Sierra High Route - Bear Lakes Basin - 10 days, 5 peaks
Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 12:16 am
Sierra High Route - 10 Days from North Lake - Bear Lakes Basin - Pine Creek Roadend
Passes: Piute Pass, Feather Pass, White Bear Pass, Italy Pass and a few unnamed passes/ridges along the way
Peaks: Royce Peak, Merriam Peak, Feather Peak, Mt Hilgard, Mt Julius Ceasar
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a few notes:
- climbed 5 peaks, 3 empty registers, 2 didn't have anything
- climbed Mt Hilgard in a snowstorm, with whiteout, and missed the views from the top
- woke up 9/21 with snow all over
- all new terrain for us except the first and last day
- didn't talk to anyone from day 3 til the day we walked out
- our first trip without filtering water
- beautiful area, and we can't wait for the next section!
Day 1-3:
Spent the first 1.5 days hiking to where we left off in July when we couldn't cross the raging waters of French Canyon. Now the water is so low we had rocks to walk across. It was beautiful once we got off trail!
Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/459161226YqZNAv
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Day 4:
Dayclimbed Royce (13,253') and Merriam (13,103') from LaSalle Lake (11,592')
Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/460092914VtHPVr
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Day 5:
LaSalle Lake (11,592') to Feather Pass (12,375'). Dropped packs and dayclimbed Feather Peak (13,240'). Picked up packs, hiked and camped at Ursa Lake (11,500')
Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/462132388EXkuEj
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Day 6:
Bear Lakes Basin Layover day . . . we hiked to almost all the lakes in Bear Lakes Basin
Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/463560371VZtLAO
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Day 7:
Black Bear Lk, White Bear Pass to Brown Bear Lk. It was a short backpacking day so we took our time leaving Ursa Lake. We started up over a low pass to Black Bear Lake, higher to White Bear Lake, over White Bear Pass and down to Brown Bear and Teddy Bear Lakes.
Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/463646304lVCUUd
--------------------------
Day 8:
Mt Hilgard dayclimb. It was cold at 6am, then it started snowing a little. Decided to go for it . . . light rain coming down. It started snowing at 12,000' around noon. We summitted at 1:20, and descended 10 min later since we didn’t have any views (storming). The sun came out ~4:30pm so we were able to dry everything out. Awesome day!
Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/464163290EtvKIe
--------------------------
Six weeks later and I still haven't caught up . . . two more days of pics to go thru. I'll add them when I can
Passes: Piute Pass, Feather Pass, White Bear Pass, Italy Pass and a few unnamed passes/ridges along the way
Peaks: Royce Peak, Merriam Peak, Feather Peak, Mt Hilgard, Mt Julius Ceasar
-------------------------
a few notes:
- climbed 5 peaks, 3 empty registers, 2 didn't have anything
- climbed Mt Hilgard in a snowstorm, with whiteout, and missed the views from the top
- woke up 9/21 with snow all over
- all new terrain for us except the first and last day
- didn't talk to anyone from day 3 til the day we walked out
- our first trip without filtering water
- beautiful area, and we can't wait for the next section!
Day 1-3:
Spent the first 1.5 days hiking to where we left off in July when we couldn't cross the raging waters of French Canyon. Now the water is so low we had rocks to walk across. It was beautiful once we got off trail!
Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/459161226YqZNAv
-------------------------
Day 4:
Dayclimbed Royce (13,253') and Merriam (13,103') from LaSalle Lake (11,592')
Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/460092914VtHPVr
-------------------------
Day 5:
LaSalle Lake (11,592') to Feather Pass (12,375'). Dropped packs and dayclimbed Feather Peak (13,240'). Picked up packs, hiked and camped at Ursa Lake (11,500')
Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/462132388EXkuEj
-------------------------
Day 6:
Bear Lakes Basin Layover day . . . we hiked to almost all the lakes in Bear Lakes Basin
Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/463560371VZtLAO
--------------------------
Day 7:
Black Bear Lk, White Bear Pass to Brown Bear Lk. It was a short backpacking day so we took our time leaving Ursa Lake. We started up over a low pass to Black Bear Lake, higher to White Bear Lake, over White Bear Pass and down to Brown Bear and Teddy Bear Lakes.
Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/463646304lVCUUd
--------------------------
Day 8:
Mt Hilgard dayclimb. It was cold at 6am, then it started snowing a little. Decided to go for it . . . light rain coming down. It started snowing at 12,000' around noon. We summitted at 1:20, and descended 10 min later since we didn’t have any views (storming). The sun came out ~4:30pm so we were able to dry everything out. Awesome day!
Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/464163290EtvKIe
--------------------------
Six weeks later and I still haven't caught up . . . two more days of pics to go thru. I'll add them when I can