Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Little Lakes Basin: Snow Conditions

Hello!

I'm so glad to hear that Inyo Wilderness is open!

Does anyone know what the snow conditions are like at Long Lake in Little Lakes Basin? Or is there a reliable website that you can refer me to? I'm planning to come up May 14, 2020.

I appreciate your feedback!

Little Lakes Basin is out of Rock Creek area, correct?

if so, click on this link, http://cdec.water.ca.gov/misc/realStations.html and then scroll down to "Rock Creek" and select your location:

or, click on this link: http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecstation2/

then zoom in until you see Rock Creek. You will see station identifiers such as RC1, RC2, etc.....click on one. For example, using station id RC3, click on it and a window will appear. Inside the window, you will see"snow,water, etc"....click on monthly, then type in 'RC3" in the next window.

Query executed Saturday at 10:47:43
Provisional data, subject to change.
Select a sensor type for a plot of data.

Course Number 209
Elevation 10000 ft
River Basin OWENS R
Cooperator City of Los Angeles; Dept of Water and Power
Exposure grassy meadow
April 1 Average 13.2
Aspect east
MONTHLY DATA
Earlier

Date Measured Date Depth W.C. Density
2/2019 29-Jan-2019 35.0 10.0 29%
3/2019 26-Feb-2019 55.0 17.5 32%
4/2019 26-Mar-2019 57.0 19.0 33%
2/2020 27-Jan-2020 21.0 6.5 31%
3/2020 24-Feb-2020 15.0 5.0 33%
4/2020 10-Apr-2020 23.0 7.0 30%

Super helpful!
Thank you so much!!

Situations vary across county and state boundaries, even within the same national forest. Some jurisdictions dream of avoiding the type of chaos that the Spring Mountains have had.

Mono Co face masks as of May 1
https://webapps.mono.ca.gov/COVIDDocs//P...lic%20Order.pdf

National Forest developed sites closures through May 15:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd731223.pdf

In April, the H-T N.F. closed Alpine County NF areas to overnight stays:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/htnf/news-events/?cid=fseprd729219

Make careful last minute checks to see what's allowed before you travel. The counties, states and feds are not making it easy to know the current situation. Continuation notices on rules are not being issued well ahead of time.

Good Luck,

Dale B. Dalrymple

Thank you, Dale!

Watch for reports wherever you can find them. The trail head at the end of Rock Creek road is at 10k elevation. I'd be surprised if the road is open to that point by mid-May. You might telephone the county roads department to find out.

You might try Tom's Place at the base of the road. They should be open for food to go after 11am. (760) 935-4239

Dale B. Dalrymple

The Pro version of CalTopo ($50 per year) includes a “Weekly High-Res” satellite view. As of May 1, it showed Rock Creek Lake still frozen and nearly 100% snow coverage on the road around the trailhead, not to mention at Long Lake. I wouldn’t count on lounging on the beach at Long Lake anytime soon.