High Sierra Topix

wildhiker wrote:Great trip report and photos. Thanks for sharing.

I've always wondered about walking down from Morgan Pass to Pine Creek, but thought it would be too ugly with the tungsten mine and its operations. Is the mine closed now? Is the jeep road closed to vehicles?

-Phil

I've been up and down the trail to Morgan Pass from the Pine Creek Trailhead and found it much more enjoyable than I expected. I thought that it would just be a dusty, exposed road with piles of old trash from the mine, but the tread is rocky (tough on the ankles but no dust!) and the mining equipment was really interesting to look at. Given that it used to be a road, the gradient is very reasonable.

My only tip is to watch out for the left hand turn to take you to Morgan Pass. As you break on to a saddle at the top of the initial switchbacks from the trailhead, the road continues off to the right (east) while the trail to Morgan Pass, which is much fainter than the road, cuts west. I initially kept walking mindlessly along the road until I realized that something had to be very wrong if I was turning toward the Owens Valley . Thankfully I fixed my mistake quickly, but it's an easy one to make.

Nice TR and great photos; I haven't been to Granite Park and it was nice to see those images up towards and down from Italy Pass.

I can only echo what others have said; south side of Lake Italy = big bummer! As for dropping down to the second recess from Gabbot, yes, the Mills Creek area is sublime and yes, it can be confusing finding your route down the steep wall below the lower lake. I recall lots of bushwhacking and wondering where the previously obvious friggin' use-trail went and then steep slabs until it finally leveled out. When I went through, I remember a swimming hole near the bottom of the drop. Why do I remember? Because it was populated with a crew of naked senior citizens! Yikes! If ever the phrase "I can't unsee THAT" was appropriate!

This is a really nice report-great photos. Talk to me a bit about how you get the awesome star photos at night please. I'd like to get those too!

After I go to Matterhorn Canyon, this one goes next on my list! Thanks so much for sharing!

Excellent trip report, thank you for the details.

@bandguy5686 -- If you want a sharp Milky Way photo, you get about 20 seconds or less of exposure before the rotation of the Earth blurs the stars. So, what can you do in 20 seconds or less? ... First, I maximize ISO (6400 on my camera), and second I open the aperture to let in as much light as possible (the lowest f-stop is 1.8 on my camera). I use a Sony RX100, which can do all this stuff in a very lightweight body.

VHSVHS.
thanks for the TR and sharing this cool loop. this is definitely now on my radar!
in a few weeks I'm going to be following the first day and a half of your route-then veering off to Dancing Bear and Bear Lakes Basin before continuing onto the car via Feather Pass/Merriam/Pine Creek Pass.

I've always looked at Fourth Recess and Pioneer Basin as destinations id like to explore, via Mono Pass/Mosquito Flats, this loop however is a great way to expand that idea, and not just do a simple out and back. As you mention, id try for five days-the extra day spent cruising up to and around Pioneer.

thanks again. oh, and i like the name you gave the loop as well..nice ring to it

Thanks for the great trip report. Beautiful pictures,Granite Park is awesome! Did a trip to the Bear Lakes Basin a while back,good memories.