In June of 2017, my wife and I (along with one other couple) helped facilitate a 3-day, 2-night backpacking trip for 17 young women (generally 15 to 17 years old). Our original plan was to hike from Missouri Lakes area and down Cross Creek Trail in the Holy Cross Wilderness. I did a quick solo trip a week or two before our planned outing with everyone to check out the conditions.
Much of the early part of the trail was covered in 2 to 3 inches of water.
The first 1 or 1.5 miles is generally unremarkable with the exception of this nice waterfall.
Missouri Creek moves pretty fast in most places, but this section had some beautiful, slow meanders.
Even with the 3 to 4 feet of snow that is still present in many places, flowers were coming up where it had melted.
After this bridge the snow was bad enough I had to put on gaiters & microspikes
Even with these microspikes I slid around on the top few inches of snow, which were slushy
Don’t fall in…you’d be swept downstream for a mile in the ice-cold water.
Notice the undercut snow in the next couple photos – good reminder not to get too close to the stream.
The first of the Missouri Lakes - where the ice/almost water was exposed, it had an incredible aqua color.
It was cold and very windy at 11,500 feet. I set up my tarp, took shelter, and cooked up some lunch. Lucky to find this snow-free spot!
The pass we were going to climb is the steep, snow covered slope in the background. Unfortunately, too much snow for the trip we had planned, but we still had a great time on an in-an-out route along Cross Creek Trail.
