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There's also the time saving option of going over the pass just east of Pilot Knob (which is an easier pass than Carol Col, if you care about that).
Thanks, Sierra00, for this info. I have a friend who'd I'd like to take to the Puppet Lake area, but he would probably slap me sideways if I took him over Carol Col!
Question: in retrospect, knowing what you know now, would you spend the time going down/up the canyons, or just aim directly for Carol (Puppet) Col to get to the Puppet lakes basin?
If you went directly, do you think you would have time to explore the Royce lakes?
I'm glad I did the canyons this time because everything was sooooo green and I hadn't explored French yet. If I did it again, I would just go directily over Carol, which would allow time, I think, to explore Royce (this is on my agenda).