Day 1 (9/1): We left the Bear Creek Cutoff Trailhead around 9:00am and hiked along the creek until we reached about 8000 ft. We camped in a nice shady spot just before the trail starts to climb in earnest. It was a warm day and we had a pleasant evening without any mosquitoes. Met a 73 year-old man from South Korea on the trail who was out of food and headed to Vermillion (we gave him some snacks). He had been on the trail for a month. Quite a character.
Day 2 (9/2): We headed to Croney's Camp on the Hilgard Branch, right above the JMT. It was buggy (4), but had great views. We found it on the Earthmate app.
Day 3 (9/3): Awoke to hazy, smokey air coming from Selden Pass. It cleared out by the time we hit the JMT. This was the only real smoke we had on the trip. We headed up the Seven Gables trail, which was an interesting and somewhat technical ascent. There were sprinkles off and on, and bugs (3-4), but the cool weather was a plus overall as we climbed. I had contracted a headcold overnight, so we camped at one of the Seven Gables lakes. There were several folks around, and we met a guy who preached the merits of a light pack. He was carrying just 14 pounds for a 5-day trip and was covering 15-20 miles x-country each day. He was our age (40-50), so we were inspired to think about lightening our loads next time...but just enough to give his method a nod and not totally sacrifice comfort.
Day 4 (9/4): Headed up the easy shoulder route to Vee Lake (as opposed to the chute). The lake is quite beautiful, as mentioned here. We headed into Bear Lakes Basin, fully enjoying the lovely lakes and surrounds. I think we crossed a snow field to reach the NE side of Big Bear Lake, but it wasn't a big deal. We camped at Big Bear Lake, and did a day hike to Ursa and Bear Paw Lakes. On the way back to Big Bear, we hiked up to see Black Bear Lake and the pass above. There were two folks headed down and across a snow field above Black Bear Lake, but we never saw them again. Very few bugs and a little afternoon rain.
Day 5 (9/5): We hiked up to White Bear Lake, headed for Dancing Bear Pass. No need to cross snow fields on this side of the pass, despite how it looks in the picture below. They were easily bypassed.
We headed to Italy Pass, which required crossing 3-4 snow fields, one of which was quite long. None of us wore spikes, and the traversing went off without any incidents. We reached Italy Pass and headed down into Granite Park, where we camped for two nights.
Day 6 (9/6): We day tripped into Chalfant Lakes, which were very beautiful. Our campsite in Granite Park was just above the first place the trail crosses lake outlets. In retrospect, we should have headed directly North from our campsite to get into the Chalfant area, but we crossed over further down the trail instead and had some ledges to address on the way down to the lakes. Saw lots of 6-8" brookies.
We headed down the Chalfant outlet and made our way to the trail down to Honeymoon Lake. Had lunch at the lake, but didn't linger due to gathering clouds. The rain started on our way back to camp, and we had a couple of heavy showers in early evening that pinned us in our tents for about an hour. Skies became much clearer by nightfall, and we had some excellent views of the full moon. Unfortunately, I didn't capture them, but did get a nice shot of the sunrise where you can just barely see the setting moon. Very few bugs. Day 7 (9/7): Back over Italy Pass and down to Italy Lake under clear blue skies. We crossed the large snow field on the South shore. It was calving huge pieces into the lake - probably 7-8 feet high. We crossed the outlet where indicated on the old trail (wide flat spot), and then scrambled down the trail. I had been through here once before, but didn't recall the first technical section. It was loose with big steps, so I used my hands a good bit. After a big stretch on huge granite slabs, we headed into the trees on a narrow trail. I remembered this section - it has a bushwacky feel, but is easily traversed. We ended the day at Croney's Camp again. It was still buggy, but less so as it had cooled. No smoke this time, either.
Days 8 (9/8): After breakfast under clear blue skies, we headed down to the JMT and went North to the "pass" at 9800 ft. From there, we headed West on the Bear Creek Ridge Trail and traversed off trail to camp at two lakes at 8800 ft. They were both covered with lilypads, surrounded by reeds, and about 18" deep. Not gorgeous, but we were in no rush to return to civilization. We watched the sunset from a granite peak, which was red through the lingering haze to the West. Looking toward Graveyard Peak was a bit hazy, but we didn't suffer from the smoke. No bugs at all here.
I can't help but mention the disappointment of coming across a well-established campsite earlier on the trail that had a lot of trash, an abandoned sleeping bag, and two bottles of "scent be gone". We surmised it was heavily used by deer hunters. My buddy was good enough to pack out the sleeping bag, but there was too much trash to carry. What a shame.
Day 9 (9/9): We did the short hike to Bear Creek Trailhead and had about a mile on the road back to where the car was parked (BC Cutoff Trailhead). Headed straight to Vermillion for a shower and some grub. We were pleased with the proportion of x-country to trail on this trip, and with the truly beautiful areas we were able to see.
Marnie
