02.09.2017
A beautiful place that deserves much exploration. This time we camped by the lower lake and let me tell you it was a slog getting up those switchbacks. The trail was dry and dusty, with lots of loose dirt and/or rock - not always easy to walk on.
We attempted Elliot Peak but were turned back by the exposure near the summit. Summiting Crystal Peak was straightforward, including the extra-exposed sub-summit. A stunning sea of mountains all around was visible from the top.
Camping spots are few and far between, and either lumpy, uneven, wet, or hard to get pegs in. Food storage is even more of an issue, though there were a couple of big-enough trees to hang our bags out of marmot reach. Our first night we hung them off the rock face only to see marmots scaling said rock face with ease...
The road is easy 2wd low-clearance but is pretty rough with a couple of loose spots. There's a hole at about 10.3 km marked with a branch. On our descent, a pair of small birch trees had fallen across the road (it had been pretty windy at times), but could be bent back out of the way easily enough by a passenger or two to allow passage. A small saw would make short work of them.
The washout at about 8 km is easily negotiable by any vehicle with at least some clearance. The road dips into the creek enough that may need care for vehicles with lower clearance. Our CR-V made it through easily - just had to take it slow. The creek is tiny (as it used to be before the washout - it's not even mentioned in Matt Gunn's description).
There is a pair of small "gateway" rocks (but big enough to dent/scrape your bodywork) just as you get back onto the flat road again. Wide vehicles might need to move one or other of those! We saw a Jeep and a couple of pickups up there, but that was all. Everyone parked in the pullout about 100 m before the final rockslide.
Flowers: mostly done, but pink and yellow monkeyflower were holding on near the creeks. Higher up, some broad-leaved willowherb was still blooming.
Wildlife: lots of marmots! Hang your food and stow your poles too - I left mine out and now have a few serious chunks taken out of the grips. Pikas and chipmunks too. Quite a few bugs of the non-biting kind; the occasional black fly and/or mosquito (especially when the wind dropped), and a few persistent horse flies higher up. Flocks of American pipits especially near the upper lake, and a few eagles cruised the meadows, startling the marmots into a whistling frenzy. We watched one eagle (possibly golden) roost on a high ledge overnight.
Photos to come eventually...
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