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Junction Lake - Indian Heaven

Posted: July 5th, 2010, 7:34 am
by drm
I did a dayhike in to Junction Lake from the East Crater trailhead on July 4. The road was clear to the trailhead with no snow visible, but patches started right away on the trailhead. It's 2.5 miles in and there was full coverage by about half way, at about 4400. Of course that's going to change a lot with the coming heat wave.

There was some sun driving in, but clouds were moving in. Combined with the gain in altitude (4800' at the lake), I was in fog at the lake.
jcnlk july4-10.jpg
Junction Lake
So a very long way of snow melt to go in this area. Thanks to some tracks in the snow (seems somebody had been up there the same day) I got this shot down a snow hole to a bridge over a creek.
jcnlk 003.jpg
creek and bridge in the snow
I thought about car camping nearby and found this real nice spot off the road with this view next to it:
jcnlk 006sm.jpg
But it started to drizzle. It was in the 40s. I put up with that in April and May, but this is July. I was only 40 minutes from home, so that's where I went. By the time I got half-way back - near Trout Lake - it was mostly clear, patchy clouds. Indian Heaven really attracts that weather, which is why it is so slow melting out.

Re: Junction Lake - Indian Heaven

Posted: July 6th, 2010, 6:42 am
by fettster
I'm glad I didn't give this a go, looks like no views! Could you tell if there was much tree blowdown along the trail?

Re: Junction Lake - Indian Heaven

Posted: July 6th, 2010, 8:15 am
by jeffstatt
Holy cow! A lot of snow up there still! And that's relatively low elevation. I shudder to think of the mosquitos that'll be in there in two weeks!!

Re: Junction Lake - Indian Heaven

Posted: July 6th, 2010, 6:23 pm
by drm
Except for a few of the trails in, Indian Heaven isn't know for long-distance views. It is all the lakes that is the draw. I didn't see much blowdown. There could be some hidden in the snow. There were a few mosquitoes at the trailhead area, but not many.

I think the upper lakes will need more than two weeks to melt off and the bugs to mature to a flying stage. And if we have the first frost at the normal time, they may have a short year.

Re: Junction Lake - Indian Heaven

Posted: July 12th, 2010, 11:05 am
by DustyLee
Wow, that's pretty crazy. :o

I'm gonna be heading up there on the 14th of July, I hope most of the snow has melted away by then but considering the amount shown in the picture above ...I dunno, I'm not too confident it will be clear.

Thanks for sharing, I've been trying to find current info on Indian Heaven the last few days before I cam across this post.