Rant: took me 3 days to fix a water crossing mistake near Glacier

I set out on the Highline Trail last month and hit a creek crossing I thought was easy. Turned out the runoff was way higher than the map showed. I wasted a whole day trying to find a dry spot, then another day backtracking to a ranger station. It took me 3 days total to get back on route, and I missed my planned campsite. The ranger finally told me to check the snowpack report before leaving. Has anyone else gotten stuck on a crossing that looked fine on the map?

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harper_owens20d ago

The "check the snowpack report before leaving" line hit me. Learned that one the hard way too. Now I pull up the snotel data for whatever drainage I'm crossing before I even leave the house. If the number is up from normal, I plan my route so the sketchy creeks happen early in the day when they run lower. Afternoon melt turns a knee deep hop into a waist deep push. Also worth scouting upstream a bit, sometimes there's a log or a wider spot 100 yards up that saves you hours.

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