California Hiking Trails

Wacky West weather means snow on the 4th of July

A summer that looks a whole lot more like winter has travelers across the West scrambling to revise their Fourth of July itineraries — or at least their packing lists.

Ski poles are replacing fishing poles at popular hiking and camping spots where late-winter snowstorms blanketed Western mountains from the Rockies to the Sierra Nevada.

"A lot of people are calling it the trifecta day, where they're going to ski in the morning, mountain bike in the afternoon, maybe do something on the lake in the evening," said Julie Mauer, a spokeswoman at Sierra ski resort Squaw Valley, which saw record-breaking snowfall this season. The resort plans to open four ski lifts on the upper mountain and promises free commemorative July 4 t-shirts to the first 5,000 guests who show up on Monday.

At Crystal Mountain, south of Seattle, spokeswoman Justus Harris said she expected to see "a lot of bikini tops" out on the slopes. The National Weather Service is predicting mostly sunny skies on the mountain on July 4, with a high near 59 degrees. The mountain hasn't been open this late in the year since 1999.

An unseasonably strong low-pressure system has brought above-average rainfall to California's Central Valley and the Sierra earlier this week, and the National Weather Service on Thursday issued a flood warning for much of the region, cautioning that warming temperatures leading into the weekend will accelerate snowmelt and cause rising water levels in rivers and streams.

At lower elevations, the spring thaw has led to surging waterways, turning normally easy crossings perilous and raising flood concerns.

While ski resorts are hoping to entice visitors with the prospect of dense snow combined with mild temperatures, campers and hikers are less enthusiastic about the wacky weather. Popular campgrounds at Yosemite National Park are closed and visitors have been warned they may encounter snow, high water on roads and slippery mud. Flood warnings are in place in some areas.

Fresno County resident Jan Woertendyke, 56, and her fiance — both experienced hikers — were planning a weekend backpacking excursion to Yosemite's Ostrander Lake, which sits at about 8,500 feet. But after seeing ominous-looking photos posted online by other hikers last week, the couple decided to cancel their trip.

"I can't see hiking uphill with a 30-pound pack on my back on a solid trail of snow the last mile," said Woertendyke, of Clovis.

Trinity Alps Snow and Hiking Trail Conditions, June 26, 2011 ...

OK fellow hikers, all of northern California got buried under monster snowpack this winter and spring, including the Trinity Alps. As some of you may know, I started my backpacking career in the Trinity Alps, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself when I backpacked to Caribou Lake, Emerald Lake and elsewhere in the Alps last summer.

So I’ve been getting lots of e-mails and questions in blog comments about when and where to hike in the Trinity Alps this summer.

Here’s what you need to do:  Get the weekly updates on Trinity Alps trail conditions from the Forest Service . This is an excellent PDF file that contains all the known information, certainly far more than I know.

I suggest that you put off an Alps backpacking trip until August or early September. If you have an epic trip planned, see if you can postpone it ’til next year.

I love backpacking in the high country when I don’t have to deal with much snow, and when I get to beautiful snow-free lakes that have had a few weeks to warm up so I can swim in them and sun myself on their rocky banks. I had planned to do 2-3 trips in the Alps this year, but I’m going to wait until late July/early August and then assess the situation.

What are your thoughts or plans regarding backpacking in the Trinity Alps or elsewhere in northern California this summer?

Realize I’m not exactly on subject, but I packed Wally the Wonderdog and a fly rod into the truck and took a driving reconnaissance of a few local streams and lakes.

Ended up at Mumbo Summit, which was snowdrifted to impassibility a couple hundred yards below the summit.

The Wonderdog and I hiked to the summit and poked around on the PCT, which would probably be pretty rough going for any real distance, though a hike to Upper Seven might not have been entirely out of the question.

The drifts were packed fairly hard — and a couple feet deep in places — but melting fast, so Gore-Tex boots would be a good idea.

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