TR: June 16-21 - North Lake to Pine Creek - SHR variation

redbear · Post by **redbear** » Wed Jun 25, 2014 8:33 pm

Long time lurker, finally decided to contribute after a recent 6 days trip to the High Sierra.
Last week, friend and I did a portion of SHR, starting from the North Lake trailhead on Monday, June 16th and finishing at the Pine Creek trailhead on Saturday, June 21st.
We’ve spent our first night at Muriel Lake – it was windy and cold. Muriel Lake was about 50% frozen. Piute pass was mostly clear of snow on both sides – with some easily avoided snow patches on the East side.

02. View West of Piute Pass.jpg

03. Muriel Lake.jpg

On our second day we’ve walked through the Humphreys Basin, over Puppet Pass down to French Canyon and then back up to Merriam Lake. Puppet Pass was practically clear of snow on both sides.

05. Desolation Lake.jpg

07. Top of Puppet Pass looking West.jpg

08. Merriam Lake.jpg

Our third day took us over Ruskie Pass down to Seven Gables lakes basin and up to Vee Lake. It was still a lot of snow on the East side of the pass, but west side was mostly clear.

09. Approaching Ruskie Pass.jpg

11. Ruskie Pass - West side.jpg

12. Seven Gables Lakes basin.jpg

Day four was supposed to be our layover day but we decided to climb Seven Gables to “shake the rust off our crampons and ice axes”. We went up the East chute to the saddle and then up to summit via the North Ridge. The chute was full of snow but the North Ridge was practically clear. From Vee Lake - it took us a little less than 5 hours to summit. The view from the peak is incredible – one of the best in the Sierras!

14. Seven Gables.jpg

On day five we went up to Bear Lakes Basin and over the Granite Bear Pass down to Granite Park. Granite Bear Pass was 100% clear on the west side and almost all snow on the East side. When we’ve got there, the snow was perfect – soft top would allow us to safely kick our steps in without much effort and firm bottom would prevent post-holing. Going through Granite Park we’ve decided to make a detour to Chalfant Lakes, where we’ve spent our final night of the trip.

20. Black Bear Lake with Granite Bear pass on right.jpg

Day six we’ve got back on trail in Granite Park and exited via the Pine Creek trailhead.
It was a great early season trip that would be much more difficult to accomplish have we had a wet winter. Also, besides meeting couple of hikers on our way in and out - we have not seen a single person the entire time.
Thanks for reading!

redbear · Post by **redbear** » Wed Jun 25, 2014 8:52 pm

I was unable to post more than ten pictures in my original report - below are a few more pics I wanted to share, mostly because it shows the back country conditions.
Enjoy!

06. Top of Puppet Pass looking East.jpg

10. Ruskie Pass.jpg

13. Vee lake.jpg

15. Approaching Seven Gables saddle.jpg

16. Seven Gables North Ridge.jpg

17. Vee lake from Seven Gables.jpg

19. Bear Lakes basin.jpg

21. Granite Bear pass - looking East.jpg

22. Granite Bear pass from Granite Park.jpg

Ryanoa · Post by **Ryanoa** » Wed Jun 25, 2014 9:54 pm

Thanks for posting! Great pics...
I'll be finishing up my SHR adventures the end of next month...the last 2 stages. Can't wait to get out there again.

Bluewater · Post by **Bluewater** » Thu Jun 26, 2014 2:57 am

Thanks for,your tr and photos! I'm grounded for the next three weeks and living vicariously through your pxts.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

texan · Post by **texan** » Thu Jun 26, 2014 5:52 am

Thanks for sharing the TR and the pics.

Texan

Post by **maverick** » Thu Jun 26, 2014 1:42 pm

Great TR and pictures. Thank you very much for adding the additional pictures of
the passes which will be very helpful to you fellow HST members.

Love the partially frozen Muriel Lake shot.

themappist · Post by **themappist** » Thu Jun 26, 2014 6:27 pm

Great views. Its swampy where I am and those pics cool my heart. Thanks.

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