A friend and I hiked up Downton Creek yesterday, summited Peak 8700 today and then made the trip home. I had been looking for info before we left and couldn't find much so thought I'd share what we learned!

The Downton Creek FSR has had a few small landslides that have been cleared. The washout that was there last year is still there but is passable.



At about 10.2km (just before the turn on to Branch 2) there is a big sinkhole/washout/car swallowing opening in the earth, but you can drive around it.





We turned up Branch 2 and about a kilometer later there is this lopsided landslide and we decided to park and walk the rest of the way. It's probably easily passable with the right car and driver



The hike up was fantastic. We went to the upper lake - about 7km from where we parked the car. This was my 3rd trip up there and I had no idea there are such extensive meadows up there! Stunning! No bugs. We lay out in our sleeping bags waiting for the stars to come out but the moon was so bright and dusk just goes on forever. Finally at 10pm there were about 6 stars and we called it a night and climbed into the tent.




Scrambled up peak 8700, saw a bunch of mountain goats and then hiked back down through the meadows. We found the trail that rejoins the main trail just after the first meadow (on the way up). Gorgeous flowers! No bugs! NO PEOPLE!

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