S Mineral campground/Ice Lakes TH conditions
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S Mineral campground/Ice Lakes TH conditions
Anyone know current conditions for Ice Lakes TH? Is 585 plowed at all typically?
- cottonmountaineering
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Re: S Mineral campground/Ice Lakes TH conditions
i think that area might be closed due to the fire last year
- supranihilest
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Re: S Mineral campground/Ice Lakes TH conditions
Hey Will, the trail to Ice Lake Basin itself is closed. I doubt the road is plowed until around mid-May when South Mineral campground officially opens, and I believe it's only plowed to the campground itself. The roads to Rico-Silverton trailhead and up FS 518 are very likely never plowed.
- dwoodward13
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Re: S Mineral campground/Ice Lakes TH conditions
Not exactly what you are seeking, but the Ice Lakes Trail (and the 4x4 roads near it) are still closed due to the fire.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/sanjuan ... EPRD835676
https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_D ... 835677.pdf
Edit: everyone else beat me to it
https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/sanjuan ... EPRD835676
https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_D ... 835677.pdf
Edit: everyone else beat me to it
Re: S Mineral campground/Ice Lakes TH conditions
Thanks all, looking to get Vermillion, guess I’ll look at the Hope Lake side.
Re: S Mineral campground/Ice Lakes TH conditions
I did it from the Hope Lake side. Fun day and you can loop it with V8, Beattie, and Fuller pretty easily.
- supranihilest
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Re: S Mineral campground/Ice Lakes TH conditions
And "V 9" as an out and back from Hope Pass. Will, you might like "V 9", it's a gigantic pile of hideously loose crap.
Re: S Mineral campground/Ice Lakes TH conditions
Could also tack on Golden Horn and descend Poverty Gulch if he's feeling really ambitioussupranihilest wrote: ↑Wed Apr 21, 2021 10:43 amAnd "V 9" as an out and back from Hope Pass. Will, you might like "V 9", it's a gigantic pile of hideously loose crap.
Re: S Mineral campground/Ice Lakes TH conditions
No I've never been in Poverty Gulch. I was planning on going to Golden Horn after I did Vermilion and descending it, but the weather had other plans.
- Bombay2Boulder
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Re: S Mineral campground/Ice Lakes TH conditions
I did the V8-Beattie-Vermillion-Golden Horn loop from Lake Hope and descended Poverty Gulch last summer. I did it on August 12th after a few weeks of no moisture so the ground was DRY. The worst part was descending the saddle from Golden Horn into Poverty Gulch. Dry stiff gravel laden soil that offers zero traction or scree surfing opportunity. This would have been significantly better if there was even little rain the day before. This was around 150-200 ft of descent. After that, it was continuous rolling talus fest till I got to the waterfall in poverty gulch. Talus that moved with my every step. There is a nice trail once you get to the waterfall there that eventually meets the lake hope trail. I have a GPX file for this if you want.
On the recent conditions, I did see a lot of slide activity remnants when I visited Trout Lake in February and then again last week. If anyone wants a recent condition of the gulch, I can take some pictures from Trout lake, but still plenty of snow up high there.
Last edited by Bombay2Boulder on Wed Apr 21, 2021 7:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Bombay2Boulder
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Re: S Mineral campground/Ice Lakes TH conditions
Here are some of the pics.
Looking back towards the drop off saddle, looking down into poverty gulch and the trail in poverty gulch.
https://imgur.com/a/KFY03SX
Let it be officially known that I found this loose crap in poverty gulch less pleasant than Mears. Mainly because I was able to scree ski considerably on Mears, but this was one rolling fest of medium to large sized talus.
Looking back towards the drop off saddle, looking down into poverty gulch and the trail in poverty gulch.
https://imgur.com/a/KFY03SX
Let it be officially known that I found this loose crap in poverty gulch less pleasant than Mears. Mainly because I was able to scree ski considerably on Mears, but this was one rolling fest of medium to large sized talus.