstream, although we did not check that out ourselves. (We just turned around.) However, with warming air temps this week, all of the crossings in this area are likely to be even more raging than on June 1.

Plentiful easy crossings in and below Louse Canyon.

Edit: Reading the Hyatt Lake report from a few weeks ago, Piute Creek crossing is now ankle deep.

Just crossed the South Fork of the American River on June 24th. The water level was about knee-deep, and the current was moderate. There were a few slippery rocks, so caution is advised.

Lyell Fork of Merced River at the trail crossing on 6/17. It looked impossible to cross at the trail crossing.

I searched downstream to the cascades and I didn't find any safe place to cross.

I searched upstream a long way. Below Hutchins Basin I found a safe crossing. Not only it was wide, shallow, and slow-flowing (relatively), but rocks had flat side up. Crossing there adds over an hour, mostly due to slow travel on the south side (willows, some talus, etc.).

Before that I found a couple of possible crossings but they didn't seem very safe. There was one place where the river was a bit wider, but the far (south) side seemed deepest. At another place there was a tree bridge. But the entrance was awkward and the wet tree was almost as slippery as ice.

I crossed back (northbound) at the safe crossing on 6/20. The water was knee deep, about same as before.

I saw what looked like a water flow gauge in that area. But I can't find any information about it. Does anyone have any pointers? It would be good to compare the conditions with measured water flow.

https://cdec.water.ca.gov/webgis/?appid ... on&sta=LYL

That is probably the one you saw.

paul wrote: ↑Wed Jul 03, 2024 1:50 pm https://cdec.water.ca.gov/webgis/?appid ... on&sta=LYL

That is probably the one you saw.

This link goes to a gauge on the Lyell Fork of the Tuolumne River. The OP was crossing the Lyell Fork of the Merced River.

Oops! My bad. And now looking in the correct area I can't find anything. Maybe a temporary setup for a specific research project?