[cdt-l] Cottonwood Pass...

[cdt-l@mailman.backcountry.net (Jeffrey Olson)]

I spent the weekend in the Texas Creek Basin off Cottonwood Pass.  The
trail is west of the Divide at that point, ignoring its bend to the
east, south and then west.  AT Cottonwood Pass, 12000', there is almost
no snow.  We traversed north along a 11,700' bench and hit patches, but
very few.  The patches disappeared at 11,300' on the north and east
facing slope.  The south facing slopes had no snow on the trail to
12,000' as we climbed up to Browns Pass, just north of Cottonwood Pass
on the divide.  There was no snow on the east/south facing slope down to
the Denny Creek trailhead.  That's a dusty, forested, well-travelled
trail by the way.  Not worth hiking when you can start at Cottonwood
pass and hike north for three miles cross-country  above timberline for
your day hike, and drop down to a relatively warm lake for a turnaround
point.

Jeffrey Olson
Laramie, Wyoming...