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SpacePants
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PostMon Aug 23, 2021 12:04 pm 
Hey There! We are planning to do a day hike/run this Saturday from the Little Giant TH to Napeequa Valley, High Pass, and out to Trinity TH. Have any friendly readers out there recently seen the conditions along any of the sticky/interesting points on this route, such as the Chiwawa Ford, the Little Giant descent into Napeequa, the valley itself (brush, flies), the trail up to High Pass, and the run out on the Buck Creek trail? I've seen some other posts about the bridge outage on the Buck Creek trail. thanks in advance!

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Opus
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PostMon Aug 23, 2021 12:54 pm 
I hiked through High Pass and the Napeequa as part of a larger loop two weeks ago. The trail from Buck Creek Pass to High Pass is in good shape with only 1-2 trees down, easily passed. No snow to cross the whole way over the pass and into the Napeequa. Biting flies were very annoying at Buck Creek and in the Napeequa. Trail between High Pass and Napeequa is steep but easy to follow. Somewhat brushy in the Napeequa between the waterfall trail and Boulder River junction but nothing bad.

ejain, SpacePants
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SpacePants
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PostTue Aug 24, 2021 9:48 am 
Thanks for the info! I’m glad to hear that the high pass trail is easy to follow. I’ve read a bunch of trip reports going back 10 years and some folks said it was quite difficult to find and follow. We’ll have GPS and maps on a watch and phones, too.

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Conrad
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PostTue Aug 24, 2021 7:56 pm 
SpacePants wrote:
I’m glad to hear that the high pass trail is easy to follow.
Opus is talking about going down the "N Fk Napeequa", I think. Sounds like you'll be going up it. Finding the start going up is what's hard, from my own experience and other reports, otherwise you have a steep alder brush bash. I have an old (2009) TR where I gave detailed instructions and pics for finding the start at the bottom, if you want to search for it.

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SpacePants
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PostTue Aug 24, 2021 8:28 pm 
Thanks, Conrad. Yours is one of the reports that I’ve been reading repeatedly. I’m going to cache those details as a note on my phone. Do you think it has changed much since 2009?

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SpacePants
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PostTue Aug 24, 2021 8:43 pm 
This is the 2009 trip report. I’ve taken two screenshots of it to have on my phone. Thanks for pointing out that the trail is tougher to find from below than above! https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7977930

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Conrad
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PostTue Aug 24, 2021 9:23 pm 
SpacePants wrote:
This is the 2009 trip report.
You found it, thanks! (too lazy myself)

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dcA2dc
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PostWed Aug 25, 2021 10:41 am 
Coming to the trail towards High Pass from below Little Giant, you'll go by two big waterfalls. The trail up is to the left (north/west) of the second waterfall - it's steep and brushy but distinct, so if you get a little ways into the woods and have a hard time seeing the trail, might be worth backing up and trying again to make sure you didn't get a false start. Once you're up in the valley on the southwest side of High Pass, the trail mostly disappears but the direction is clear, just make your way up. Once you get to the top of the valley just below High Pass, stay on the left/north side of the creek/waterfall. The trail down from LG to the valley floor is also brushy but seemed a little better than it was last year and should also stay distinct - just watch to make sure you don't miss a switchback; if the trail runs out then backtrack until you find where you went wrong.

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SpacePants
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PostSun Aug 29, 2021 9:00 am 
Thanks for the info! We followed the main trail and to the creek/tributary crossing and had little trouble finding the trail into the woods. That photo from 2009 was still helpful as that snag is still there! There was another branch of trail that appeared to head back down to the main/other fork of the Napeequa. I’m not sure if that heads further upstream or if that was a branch that we hadn’t seen earlier. That bit of trail in the woods from the Napeequa towards high pass is wicked steep, eh? My calves were burning. The trail down from LG to Napeequa was a little loose at times but less terrifying than I expected. I went a bit slower than my buddies but I think that first mile was like 25 minutes. It was definitely brushy in places on the descent, and in places on the valley floor, but we could always see the trail route through the brush. We missed one brushy switchback on the descent but found our way again without too much trouble. My buddy downloaded the route to his fancy Garmin and I cached some CalTopo maps. Both were helpful at various times. This is turning into an “accidental trip report.” I intend to write something longer this afternoon when my kids go down for their nap. But for now, thanks for the help everybody. It was beautiful up there. It was a physically demanding day, and it was awesome!!

Conrad
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