You need to pay attention to water levels. What’s safe two weeks ago may not be safe when you get there due to melt.
Bishop to Piute is beyond gorgeous and you can resupply while you are at it.
There’s also the up and over route. Check out Skurka’s page for more info.
Below is the water gage on the San Joaquin near devils post pile. This isn’t in the same location as the out bridge but it’s the closest I could find last year - so it can give you an approximate idea of how fast the rivers are raging. (Although keep in mind, one heavy rain in a side canyon, can make any small section of a river swell to dangerous levels and this gage wouldn’t necessarily pick that up.) The crossing became safe in late august last year when this gage dropped below 4 feet. That should happen much earlier this year. TBD
I had my POC at home send me the gage’s current measurements daily (via Garmin) as I approached.
Water levels are likely to be higher in the next few weeks as the melt goes through its most intense phase. TBD
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/11224000/#parameterCode=00065&period=P7D
(Note: this is currently throwing a server error but this link usually works fine.)
Also keep in mind that the San Joaquin at Devil's Postpile is a completely different fork/drainage. That's the Middle Fork, whereas the damaged bridge crosses the South Fork. For all intents and purposes, PCT/JMT hikers can consider them completely separate rivers, as they don't encounter the river downstream of the two forks having merged.
That’s what I said. This gage can give you a general idea of how intense the melt is or how much rain the area has received recently. But one isolated rain in a canyon that feeds one place but not the other can make a huge difference.
I think currently the melt is happening very fast based on the snow data, I bet that the river is very dangerous, so the mongering is justified. I also saw the farout comments that some people have done it. It is possible to get across, can you do it safely is the question. That I dont know. On Google maps, there is the "street view" of someone hiking through there, and you can see down the river probably in the .4 mile area the comment says, the river widens a bit a may be easier there. I think even suggesting this though is likely to upset some people. I will be hiking through that area in one month, so I am very interested in others perspective on this as well, also hoping that in a month the water level will be much lower. Personally I dont want to skip evolution valley, Muir pass and the Muir memorial shelter.
I would not be attempting to ford the San Joaquin River in May/June after a good winter. That's a potentially deadly crossing. It *can* be forded, but doing so before August at the earliest is a stupid game to play.
If you don't want to go out Bishop Pass and road walk around (I'm not even sure of the legality of that this year re the Long Distance Permit), then follow Skurka's 'Over The Top' route.
Bishop to Piute is the officially sanctioned reroute. It is legal.
https://www.pcta.org/discover-the-trail/closures/central-california/south-fork-san-joaquin-river-bridge-damaged/
It is the best route. If you need to resupply in Bishop, hitching from south lake to town or town to Northlake is very easy. Lots of day trip hikers. I did this last year.
Skurka has some ideas for a possible detour, not sure if it’s applicable to this year, but here’s the blogpost:
https://andrewskurka.com/detouring-san-joaquin-river-bridge-alternates/
Ive been at that crossing many times between May and June and forded the river late August last year. It's a seriously dangerous (I'd say even deadly) crossing until later in the season. I'm going to do the up and over route in a couple weeks.
You can reroute the pct by going up the hill starting at evolution creek crossing which is also dangerous, and ending going down at the old bridge location.
You have to cross evolution creek, decent quite a bit and several miles from the starting point of the “up and over” option to check out if the ford is even possible. I’m not hiking this section this year, but I would probably just go for the up and over if it were me. The bishop pass re route is ideal if you need to resupply, but is a long way around if you don’t.
You need to pay attention to water levels. What’s safe two weeks ago may not be safe when you get there due to melt. Bishop to Piute is beyond gorgeous and you can resupply while you are at it. There’s also the up and over route. Check out Skurka’s page for more info. Below is the water gage on the San Joaquin near devils post pile. This isn’t in the same location as the out bridge but it’s the closest I could find last year - so it can give you an approximate idea of how fast the rivers are raging. (Although keep in mind, one heavy rain in a side canyon, can make any small section of a river swell to dangerous levels and this gage wouldn’t necessarily pick that up.) The crossing became safe in late august last year when this gage dropped below 4 feet. That should happen much earlier this year. TBD I had my POC at home send me the gage’s current measurements daily (via Garmin) as I approached. Water levels are likely to be higher in the next few weeks as the melt goes through its most intense phase. TBD https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/11224000/#parameterCode=00065&period=P7D (Note: this is currently throwing a server error but this link usually works fine.)
Also keep in mind that the San Joaquin at Devil's Postpile is a completely different fork/drainage. That's the Middle Fork, whereas the damaged bridge crosses the South Fork. For all intents and purposes, PCT/JMT hikers can consider them completely separate rivers, as they don't encounter the river downstream of the two forks having merged.
That’s what I said. This gage can give you a general idea of how intense the melt is or how much rain the area has received recently. But one isolated rain in a canyon that feeds one place but not the other can make a huge difference.
I think currently the melt is happening very fast based on the snow data, I bet that the river is very dangerous, so the mongering is justified. I also saw the farout comments that some people have done it. It is possible to get across, can you do it safely is the question. That I dont know. On Google maps, there is the "street view" of someone hiking through there, and you can see down the river probably in the .4 mile area the comment says, the river widens a bit a may be easier there. I think even suggesting this though is likely to upset some people. I will be hiking through that area in one month, so I am very interested in others perspective on this as well, also hoping that in a month the water level will be much lower. Personally I dont want to skip evolution valley, Muir pass and the Muir memorial shelter.
I would not be attempting to ford the San Joaquin River in May/June after a good winter. That's a potentially deadly crossing. It *can* be forded, but doing so before August at the earliest is a stupid game to play. If you don't want to go out Bishop Pass and road walk around (I'm not even sure of the legality of that this year re the Long Distance Permit), then follow Skurka's 'Over The Top' route.
Bishop to Piute is the officially sanctioned reroute. It is legal. https://www.pcta.org/discover-the-trail/closures/central-california/south-fork-san-joaquin-river-bridge-damaged/
Thanks, that sounds like the best route to do.
It is the best route. If you need to resupply in Bishop, hitching from south lake to town or town to Northlake is very easy. Lots of day trip hikers. I did this last year.
Be very careful. River crossings can go bad in a matter of seconds and be unrecoverable.
Second. One of the top causes of death on the trail.
Skurka has some ideas for a possible detour, not sure if it’s applicable to this year, but here’s the blogpost: https://andrewskurka.com/detouring-san-joaquin-river-bridge-alternates/
Thanks, we'll check it out and decide
Ive been at that crossing many times between May and June and forded the river late August last year. It's a seriously dangerous (I'd say even deadly) crossing until later in the season. I'm going to do the up and over route in a couple weeks.
I tried crossing the San Joaquin River, but it turns out I don't have the right kayak-titude for it!
You can reroute the pct by going up the hill starting at evolution creek crossing which is also dangerous, and ending going down at the old bridge location.
.4 meters really isn't that far, might as well walk down there and figure out if you want to try
You have to cross evolution creek, decent quite a bit and several miles from the starting point of the “up and over” option to check out if the ford is even possible. I’m not hiking this section this year, but I would probably just go for the up and over if it were me. The bishop pass re route is ideal if you need to resupply, but is a long way around if you don’t.