Feather Pass with Dogs?

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DavePloessel
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Feather Pass with Dogs?

Post by DavePloessel »

Hi All!

The Wife and I had a week dropped in our laps last second and decided, as all sane people do, to spend it in the back country. We want to go to the French Canyon area. Permits were full for Piute and Pine creek, but there WERE still permits available for Italy Pass out of Pine Creek, so I figure we can go over Italy Pass, Dancing bear Pass, then eitheir Bearoyce (unofficial) or Feather pass and spend the rest of the week lazing about the lakes in that area, lounging, fishing, and just generally soaking in some of my favorite Sierra goodness before exiting via Pine Creek or Royce pass.

Which brings me to the main point of this thread:
I have not been over Feather pass, and we will be bringing our 2 dogs with us. I've found info that Italy and Dancing Bear are both fine for dogs, but can't seem to find any info on if Feather or Bearoyce are passable for dogs. Can anybody provide insight? The dogs are a German Shorthair Pointer (read as: Mtn Goat) and a Black and Tan Coonhound. Both are capable outdoor dogs.

Normally we like to do big miles 15-30/day, but want to keep this trip down to ore like 5-7/day owing to me recovering from surgery a couple weeks ago, so going all the way down to the JMT, then south on the highway and up Piute would burn a lot of time we could spend in search of golden fish/laying on beaches at lakes.

As for the usual stuff: Experience level. Experienced/ 100% comfy off trail. Goals are Big mountain scenery/ Lakes above treeline/ Fishing.

Any help/insight would be greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance
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WarrenFork
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Re: Feather Pass with Dogs?

Post by WarrenFork »

I went over Feather to Merriam Lake with a pair of Rhodesian Ridgebacks late season in the mid 1990s. Both were agile dogs with lots of backcountry experience. I don't remember any issues at all. (I've done a lot of XC with dogs in the Sierra and it's the trips where they needed a boost or help routefinding that stand out in my mind and Feather is not one of them.) There were some steepish slabs on the descent to Merriam with a drop down here and there but nothing that gave pause to my dogs. From what I've seen of your breeds I think they would both be fine.
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maverick
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Re: Feather Pass with Dogs?

Post by maverick »

Professional Sierra Landscape Photographer

I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.

Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member: http://reconn.org
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DavePloessel
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Re: Feather Pass with Dogs?

Post by DavePloessel »

Thanks e link Mav! I don't know how I missed that thread in my searching! Looks like we are good to go. My wife loves to take lots of pics, so expect a nice report when we get back
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maverick
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Re: Feather Pass with Dogs?

Post by maverick »

My wife loves to take lots of pics, so expect a nice report when we get back.
Looking forward to it Dave. :)
Professional Sierra Landscape Photographer

I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.

Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member: http://reconn.org
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