Brad Charboneau

Brad Charboneau

Grizzly Lake via China Gulch Trailhead

07/13/16

I just did this hike as an overnighter on 7/10-11, and it was as epic as this article describes. However, like Jenice Ray mentions, the trail needs quite a bit of TLC from the trailhead to the junction with the Hobo Gulch trail. This stretch of trail runs through a nasty old burn scar, and as a result, there are quite a few downed trees to climb and overgrown brush to fight through. The worst trouble spots I encountered were within 200-300 yards of the top of Hunters Camp summit heading down the south side of the ridge. Here there is a particularly tricky spot where the correct path veers slightly to the right and is obscured, but there is a false trail straight ahead that leads to nowhere. Lots of people have mistakenly taken this route, as evidenced by the footprints. Luckily I realized my mistake quickly and backtracked, but another group I ran into wasn't so lucky and bushwhacked the entire way down the 1000 foot ridge. This was the only spot that I really had any trouble navigating, and I put a couple cairns there that will hopefully help. Another spot farther down the hill, two large trees fell along the length of the trail, and there is a wide path around it that hikers have worn in. As long as you make your way back to the end of the tree trunk you'll find the original trail again. Once you get to the bottom of the valley it's smooth sailing, aside from the scramble.

5.0