TR: Big Pine Lakes 6/27-6/29 2011

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jmac
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TR: Big Pine Lakes 6/27-6/29 2011

Post by jmac »

A friend and I headed up to Big Pine Lakes for the first time on June 27th for a 3 day/2 night mini-adventure. I have to admit, this wasn't my first choice. We wanted hit up Garnet and Thousand Island Lake from Red's Meadow, but the road didn't open until the 30th. We ended up having a lot of fun, though. This was our first backpacking trip of 2011, so we were more than ready to get out and enjoy ourselves in the wilderness.

We were not sure exactly what the conditions would be like with the huge snow pack in the sierras this year, but we were prepared for a lot of snow. To our surprise most of the snow had melted from the trail and it ended up being a pretty easy trip. The trail was completely clear to Third Lake and once we got to the Fourth/Fifth Lake area there was only small patches on the trail. The trail to Sixth and Seventh Lakes still had a bit of deep wet snow in spots with some postholing to deal with, but nothing too bad. The trail up to Sam Mack and the Glacier were still completely snowed in.

We ended up camping at Summit Lake and explored the area from there. We found a really cool spot to camp near the water with a great view of The Palisades.

The weather was OK for the most part. Tuesday night into Wednesday morning was interesting with very high winds and a mix of snow and freezing rain all night, which melted as the sun came up. At one point I thought I was going to be blown away with my tent. It was awesome!
It was a just casual and relaxing trip. A much needed getaway and a perfect kickoff to summer!

The view from Lone Pine before we picked up our permits.
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Near the trailhead.
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Welcome to the wilderness!
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Temple Crag
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Second Lake
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A room with a view!
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Checking out the view above Third Lake
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Some B&W fun.
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I have more pictures of this trip posted on my blog if anyone is interested. I didn't want to overload the TR with all the shots. Check 'em out at  

Thanks and enjoy!
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Re: TR: Big Pine Lakes 6/27-6/29 2011

Post by Pulpit »

Nice TR and pics, thanks for posting. We are laying over at the campground for a night to break up the drive and do some fishing/acclimatizing in late August, at which point I'm sure things will look much different.
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Re: TR: Big Pine Lakes 6/27-6/29 2011

Post by balzaccom »

OF course your nice camping spot near thew ater was at least 100 feet away, right?
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Re: TR: Big Pine Lakes 6/27-6/29 2011

Post by jenjen »

Great pictures....Thanks for sharing!
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Re: TR: Big Pine Lakes 6/27-6/29 2011

Post by jmac »

balzaccom wrote:OF course your nice camping spot near thew ater was at least 100 feet away, right?
Hahah. Yes, of course. Not right next to the water, but conveniently close. It was actually a very nice established spot that we were lucky enough to stumble across. I always spend the extra time to try and find one of these spots. :) Looked like you could fit 4-5 tents in the spot, and it was dreamy flat! It wasn't as big as the nearby Glacier Camp(I think it's called) above Fourth Lake, and much more hidden. It was near the SW corner of of Summit lake if you are familiar with the area.
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maverick
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Re: TR: Big Pine Lakes 6/27-6/29 2011

Post by maverick »

Thanks Jmac for your TR, and pictures, especially like the shot with the cascade
and the Temple in the background, also your first b&w.
The ridge route on the way up to Palisade Glacier has a great view looking back
down at the lakes, really showing off there beautiful emerald color.
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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.

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Intro Backpacking?

Post by Scouter9 »

How do you folks think this might be for new backpackers? Say, Palisade to Second Lake, then Second to Sixth, then Sixth around seven to Fifth, then out?
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Re: TR: Big Pine Lakes 6/27-6/29 2011

Post by maverick »

Hi Scouter9,

Please start a separate thread so you don't piggybacking on someone else's older thread.
Thanks.
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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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