[pct-l] PCT/TRT 6/24-28

[ned at mountaineducation.org]

Mountain Education just got off the trail via the Miller Creek/Rubicon access road into Tahoma at Lake Tahoe. We completed the section from Echo Lake to there over a five day period. We had to leave the trail before Tahoe City, our destination, because Juliee got sick, Snowball got a chronic injury, and we couldn't find a safe creek crossing to Miller Creek within a mile in both directions of the summer trail crossing point! We eventually crossed via a dirt road's concrete crossing point more than a mile to the east. At this time, having lost so much to searching for a viable crossing, we had to leave the trail to do a presentation to the Tahoe Rim Trail Association tonight.

Just a side-bar: The Granlibakken Resort, just off the PCT/TRT right before Tahoe City is more than willing to provide hiker assistance to thrus going by.

Current trail conditions from Echo to Miller Creek: 

Snow level is at 8,000 feet (solid) and 7,500 (patches) depending on aspect. The snow is still very consolidated, so snow-hiking without snowshoes is quite easy, but postholing does present a very real and hazardous problem in the afternoons. The nighttime temps. are still about 39 degrees, so the snow can be very slippery in the early morning, if you're doing 6am starts, but it will warm up quickly, softening the snow by 9 or 10am. Traction devices like Kahtoolas are not needed, unless you're making your miles during the very early mornings, and then for only an hour or two.

Navigation through forest:

Very difficult! The trail signs are still buried below the snow, for the most part, above 8,000, so following the route from Dick's Pass north is very challenging, even for myself. Without the assistance of accurate and current tracks in a GPS and 7.5-minute topo maps, I would have been lost many times. Some of the route still has old blazes carved in the trees by which we could literally navigate from tree to tree, but don't count on it for any sizeable distance. 

Water and Creeks:

This morning at 8,000 it was 41 degrees at 0600. With a thaw like that going on, water is running everywhere, especially on the trail, whether you can see it or just hear it beneath the snowpack. The creeks are huge and very difficult to get across. Search for great distances in both directions in order to find safe crossing. Cross in the mornings. Don't be hasty. Prepare for very cold water. Crossing via nearby roads may help. The wet soil is also a swamp right now!

The trail:

When you are between 7,500 and 8,000 the trail is partially visible in places. Where it is not it is covered with snow between 3 and 8 feet deep. The solar radiation is really warming rocks and logs beneath the pack, so that huge air pockets cover them which you can post-hole into up to your waist! Beware constantly of such sudden collapses of your footing! This is typical of this kind of sudden thaw, but it is nasty when the pack is so deep. The snow drifts across the trail can have steeply-pitched climbs and descents of 4 to 6 feet, on average. Know how to kick footholds on the climbs and heel-plunge or boot-ski the descents. This daily grind of an obstacle can, alone, be very fatiguing! Still, one mile per hour hold true.

The route:

Dicks Pass is a long traverse up and a steep plunge down. All the lakes, if not frozen, are only partially so. Most of the creeks can be crossed via snow-bridges if you are above 8,000. The issue with creek crossings is when you are below that. Navigating from Middle Velma Lake on is a pain. I can only imagine what the rest of Northern Ca. (in the trees) is like! Some people are beginning to venture out thinking it is summer and it is not. Be prepared for these "realities of the trail" and make safe decisions!



"Just remember, Be Careful out there!"

Ned Tibbits, Director
Mountain Education
1106A Ski Run Blvd
South Lake Tahoe, Ca. 96150
    P: 888-996-8333
    F: 530-541-1456
    C: 530-721-1551
    http://www.mountaineducation.org