Coyote Flat
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michaeljtomey
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Drive to funnel lake and camp there. It's beautiful and secret...well it was secret. Take a short hike over the hill to rocky bottom lake and let us know how the trout are biting.
I've been dying to get back out there. 
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Offcamber
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If we can make it that far, we'll check out the lake. Water provides instant and long-term entertainment for my boys.Drive to funnel lake and camp there. It's beautiful and secret...well it was secret. Take a short hike over the hill to rocky bottom lake and let us know how the trout are biting.
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85straight
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Big meadow or Iris campground up by rock creek, water is flowing quite fast though
theesotericone
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Drive to funnel lake and camp there. It's beautiful and secret...well it was secret. Take a short hike over the hill to rocky bottom lake and let us know how the trout are biting.
Rocky Bottom was completely dry as of last Nov. The fish are gone. It's gonna take years for it to recover.
OP, you'll be shut down by snow about 1 1/2 miles before the Baker Creek junction. I was up there 2 weeks ago and the drift was 15' high and 50 yards wide. I know the area so took some gnar gnar to get around it only to be shut down another 1/4 mile up the trail.
It's been huge snow year and anything over 9000' is still holding pretty good. That could change in a few weeks but I'm betting July before Coyote is fully passable to the lookout.
Offcamber
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Thanks for the local knowledge. Given the snow level and what is accessible, is it still worth the drive up there? Do you have any other suggestions?
theesotericone
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It's always worth coming up here. lol
Papoose Flats to Mazourka Peak then down Mazourka Canyon is prime right now. Did it last week. Zero snow. Plenty of places to camp if you want to spend the night up high, There's some spots right at Papoose that are tucked behind the rocks that overlook the valley. If you go bring plenty of water. There's very few water sources in that section of the Whites. The trails mainly good dirt with a few rocky exposed bedrock sections.
The upper end of the Buttermilks loop is another good easy trip. The roads still washed out about 1/2 mile past Horton Lakes Trail but you can come in from the upper end to access Birch Creek. There's a great camp site right on the creek about 1/2 mile before the parking for Humphrey's. Fish are there but small and the waters gonna be raging.
Silver Canyon SHOULD be open by now but the Forest Service has been dragging there feet opening the gate. The gates about 7 miles in on easy dirt. If it's open that's another great day trip.
Whatever you end up doing have fun.
Offcamber
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This is great. Much appreciated. I'll start pulling these options up on a map to check them out.
GChristo
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We were hoping to head to Monache this upcoming weekend as well but haven't had time to call around for trail conditions. Ranger say the gate was closed or trail totally impassable? Now need to find an alternate as well.
Offcamber
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The ranger I spoke with yesterday confirmed that it's still closed and said "it won't be open for quite a while, it's still really wet in there." I heard from someone else who was told by a ranger that it may be the first year they remember that PCT through hikers might not be able to make it through the area. It sounds like it'll be at least several more weeks before it might be accessible, unfortunately.
[MENTION=143526]theesotericone[/MENTION] had some good suggestions for alternative routes that I'm looking into.
GChristo
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Thanks for the intel. Man, it's a bummer. Monache is really nice. We're hoping to not need to drive quite so far north but still get above the desert. Might head back to the Fraizer/Padres area.
N.Alvarez
New member
[MENTION=140870]Offcamber[/MENTION] & [MENTION=146937]GChristo[/MENTION] EVERY trail north of Kennedy Meadows (specifically all the trails north of BlackRock ranger station is closed) I was there last weekend. We spoke at length and she said crews were working all that week to clear a bunch of downed debris on the trail towards Bald Mountain, which she expected the first of them to open back up. Memorial weekend, I was up in Coyote Flats with a bunch of other Toyotas. There is a snow drift blocking 1 section of the trail- however, you can get around it and up towards the clearing. See these two youtube vlog's our buddy put together and you can see what its like.
Part 1 >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwAQBYXRmYg
Part 2 >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQozmLmkNrY
enjoy your trip! let us know where you end up.
Part 1 >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwAQBYXRmYg
Part 2 >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQozmLmkNrY
enjoy your trip! let us know where you end up.
Offcamber
New member
Thanks the links. I don't recall how it happened, but I actually came across your video a few days ago. It was helpful to see the trail conditions.
I heard a rumor from someone in your group...are there any frogs you might want to mention?! :frog: LOL
N.Alvarez
New member
oh nice! yeah a lot of people in the group shot some cool/helpful content.
Haha! those frogs were so loud!! but luckily I learned early on to keep ear plugs in my kit. :eyebrows:
Offcamber
New member
It ended up being an incredible weekend. After doing a lot of research, we couldn't decide which areas to visit, so we ended up hitting Alabama Hills, Mazourka Peak/Papoose Flats, and Coyote Flats!
[MENTION=143526]theesotericone[/MENTION]'s suggestion to consider Mazourka Peak was brilliant. The east side of 395 hasn't appealed to me in the past, but my assumptions were dead wrong. Thanks again. :cheers:
[MENTION=118730]AssBurns[/MENTION] Did you make it up there? Any chance you were the 3rd gen who let us by on the first set of switchbacks on Coyote Valley Rd?
Pictures forthcoming...
[MENTION=143526]theesotericone[/MENTION]'s suggestion to consider Mazourka Peak was brilliant. The east side of 395 hasn't appealed to me in the past, but my assumptions were dead wrong. Thanks again. :cheers:
[MENTION=118730]AssBurns[/MENTION] Did you make it up there? Any chance you were the 3rd gen who let us by on the first set of switchbacks on Coyote Valley Rd?
Pictures forthcoming...
AssBurns
New member
That was us! We had quite the adventure ourselves. We made it up there Friday afternoon and immediately had the steering rack come apart so we just camped at the first spot we saw. Then had to head down the hill in the AM to fix it. Once fixed we headed back up and had some minor overheating issues and my 7 month pregnant wife didn't feel comfortable continuing after 2 issues already. So we headed back and thats when we saw you heading up. We ended up staying by South Lake in a regular campground. I definitely want to take another trip up there and really explore the whole area. I was really bummed about not getting to spend as much time up there as I wanted.