Backpack - Ipsut Creek Camp

The route along Carbon River Road to the camp is in great condition.  It is pristine until about 0.25 miles before camp, where the trail has been recently rerouted. The rerouted area is brief but is muddy and rough - still easily traversable but not very aesthetic. In spite of being a "road" the walk along the closed section of Carbon River road is very nice because of the gorgeous forest along the way. There walk itself can still be monotonous but the views along the way help make up for it. 

The route from Ipsut Creek Camp to Lower Crossing has several washout areas, but were traversable thanks to some recently installed temporary bridges. We passed through about a dozen sections of trail that were covered in sawdust, signs of intensive trail work done by a WTA creek during the preceding week (as reported to us by a NPS Ranger). There is one short 20' section where the trail gets quite narrow and has significant drop to the side. This section is still easily passable, and a handline has been installed, but can cause concern for any who are exposure averse.  Both trails that lead further than Low Crossing have issues. The trail on the west side of Carbon River - the trail that leads directly to Carbon River Camp - appears to have been permanently closed due washouts. The trail on the east side of Carbon River is open but the bridge that leads to it is gone, so one must ford the river to get there. We were told that a replacement bridge is coming soon. 

The route to Green Lake is beautiful and perfect. The ferns are in full growth mode now, and we were treated to several long sections of trail lined on either side with large fresh green fern tendrils doing that unrolling thing that fern tendrils do. The view from the bridge that cross Ranger Creek just before Green Lake was especially idyllic. 

Ipsut Creek Camp itself was a mixed bag.  Some of the campsites are good, but many have large blowdowns going through them, significantly reducing their capacity and livability. A few sites have piles of branch debris, making them feel more like a clear cut than a campsite. The two outhouses smelled strongly, making the half dozen or so sites near them undesirable. We were able to find a beautiful group site near the river on the opposite side of the campground from the outhouses, so our experience was quite nice, but the quality of the experience can vary significantly from site to site.