Lower Morgan Lake via Pine Creek Road and Morgan Pass Trail [CLOSED INDEFINITELY](edit)

Overview

This is a strenuous one way trail to Lower Morgan Lake in Inyo National Forest.

This trail goes near Bear Lake.

[There is a significant wash out of the old mining road at around 2.5 miles from the trailhead making the trail very difficult to pass.] (https://twitter.com/Inyo_NF/status/1002577158936539137) Some have noted it would be a very difficult/dangerous class 3 scramble over very loose and unstable terrain to bypass. Otherwise this trail is a neat look at the significant tungsten mining history in the area at the largest tungsten producing mine in the US. Scheelite ore, which gives the town that used to exist near the trailhead its name, is refined into tungsten and was mined from many mines on and near the Wheeler ridge.

Pack mule drivers warn of drinking the water all along Morgan Creek and below morgan pass due to residual chemicals from mining. Best water source before the pass would be a hike off trail up to bear lake, which is on the other side of the valley from where the mining was done and is not subject to runoff from any mines.

Taking Children

This would be a bad trail for children given the inherent danger of the terrain near the washed out road and limited water available. 1 out of 10.