Lost Creek Wilderness Backpacking Trip
With the Toyota FJ Cruiser out of commission this summer LJ recommended that we take a backpacking trip in the Lost Creek Wilderness. I did a little research and discovered that there is a nice 24 mile loop that starts in the south east corner of the wilderness area. The trip travels up the Goose Creek drainage, then over to McCurdy Park and finishes dropping down Hankins trail back to the start. This would be my first backpacking trip in years and Nancy’s first trip ever so I wanted to be sure that it would be easily doable.
We chose to use freeze dried food to lighten the load and make the meal prep easier. We still had some heavy packs to carry. LJ and Nancy were at about 30-35 pounds and my pack was at about 55. Our dog Sage also had a pack to carry with all the dog food. Triss, our new puppy, was the only one that did not have a load.
Day 1
We got an early start from home and made the trail head at about 9:30. We loaded our packs up and hit the trail.
After a short drop to the creek the trail starts a steady ascent.
After a few miles on the trail the we left the valley floor and got our first good look at the granite formations that the area is known for.
We stopped for lunch at some old cabins.
After lunch we continued to climb to the intersection of the McCurdy Park trail and the Goose Creek trail. Once on the McCurdy Park trail we descended down to Refrigerator Gulch where we planned to spend the night.
It was nice to get the packs off our backs and the boots off our feet.
Data for the day:
- Total Distance: 7.453 mi
- Minimum elevation: 8079.247 ft
- Maximum elevation: 9452.784 ft
- Total of ascents: 4.21 mi
- Total of descents: 2.665 mi
- Height gained: 2471.193 ft
Google KML File: Goose Creek Backpacking