Comet Falls Trip Report – 5/29/18

Comet Falls is currently not advised for most casual day-hikers. There are still significant amounts of snow covering the entire 2nd mile of the ascent, and major portions of this are on steep hillsides with the river below. Having experience with snow, my hiking partner and I proceeded cautiously beyond these obstacles with a combination of sturdy hiking boots and micro-spikes for extra grip/traction.

There are a few spots where large trees lie directly in your path, and also bits along the snow where the upper shelves are thinning and hollow drops are caved out to several feet over small boulders beneath. Essentially, a weak surface in some areas where it’s not entirely obvious or foreseeable.

We did press on to the base of the falls, where the snow-bridge was still intact but seemed to be rapidly thinning. My guess is the trail will reveal itself in the coming weeks, but currently there are still several feet of snow covering the typical dried-out trail.

This hike was a great time, and we had a lot of fun, but I can’t say that I would recommend this until the snow melts when there are no precarious or questionable conditions/obstacles. All hikers we met along the trail had turned around in early stages of snow, with a mixture of elderly and adults with children.