[pct-l] trail conditions mile 790-904

[Len Glassner]

I left Independence on 6/2 and got to Mammoth on 6/8 so the following
is for that time period.

Snow - Only Muir Pass has any significant trail finding requirement,
both before and after the pass. More than all the other passes in this
mile range combined.  But of course they are all far easier than
normal at this time of year. I went over Mather at 6pm, usually a
stupid idea due to postholing, but only did that for a very short bit.
 The more northerly Seldon and Silver Passes did have have a few trail
finding challenges on the north side.

Evolution Creek was mid-calf at 7am, Bear Creek just above the knee at
5:30pm.  I'm 5-8.

Blowdowns - At about 1.5 miles before the Paiute Pass junction, around
mile 855?, there are a couple hundred yards (per the SOBO park ranger
I ran into) of blowdowns.  Go right to where the hillside starts and
walk the hillside base.  The trail eventually will come right back to
you.  I don't recall anything noteworthy in the Palisades Creek
drainage or around the VVR junction mention by someone a few weeks
ago.

Everything else I ran into up to Silver Pass I would consider normal
yearly blowdown stuff. A small aggravation.

Two miles past Silver pass you enter a zone with more frequent, but
still very intermittent blowdowns.  Some were not much fun due to
being on very steep hillsides but they did not consume a huge amount
of time to get around.  I did use the GPS a couple time to refind the
trail.

Leaving Purple Lake junction, heading along the lake and about to go
uphill, there is a pretty good concentration of down trees. As you
walk the edge of the lake, look uphill for a clear corridor with no
down trees at the top, and head up that way. The trail is easy to
regain.

I would roughly estimate the blowdowns cost me at most 2-3 hours of
extra time.  Not something you need to carry extra food for.

There were a couple sawed trees around the junction down to the VVR
lake. Otherwise no evidence of FS sawing until you get to the Deer
Creek crossing, which is two miles before the Upper Crater Meadow
junction.