avalanche on the vallecito trail

[ilanarama]

ETA August 7 2008:

Trails have been cleared through the avalanche zone on both sides of the river crossing, but the bridge has not been replaced and at this time there are no plans by the Forest Service to do so. There is a rope across the river to aid crossing; be aware that this rope crosses at a relatively deep spot (although the river is somewhat narrow and not as swift) - at the time we were there (August 5 2008) I would estimate the depth as ~40" at that spot. If you have no hiking poles, the rope is an important aid, but if you have sturdy poles I would recommend crossing a little downstream of the rope, just upstream of a few large rocks in the river and just upstream of where Dead Horse Creek joins the main Vallecito. The river was perhaps 32" deep at the deepest point here during our crossing. On our earlier trip we actually crossed even farther downstream, where there is a broad shallow spot (almost an island) near the west shore, but this trip the water there was very swift. Needless to say, the water is very, very cold.

Photo of Britt crossing the river.

In this relatively high water year, we estimate that the Vallecito was probably not fordable until just a few weeks ago. In any year, the earliest reasonable crossing would most likely not be until July. For any backpackers contemplating the Vallecito route, we recommend the following:

• Plan your trip for later in the summer.


• Bring good water-crossing shoes and hiking poles. A party we met said that two of their group, who were using sticks they cut from branches, broke their sticks during the crossing and they fell into the river.


• If you're doing a loop involving a one-way crossing, route your trip so you cross at the end rather than the beginning, so your pack will be lighter. Strapping hiking boots to the top of one's pack adds quite a bit of weight!


• Carry extra food in case a torrential rain raises the river to an unsafe level and you need to wait it out for a day or two. Big rains are not uncommon in late summer and early fall.

See the comments for information from other hikers. While one person reports staying on the west side of the river upstream to the Johnson Creek bridge, that means 2+ miles of difficult bushwhacking. The east side of the river between the crossing downstream to the second bridge is a shorter distance but over even rougher terrain.

Britt and I had been planning a really big backpack over the July 4th weekend, but I got sick, so we ended up just doing an overnight over the 3rd and 4th. We hiked up the Vallecito trail (the one we did with catbear when he visited) seven miles to where the swinging bridge used to be. It was taken out in an avalanche sometime during the winter of 04/05 and hasn't been replaced yet; the trail hasn't been restored, either, so anyone wanting to continue past the slide zone has to negotiate a 1/2-mile maze of tree trunks followed by a wade across a very cold and swift river, followed by another couple of hundred yards of tree-trunk maze. The destruction is pretty impressive - huge trees snapped off in the middle, flung every which way. We camped just below the slide area and took daypacks, which made it a little easier, but it still took us about an hour to cross through to where the trail picks up again.



More photos of knocked-down trees and bridge debris are here on my flickr page.

We'd also been planning a big backpack for this past weekend, but it poured rain, so we ended up driving around on jeep roads in the mountains north of Silverton with a couple of friends. We did a quick hike up Hurricane Mountain (13,447 ft, but we started from Hurricane Pass at 12,407 so it wasn't much of a climb), but pretty much it was just bouncing up and down in the pickup trucks and trying to peer at scenery through dense cloud-fog.

Comments

[beledibabe.livejournal.com]

Wow! Gorgeous scenery, despite the devastation. I miss CO!

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Yeah, Colorado is damn beautiful, and it's a real privilege to live where I can get to this sort of scenery in a 40-minute drive!

[eejitalmuppet.livejournal.com]

Impressive avalanche, that.

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

It would have been very cool to have seen happen - from a safe distance! One photo I didn't upload was the shackle that had held the bridge cable, snapped in two. And some of these photos - not sure if it's clear - are actually the other side of the valley, where the avalanche roared down to the bottom and up the other side.

[meri-oddities.livejournal.com]

I was going to say the same thing as C above. It's still really pretty despite the downed trees.

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

Colorado is always pretty! Which is why you should come out in October :-)

[meri-oddities.livejournal.com]

Don't think I'm not thinking about it! I just don't know I've got 4 trips planned this summer already. *g*

[tofty.livejournal.com]

You know, as a southern girl who has to travel to see winter the way other people experience it, I don't think I'd ever really processed how genuinely devastating snow can be, beyond the fact of the cold itself. I mean! It's so light and fluffy and pretty! I have a whole new respect for snow, believe me, thanks to these pictures.

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

It's amazing and sobering. Avalanches kill a handful of people every year here, some of whom should have known better than to be out there at the time, some of whom just get caught in bad situations that were unpredictable and unavoidable. It's really hard to intellectually connect that fluffy stuff that you can make snowmen out of into something that can rip apart buildings.

[alembicresearch.livejournal.com]

At least I bet you didn't have any problems locating
campfire wood!

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

Heh. It's mostly either mulch-sized or giant log-sized, though!

[de-wynken.livejournal.com]

cool! I saw your thing the other day in the paper and was wondering how y'all were doing :)

looks like a nice hike.

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

Hee, yeah, they finally printed it. I'm waiting for the political hate mail.

We are going to make another go at Jupiter Mountain (what we had wanted to climb this past weekend and got rained out of) this weekend.

Vallecito Creek Avalanche

[(Anonymous)]

Has anyone tried crossing through the avalanche zone in Vallecito Valley/Creek area this year yet (2007)? I'm wondering how the logs have shifted over the 2006-07 winter/spring and how much of an effort it is to get through, especially across the river. The rangers say that the snow level this year is about 50% of normal which should translate to lower than average water level in Vallecito Creek, but if anyone has first hand knowledge or has made it thorough with full packs, I'd greatly appreciate hearing about it. My trip through the area is planned for mid-July. Thanks in advance.

status of slide in vallecito creek

[(Anonymous)]

Does anyone have any update on Vallecito Creek in 2008? In reply to the posting in May 07, we hiked it in late July 07 and were able to cross the river at the top of the 04-05 slide area very easily and continue up to Johnson Creek. It was extremely pleasant since none of the outfitters are taking stock up there anymore. However, it rained extremely hard that night, an all-nighter, and when we came back down to the crossing the next day (since we could not fish in the blown out creek), we could not cross it safely. We sat there all day and all the next day at the ford-crossing, arguing about its safety within our own group and waiting to see if someone else came along. That night it did not rain and we got across the next morning with only some frayed nerves. I read somewhere that the FS did some work with explosives in the slide area in Sept 07. Does anyone have an update on its conditions today?

Re: status of slide in vallecito creek

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

I haven't been up there since, but you are right that the FS and the SCC cleared the debris last fall. However, there are no plans to replace the bridge so it's still a ford.

I totally sympathize with your plight getting stuck. My brother-in-law and one of his daughters got stuck for two days on the wrong side of the Pine last October when heavy rains caused flooding. They were on horses and couldn't cross safely.

Re: status of slide in vallecito creek

[(Anonymous)]

Hi there

I went up Vallecito trail early June 08. The main river was very swollen and totally unfordable. Past the zone where the 3rd bridge was washed out, it took a few hours to get to the 4th bridge. Johnson creek was just passable (waist deep, cold, fast flowing). We decided to come back on the east side. Nice trail between 4 th bridge and the avalanche zone (3rd bridge remnants) Between here and the second bridge was quite difficult. I would reccomend taking the high road, or just stay on the west side between the 4th and 2nd bridge. Beautiful trail otherwise.

Re: status of slide in vallecito creek

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

Yowza! This has been a fairly high water year - lots of snow in the mountains and lots of rain this summer - and I wouldn't be surprised if the Vallecito was frequently unfordable. Certainly I'd never even think of trying in June. I haven't actually tried to hike along the river on the side where the trail isn't, so it's interesting to hear a report.