[Opus]

Well I finally made it it to Big Snow! And I can now say that my car has been up the Middle Fork road. Its one and only trip, thankfully. We made it all the way in my Outback without incident. Despite keeping our eyes out we didn't spot any Geos up there today. The road is pretty good. I'd say any vehicle with decent clearance can make it. We had to inch our way through some of the dips to avoid scraping the long overhangs though. A vehicle with better approach angles would make for an easier drive. Oddly when we turned off near the Taylor junction there was a crowd of people standing by the side of the road. Down the hill in the bushes was an upside down truck. One guy told us not to worry, that happened last night. Hopefully the drive walked away. Very odd place to wreck too, it wasn't even on a curve. On our drive out the truck was gone. After a long, bouncy drive we reached the trailhead at the incredibly late hour of 10:15. I seem to be in the minority with my friends on getting early starts. We started up in the humid overgrown trail and with many route finding errors made it to lower Hardscrabble around noon. Thus far it was mostly snow free, with some patches in the trees. We traversed around the left of the lake and at the outlet started up to Upper Hardscrabble. This was the roughest part of the trip - lots of patchy undermined snow made for slow travel. We made the upper lake, said "hi" to some fishers, and began up the gully. On the ridge the views were spectacular! Peaks in every direction. We could see Lake Dorothy down below too, melted out. Gold lake and Big Snow Lake were both still frozen. Traversing across the ridge to the summit was very slow going but very cool. The whole ridge looked like a wall of snowy sand dunes. It took almost an hour, but we made it across and up to the summit. Great views everywhere! We unfortunately didn't have the chance to linger too long before starting our descent. We made good time back to the gully and glissaded part way back down. The other group of hikers we encountered stopped at the base of it to refill on water while we pushed on. We stopped at the outlet of lower Hardscrabble ourselves to refill. The sun was behind the ridge now and temperatures were much milder, making for easier traveling. I'd sunburned my knees between my shorts and gaiters, and was now feeling the affects. The traverse around the lake was slow and careful. Those snow covered boulders are melting out fast - we could see several bottomless pits that we had to carefully avoid! We finally made it back to the car around six, packed up, and started the tedious drive back out. What a great trip! Big thanks to Ragman and Rodman for their last trip report and the helpful GPS map! I'm glad I had a chance to see the area before that gate closes.

Falls and peak

Looking back

At the top of the gully

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Frozen Gold Lake

Snow dunes

Distant summit

Traversing the saddle

Going up

Descending climbers

On the top

Great view

The traverse back

Tiny climbers

Glissade

View down

Summit panorama

Lots more trip photos here

[Type E]

again I am very jealous. I am glad you had the views we missed out on1

[peltoms]

I liked the snow dunes. Has someone posted a map showing where the road is going to be closed that also illustrates where the trailheads are? I am not a big user of this road, but would like to have a sense.

[H. Hound]

Map with gate location

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MFK Map

It was a great day to be out on Big Snow. I am guessing you were the 2 coming up the chute, as I was going down.

[Opus]

[ragman and rodman]

Like most people, I probably have about 50 hikes on my "all time top 10 list"... but Big Snow is really on the list.

[Tom]

Peltoms, if you've not had a chance to savor the upper MFK, it's a shame. Once the gate is locked at Dingford most of the stuff worth visiting will be better accessed via alternate approaches.

Another MFK Map

[Coasty]

Nice Trip report Opus! Glad you guys made it up! I was out on the Mid Fork enjoying the weather last night and thought about driving up there this morning and giving it a shot.. but my wife would have been crazy mad had I not come home this early morning from my overnight. Jason

[Magellan]

[Bryan K]

Would biking beyond the gate to the Dutch Miller Gap TH be possible? Or will the FS allow it?

[Allison]

Reminder that there is an attempt underway to have a Middle Fork End of the Road Campout next weekend. The road is scheduled to close the 20th of June. More info (not much) here.

[Opus]

If it's allowed, you could bike it. It would be a very unpleasant ride I think. It's quite rocky and rough. I'd be exhausted myself just from the bike ride in! Such a shame to lose that great place. I'm really kicking myself for not doing more exploring out in that area. Ragman's right - that was a hike. I'll certainly be back in the summer ascending from the Dingford creek route.

[Tom]

You could bike it. 1500 of gain though. Once the road is gated Big Snow would be easier accessed via Dingford Creek. Unlike the rest of the upper MFK, Big Snow will not be put out of reach by the gate.