Pine creek or Piute pass?

[kpeter]

In addition to all the other considerations that people have noted:
Pine Creek Trailhead is 7440'.
North Lake Trailhead is 9360'.
That is quite a difference, and I certainly feel the pain every time I use Pine Creek trailhead. North Lake gives you a huge head start on elevation.

[Hobbes]

Hey guys, thanks for all the great input. I think the conclusion reached early in the thread, is that if you are limited by time (such as 2 nights*), it would be best to break the region into two separate trips:

- Piute over Carol to Puppet basin; possibly exit via the knob and hit the lakes under the glacier divide on the way out
- Pine to Royce & Bears; maybe backtrack to Italy rather than attempt the 'mysto' bear passes

As for elevation gain/lost, Pine has 3,700'. But whereas Piute starts higher, Carol is 11,800, while Puppet is 11,230, so it gives you a net +- of 2,900. Also, since it's x-c talus, you'll end up going much slower than just putting your head down and charging up the well worn mule trail to Elba & Moon.

In addition, and this just might be me, the drive up from Bishop and then the narrow dirt road + crowds @ N Lake seems busy vs the less used Pine TH. It might not be as lonely as Shepherd, but there is a certain appeal to just getting there & going without searching for parking, etc.

However, if you really look at it, the best situation would be to either hitch or pay for a ride, or go with someone in order to shuttle cars between Piute & Pine. Going in via Piute to the Puppet basin, then down French to catch the SHR through the Bears, then over Italy, dog leg to Royce, then out to Pine would be a great (fast) 4-5 night trip.

OTOH, if it would just snow like a normal year, then all my go-to spots in the Whitney area would be fine. It almost broke my heart to stumble across a recent photo someone posted from a peak of two very high lakes I've fished before with good results. Now, they look like dried up ponds (in fact, were labeled as 'ponds'). At this rate, they might go dry before winter, which would kill any remaining fish. Since I don't hold out any hope for re-stocking GT, these fishing lakes will remain only as memories.

*Like the ghost of Quentin, this includes jamming up from SoCal early am, hitting the trail in the afternoon, spending two nights out, and driving home.

[maverick]

Hobbes wrote:
Like the ghost of Quentin

Really, that is the second time you referred to Q in your post. Is their no one elses
ghost, a non HST member, and not a friend to many of us that just died less than
a year ago that you could use for your example Karl.