Booth / Pitkin Basins

[k-berger]

Has anyone been up to Booth or Pitkin lakes recently? Hoping to do a little camping/hiking there soon and curious what snow levels are like.

Thanks!

[benlen]

Yes! I've been up to Booth and Pitkin Lakes––A couple weeks back I was unable to reach the lake at Booth because of deep post holing––but though there is still snow at Pitkin, and the lake is frozen, you should be able to camp up there.

Below is my hiking vlog of the journey up to Pitkin Lake.

[TravelingMatt]

Did Peak X via Pitkin on Saturday. Have pics but none from the Pitkin trail.

Anyway, some 3+ miles in is a swampy area and a high creek crossing. You'll know it when you get there. It is possible to find drier terrain and easier crossings some 200' upstream/left/west. You'll cross at the base of a cascade where the creek braids into several smaller streams and most of them have a log(s) across. It is necessary to do a bit of willow-bashing to get back to the trail.

Snow started around 11,000 feet -- I veered off from the trail at around mile 4, but rather quickly ran into snow. Above treeline in the basins there is still a ton of snow, although if you are trying to summit something you may find dry ridges.

Hope this helps.

[kashley0807]

I was up at Booth Lake yesterday (6/28). Trail up to the waterfall is no problem. Past the waterfall, things got progressively more wet and muddier. Minimal snow on the trail until you get to the final vertical push before the lake basin, but you can mostly stay on the rocks to avoid it. The mud makes the trail more tedious, but is avoidable enough with some rock-hopping and a few spots where you'd have to go off-trail by 15-20 ft to get around it. The lake itself was still mostly frozen, still quite a bit of snow on the surrounding slopes, especially north-facing.

Hope this helps! Happy to answer any other specific questions too.

[k-berger]

Good stuff, thanks for the intel!!

[ATOMEMT]

We were up at Pitkin Thursday......solid snow for the last 30-40 minutes up to the lake. Gators were helpful. We just took our boots off and waded across the creek crossing mentioned earlier.