October is, more than likely, going to be cold. Lost Creek Wilderness is a better bet (if not quite as cold)

Thanks so much for the response Paul. I had read your off trail route article earlier. But, when you mentioned Mt. Jasper I thought you had gone further south, thinking it was close to Jasper Lake and did not read the post close enough.

Mt. Jasper is not marked on my map. I now see it stands at 12,923′ and is just north of Upper Storm Lake and NW of Upper Diamond Lake. I have re-read your trip report and hope I have a pretty good idea of what you are talking about. This will be a great route, although I think I would rather be going down the scree as you did, rather than climbing up through it. It looks like you popped out back on the trail about 1/2 way between Arapaho pass and Fourth of July Mine.

I will talk to my trip partners and see if they want to climb up this or stick to the trail. This was a big help.

Thanks again,

Tony

Having said that, another option is to go into the north fork drainage before Caribou Pass up to Jasper Peak and walk the ridge over to Devil’s Thumb Pass. My buddy and I did that in reverse this past summer.
https://pmags.com/devils-thumb-off-trail-option

Scree and talus up a steep climb but very doable.

As for lightning, depends on when you are doing. Fall is almost here so less of an issue. Generally speaking, 1pm or so is when the show starts during the summer. In Fall, not so much of a problem.

Hope that helps!

Fellower BPLer here. We are coming out to hike a variation of your loop over labor day weekend. My question is, have you ever gone off trail between Mt. Neva and Devil’s thumb? Is this doable or should we just plan on taking the Caribou pass trail to the High Lonesome? If doable, what time do the afternoon thunderstorms usually roll into this area? I wouldn’t want to be caught on the ridge in a storm.

Thank you,

Tony

Hi Kevin!

The stretch between Dorthy and Caribou was indeed sketchy.

However, there is a well worn and obvious social trail that goes over from Caribou directly to Lake Dorothy. It is more elevation gain, but not too bad. Rather scenic too. It avoids the sketchy snow chute.

Having said that, the there is a good chance the pass is melted out.

Either way, the social trail is a nice alternate and is far safer than the snow chute. 🙂

Let me know if you have additional questions!

Paul

Thanks for any info you can share!

I do not enjoy sleeping in a tent either….that’s why I “cowboy camp” whenever I can. 😀