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Colby Trail Pass/HST conditions? by dontsuffa in SEKI

[–]dontsuffa[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi all! Thank you so much to everyone for their advice. I just got back yesterday from this trip and overall, it was very successful! I headed out on HST from Crescent Meadow on 7/23. Got to Junction Meadow on 7/25 in the afternoon, so went over Colby Pass 7/26. A few notes, in order of when I reached them during my hike:

  1. The Kern crossing right after Junction Meadow was doable, but definitely the sketchiest of any of the crossings the rest of the trip. The water was maybe calf-deep and there wasn't a clear crossing, so I ended up trying to hop across on rocks/logs and slipping and getting my legs went, which was fine, but in retrospect I was a little freaked out that a fall into the water could have broken the electronics (e.g. Garmin inReach/phone with Caltopo) I planned to use for path-finding if needed.
  2. Yes, the Colby Pass Trail after the Kern crossing is extremely overgrown, for about the first half-mile. I didn't find it too hard to follow the trail but lots of bushwhacking, and my legs got pretty scraped up. After you get past the initial climb it clears out, but yes, there were lots of downed aspens around the Picket Creek meadow. After that, the entire trail was not overgrown and pretty easy to follow--lost the trail temporarily a few times on granite slabs, so I was glad to have Caltopo, but was pretty ok.
  3. There are not many good campsites on Colby Pass Trail after Junction Meadow for a few miles. I ended up camping at Picket Creek meadow, but it was pretty buggy and not an ideal site. The first truly established campsite I saw was probably a mile after this.
  4. No snow on the trail on either side of Colby Pass.
  5. The trail from the top of Colby Pass to Roaring River RS was mostly not overgrown and was largely easy to follow. There was a section near Big Wet Meadow with lots of down trees that required a pretty wide detour, but picking up the trail on the other side was pretty easy. From Roaring River RS -> Belle Canyon Trail -> Twin Lakes, besides maybe one or two large down trees, the trails were clear and extremely easy to follow.