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| Backpack | 31.99 Miles |
4,925 AEG |
| | Backpack | 31.99 Miles | 2 Days | | |
| 4,925 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | The first week of July is generally a little early in the season to backpack into Titcomb Basin, but Blanco and I gave it a go anyways. I had a little beta on the snow levels in the area and after backpacking to the Cirque of Towers a few days early, I figured we should still be able to reach the fabled basin. We did reach the basin, but the going was a little slow at times. The upside of the early season visit was no crowds and a lot of solitude. The downside was frozen lakes, little green and almost no flowers. I planned for a three day backpack, bu we were able to get into the basin and back to the trailhead with an ambitious overnight trip.
Day One:
We backpacked into Island Lake on the first day. The hike in was only average until we reached Seneca Lake. After that, the trail offered some of the finest alpine scenery I have hiked through. Seneca and Upper Seneca Lake are both spectacular backcountry lakes and the hike down to Island Lake offered perhaps one of the most scenic descents to a lake I have ever hiked. Somehow we got Island Lake entirely to ourselves and I had one of my best backcountry dinners to date perched on the slabs high above the lakes southeast shoreline. It got a little windy at times, but the weather and conditions were otherwise perfect throughout the evening and into the morning.
Day Two:
On day Blanco and I day hiked up to Titcomb Basin and Indian Basin. The Titcomb Basin Trail was covered in deep snow pretty much the entire way just past Island Lake. Where it was not snow it was running water, slush or mud. We generally cruised along a hard crusted still frozen snow in the morning, but had to be more creative heading back to avoid post holing and getting overly bogged down. Realizing you were on top of a tarn or hearing running water underneath the snow was a little unnerving at times and I feared us breaking through a few of the snow bridges that were required to pass over in order to reach the basin and Titcomb Lakes area. The lakes were still mostly frozen over and I am sure the scenic quality of the area was tapered by the snow, but I still found the area very scenic. We made a detour to Indian Basin on the way back, however, heavy snow turned us back before reaching the actual basin. The original plan was to break camp at Island Lake and relocate to Seneca for a short hike out the next day. However, upon arriving at Seneca the skies opened up. I was not looking forward to setting up a tent in the rain and then putting a wet dog in there next to me, so I decided I would just push on to Hobbs Lake and hope for a little break in the weather to get dry and set up camp. The break never came and the weather got much worse at times. After passing on setting up camp in a steady drizzle at Hobbs Lake and feeling unmotivated to spend a night riding out a storm and being wet, I decided we would just hike out to the trailhead from there and call it a backpack. It ended up being a 20 mile day to get out, but we both managed fine. I was grateful for our choice to hike out after a pretty nasty system pounded the higher elevations for most of the night, culminating with a nice dusting of snow by the next morning.
Final Notes
Even with the early season conditions, this was hands down some of the finest alpine scenery that I have hiked through. Island Lake may be the most scenic lake that I have seen. I am eager to get back to this area for some more ambitious backpacks next year and hopefully some climbing. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
A little early in season |
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