Placeholder Routes & Places

Trip Report    

Day Hike - Basin Lake

Day hike loop for Basin Lake by Crystal Mt resort.

  • Road rough but passable
  • The forest service road off of Hwy 410 was very rough and almost to high clearance only status.  However various types of cars were still able to make it to the trailhead.  

    987A and Cement basin trails are not suitable for travel.  

Trail 987A is washed out about .1 miles past the intersection split from 987. It would have required a steep side hill traverse in the new gully that likely would have resulted in several hikers taking a tumble 10-15' in the steep gully trying to get into or out of it.  We ended up having to backtrack and use 987 and then more of the PCT to continue the hike.  

To cut the distance back to close to originally posted we decided to go in and out via the Cement basin trail rather than only out as a loop. This proved to be a very lucky choice. About 1/2 mile after leaving the PCT going north on Cement basin the trail moved into  a gully.  This gully was VERY steep for 100' below the trail and then a rocky gully of less steepness after this  The trail itself became steeply down sloping with loose dirt and grit on it as well as narrowed to 1-2' wide at most in places. The entire group did not want to even attempt this very treacherous crossing once, much less twice.  I do not consider this trail safe for travel and would not even use it for a climbing approach. 

We ended up returning to the PCT and then hiking that out for another 40 minutes to a good lunch spot before coming back the original route to the cars.  Very scenic views so overall worth the trip.