Matthes Lake:
I've posted about the conditions on other threads...I hiked the Nelson Lake route into Echo Creek, then over the crest to Matthes Lake. I've been over Nelson Pass a few times, but never over the crest to Matthes, and I generally like to stay high when I'm traversing cross-country. Which was bad here, as I spent an hour getting blocked by cliffs and backtracking to the correct route.
From that route I had a good view of the Clark Range:
There was only a couple small patches of snow to Elizabeth, then a fair bit of snow climbing from the meadow. Once the trees began to thin out the snow did as well, leaving only the normal early season patch near the summit. Yet there were still signs of the big snow year, as this cornice shows:
From Matthes I hiked out by Cathedral Pass, and except for some snow north of the pass and patches along the trail the route was clear.
Echo Lake:
A few more pics here.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/2011 09:48PM by ttilley.
