Lost Creek Conditions

[highplaces]

Has anyone been in the Lost Creek area recently? I'm curious if they have any snow up high. Thanks.

[Jay521]

PM User Derek. He lives there, I think.

[ezabielski]

I'd like to know, too.

[Brian Thomas]

Went up Payne Benchmark on Saturday, zero snow below 10,000' then gradually increasing up to about 4 inches of snow at 11,780' at the summit, no idea what the last storm cycle did, if anything. I may be in the Goose Creek area this weekend and will report what I encounter.

[climbing_rob]

Heading up in a few hours for the weekend, I'll report back. Not anticipating too much snow, but we'll see. going to attempt Catamount and maybe the "Keyat Ears"; my wife has not climbed these little gems.

[Kevin Baker]

I did Tarryall and The Catamount in the Lake Park area on Sat. Snowline was around 10500' or so with around 6" or so on north and east facing aspects, so not enough for snowshoes yet for sure.

[mrburns]

Heading up in a few hours for the weekend, I'll report back. Not anticipating too much snow, but we'll see. going to attempt Catamount and maybe the "Keyat Ears"; my wife has not climbed these little gems.

Any reports would be appreciated, I am hoping to head down there next weekend to get one last backpacking trip in before winter. I will probably head up toward refrigerator gulch, and maybe do the whole loop over Hankins Pass if I am feeling adventurous. I have read about a lot of deadfall on the Hankins Pass trail on TR's such as this one..

http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=8128" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

but this is from 2010, anyone know if this has been cleaned up? I was planning on calling the ranger station this week, but thought I would ask here as well..

[beachrya]

I did that loop June, 2013 and there were still a lot of downed trees on Hankins Pass. We did the loop CW from the Goose Creek TH. On the downhill side of the Park Trail (Over Hankins Pass) we weren't able to follow a trail, and just bushwhacked downhill until we ran into the McCurdy Trail.

I think there were signs posted suggesting an alternate route that wasn't too much longer but had a good bit more elevation change?

Hopefully someone else has a more recent update.

[randalmartin]

Honestly, I think the deadfall wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting when I did that loop in 2011. Doesn't sound like things have really changed too much from beachrya's description. The descent after Hankins Pass down to the McCurdy Trail wasn't difficult to follow in 2011 so maybe that is a bit worse but as long as you keep heading West, you will intersect the McCurdy trail.

[JQDivide]

Drove by recently... lot of the snow melted this week. Would guess there will still be some in the shady areas. But should be mostly clear.

JQ

[highplaces]

I did the clockwise loop from Spruce Grove back in May of this year. From Lake Park down to the McCurdy trail, there were a couple of spots that were tough to follow because of snow on the ground. From Goose Creek up to Hankins Pass, there were a lot of back and forths across the creek which I think may have been due to deadfall, but not any high level of deadfall on the trail itself.

[ezabielski]

I've done variations of the loop at least four times in the past two years. The trail (without snow) is not hard to follow at any point unless you take the high route to/from the top of Hankins Pass (where there are signs warning of the deadfall).

EDIT: Hiked the loop again this weekend. The high route on Lost Park is clear now of deadfall and the trail is easy to follow. Yay!