High Sierra Topix

Hi Folks,
Longtime lurker, first time posting. I’ve enjoyed many of your trip reports and photos over the years, thanks folks!
Has anyone been over Horse Creek Pass into Spiller Canyon yet this year?
Thanks for any advice or conditions reports or campsite suggestions.
Best,
Anne Marie

I haven't been yet, thankfully. I somehow get suckered into that damn canyon every year. Going up is OK, going down always sucks. There's like 5 different use trails and I always end up on the really terrible one that's super loose or requires bushwhacking. Don't worry if you look across the valley and see another use trail, it also sucks.

Each time I've crossed Horse Creek pass there was a bit of snow. Nothing you can't walk on or scramble around.

At least Spiller Canyon is worth it. I'd just gun it over the top to spend more time there, skipping a campsite in Horse Creek if you can. Climb Whorl too, if you like cool peaks.

I went over Horse Creek Pass about 3 weeks ago. There was some nuisance snow, but nothing that impeded progress or that was in any way dangerous. Going up was no problem from a navigation perspective. I exited via a different trailhead, so I can't speak to it going down. One thing I did note was that there's very little camping on the Twin Lakes side of the pass. Above treeline, the the flat meadow / tundra areas tend to be strewn with just enough bowling ball style rocks that you'd struggle to find a smooth spot for anything more than a bivy. There's some good camping below treeline about 2 miles from the trailhead, but that looked swampy and (I'm guessing) perpetually buggy. It was certainly buggy when I went through.

Thank you!