Junction Lake - Indian Heaven
Posted: July 5th, 2010, 7:34 am
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.
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.
I thought about car camping nearby and found this real nice spot off the road with this view next to it:
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.
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.
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.
I thought about car camping nearby and found this real nice spot off the road with this view next to it:
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.