Icicle Creek, Snowall Cradle Lake, Icicle Ridge via Fourth of July Creek, Upper Icicle Creek, French Creek, Bootjack Mountain, Pablo Creek & Highchair Mountain — Monday, Aug. 6, 2001

Hoo boy, some of these trails are hard to follow! We started up the steep, dry trail to Bootjack Mt. My 1996 Greentrails doesn't seem to show the trail correctly -- the trail doesn't get very close to the top of Bootjack. But we scrambled up it anyway. Then further along where we lost the trail near Pablo Creek. So we scrambled up Highchair Mt instead. From there, we saw the trail on the ridge and followed it down. Once again we lost it! But no matter, we scaled another ridge and dropped down to Cradle Lake. The trail from Cradle Lake to Snowall Creek is also not travelled a lot, and we lost the trail again. Argh! Some crashing through the brush and soon we were on the old tread. This got better and better as it drops down to Snowall Creek. Finally it crosses (easily but a little slippery) Snowall Creek and (on a small log) French Creek. The rest of the loop to the parking area is on ground powder horsie trails. Some of these trails are mighty lonesome, and travel through some great meadows. Give it a try sometime, but take a good map and compass and expect to lose the trails several times.