Pioneer Basin?

[SNOOOOW]

Interesting point Dave. Every time I have gone over half moon it has been to finish a trip and I was using Rock Creek as an exit point, but always with a semi full pack. There is a use trail that runs from Half Moon Pass to the pack station which I found very easy to follow. I will be in the Pioneer Basin in Sept. and starting from Rock Creek. I will go over Half Moon Pass and report my thoughts (or struggles) in my trip report.

[Backpacklifer]

Hey guys, lots of good info here. I'm more interested in the trail conditions up above the Ruby Lake junction. I may have misunderstood, but I thought I read in another thread that someone had done it boots only earlier this a month? Is there a good trail in the snow to follow. I've done several other passes in the snow, most recently Duck Pass in early June last year. Are the lower lakes thawed? Is it even worth the climb? Thanks for any input.

[Wandering Daisy]

I just got back from the trip. Will do a trip report in a few days. Just a few important points for those considering going soon.

1) Mono pass has steep snow on the trial. If going in early AM, you need crampons or microspikes. There is a beaten path to follow. Mid-day you only need a shoe with good tread. That said, if you were to fall, on one part, you would crash into a rock band. Very late, 4PM or later, some of the snow is getting really unstable. At some point the "beaten path" will collapse.

2) DO NOT go around Golden Lake! The east side has a steep snowfield, which has broken off at lake level, and is very unstable. There is no need to do this anyway. Mono Creek at the regular trail crossing is EASY! Even in the afternoon was only knee-deep.

3) Summit Lake is a real pain right now. A never ending snow cup hell. The high use-trail (not shown on the map) avoids this, but it is a toss up - you have to gain a lot more elevation on the high trail.

4) The regular trail that faces west is dry but lots of it is wet. The north facing side just as you come to the crossing of Mono Creek has lots of snow and is hard to follow. But when I came out, there were more footprints to follow. Parts of the trail to Pioneer Basin ( the one shown on the map) is covered with snow patches and hard to follow, but it is easy enough to just find a dry path off-trail. In fact finding the trail is harder than just going your own way. Maybe it is just me, but I think the map is quite inaccurate. Still cannot match where I camped with what is shown on the map. I swear the map is wrong.

5) ALL the lakes in Pioneer Basin are ice-free to some degree. Lower three are completely open. Upper two 20-50 percent open. I saw a few fish swimming around the shorelines, but there are no bugs, so fly fishing is not ideal. There are MANY nice dry campsites. The snow that is left, is firm- icy early AM but soon softens, never sunk in more than a few inches. The main creek at the lower lake is flowing fast. I crossed in the lake where although deep the flow was mellow.

6. No worry about finding a dry place to camp, at any altitude. There are plenty of sites that avoid snow and are really quite dry.

7. So far, very few mosquitoes, but that may change. I went 7/10-7/15 and it was perfect- almost no mosquitoes.

[Wandering Daisy]

Point #4 - meant to say the trail is snow-free, but wet in lots of places. The trail from Mono Pass to Mono Creek has taken a beating - needs LOTS of work. I saw one horseshoe print, but it may have been a relic of last year. You really have to pay attention in places or you will miss the trail. The main trail down Mono Creek trail is in a lot better shape. Really big and easy to follow. Trail to Pioneer Basin is in terrible shape.

[cgundersen]

Hi Daisy,
So much for prognostication: I'd predicted more bugs and higher water in Mono creek and easier snow. Oh well, zero for three sounds about normal for me. It looked like the smoke was not too bad in the shots cloudlessky just posted, so I'll try for 1 for 4 and guess that you were relatively clear?
Cameron

[Wandering Daisy]

Yes, wonderfully clear. Just haze to the east in the valley. 7/13 was a bit hazier to the north- not sure if there was a small fire or just wind direction blew the smoke from Bishop farther north.

Well, my "guess" when I camped at frozen Ruby Lake on 7/10 was that Pioneer Basin lakes would be frozen, so I stashed my fishing gear. Big mistake. I would have stayed in Pioneer Basin another day and fished if I had not done that stupid thing! So do not feel bad about wrong predictions. Better if I had stashed the ice-axe, which I really did not need.

[wildhiker]

Hi Wandering Daisy,

Thanks for the report. You complain

Maybe it is just me, but I think the map is quite inaccurate. Still cannot match where I camped with what is shown on the map. I swear the map is wrong.

I do not recall having any trouble following the trail when I visited back in August 2002. I subsequently marked up the trail routes (and dotted cross-country) as I remember them on Caltopo and then verified it against the Google Satellite view layer in Caltopo (it's amazing how many alpine trails show up well on Google satellite). Here's the route as I believe it exists. Does this match what you found?

-Phil

PioneerBasinTrail.png

[SSSdave]

As an old topo map enthusiast that for decades has often backpacked with USGS 7.5m map in hand looking at it as I hike down trails or off trails, my own experience is trail accuracy marked on maps has always varied considerably. Some trails on maps are very accurate especially where the cartographer can see a trail on the satellite view then aligned the two to draw a trail. However there are many maps where that person obviously did not care or a trail was not visible say down in forest and merely copied some dated trail markings from an old 15m map or maybe had someone in the NF service informally scratch it out.

In this era the key to getting our trails on topographic maps accurate is to have trail users upload GPS tracks into an online data base as is done in the Northwest at this site:

http://www.switchbacks.com/nwtrails/

In the Sierra Nevada, the PCT has already been fixed with these maps per link below but I have not found a site for our area generally. It is something we on the HST community could do on a limited scale just accumulating the raw tracks that someone might later work on.

https://www.pctmap.net/

If one looks at some of the corrected maps on the above link, one quickly sees how poorly some PCT/JMT trail sections have been marked that just confirms what I already knew. It is not that they are off a little bit in some areas either but rather a long ways. On my Styx Pass trip last month that very issue started me down the path of losing the Kibbie Ridge Trail in which I ended up thrashing around in a willow, blueberry bog swamp, burned downed log nightmare wasting more than an hour on an already strenuous day. The Mineral King Sawtooth Pass Trail is the worst I know of especially the switchbacks climbing up from Groundhog Meadow. When I went into Pioneer Basin a few years ago, I had problems in the same area that I suspect is the result of years of people being confused there because of inaccurate map trails thus creating several use paths.


David

[Wandering Daisy]

I compared Google Earth and the map, and resolved the discrepancy. The lake I visited near my campsite is shown on Google Maps (last year) but not on the map. Anyway, I say a bit about it below in the trip report. Since my Photoshop is not working with the latest update of Windows, the report without photos is below. I could post the photos right off my camera, but I think the sizes are too big. I will post some as soon as I get all this figured out.

Pioneer Basin 7/10-15

Day 1: 1.8 miles, 800 feet gain. I drove to the Mono Visitor Center and picked up a permit just about noon. I scored a parking spot right next to the trailhead at Mosquito Flat. Another story when I came out on Saturday; there was not a spot to be had all the way past the Rock Creek Lodge! I hiked up to Ruby Lake where I found a nice dry campsite on the hill southeast of the outlet. A large group was camped in the meadow just below Ruby Lake. They had a week’s permit but turned back because of the snow on Mono Pass. Although only 2 miles and 800 feet gain, I was beat. My pack weighed a ton with ice axe, crampons, 6 days food, wading shoes and fishing gear. Going from sea level to 11,100 feet in eight hours did not help either. Ruby Lake, one of the more spectacular lakes in the Sierra, was about 80% frozen. After gathering water, setting up the tent, cooking dinner and gagging it down, I scouted a route that avoided the snow-covered lower switchbacks. Being assured that my route would “go” I hit the sack early.

Day 2: 6.7 miles, 2010 feet gain. I was in no hurry to get up since it would be better for the snow to soften with sunshine. Being on the east side, the sun hit my campsite at 6:30, so I packed up and headed steeply uphill to intersect the trail, where it was snow free. Shortly, around the corner the trail traverses high on the steep east slope, which was snow-covered and still in shadows. The lower bowl had a nasty rock band if one were to fall. A faint foot path could be found in the hard icy snow. I put on crampons and crossed just using my trekking poles. Entering the upper bowl, the snow was a bit softer but steeper. This bowl had a good runout- a pain if you had to walk back up but unlikely you would get seriously hurt. About half way across, my left crampon broke. So I hobbled the rest of the way across, one crampon on, and the other dangling off my foot.

Worried about crossing Mono Creek, I planned to skirt around Golden Lake. I skirted Summit Lake on sun-cup hell. I then stepped into the sun-cup free trough of the main drainage. After about 400 feet of drop, I could find a snow-free path for another 200 feet. Unfortunately, when I got a good look, a steep unstable snowfield above the east side of Golden Lake precluded that route. So I returned 200 feet uphill to intersect the regular trail, which I overshot and ended up on the cliffy west side so had to traverse loose scree and dirt to the trail on the flat west of Trail Lakes. The upper lake was mostly frozen; the lower lake mostly ice-free. The snow survey cabin was still half buried in snow. Continuing down, the trail was basically snow-free (a few drifts) but in poor shape and often running water. The trail became buried in snow as it curved to the north side. As I just headed downhill I was as surprised to see two fellows camped at the crossing (they also were surprised to see me!) They had been into Third Recess to do some climbing. The crossing was a piece of cake; knee deep and not to swift. Unless you simply want to see Golden Lake, there is no need to go that way.

Years ago I had traversed off-trail high into Pioneer Basin; this time I wanted to try to find the trail shown on the map, so I dropped about 300 feet to the signed trail junction. I swear the Pioneer Basin Trail continues to drop a lot more than is shown on the map before it heads uphill following the east side of a small creek. Where the trail crossed, I simply was too lazy take off shoes and wade, so continued up the east side, hoping to find another crossing. Well, it was a ways before I found a big log to cross. On the west side, I never found the trail until just below the first “lake” at 10,400. By this time my heavy pack had taken its toll and I was exhausted. I took a break looking for a campsite. After having the pack off my back, I decided to continue up to one of the lakes. The crossing at the trail was too strong to wade across. The “lake” is really a meandering stream in a flooded meadow. I found a path through the “lake” from island to island, mostly knee deep, but crotch deep at the main channel. I do not mind a deep crossing if there is no current; I tend to get knocked over with strong currents. Since nobody was in the entire basin, I simply took off my pants, getting a bonus half-bath! Heading uphill along the main drainage I “hit the wall” just short of the lakes. There I was at a perfect established campsite, flat dry ground, snug in trees, next to a little snowmelt pond half frozen and creek. It was also a nice central location. Only drawback was that it did not have the view I would have if I were at one of the big lakes. Not sure exactly where I was on the map, but that could wait until morning to figure out! I set up and cooked a nice dinner, ending the day with sweet tea and chocolate.

Day 3: 7.4 miles, 975 feet gain. Here is where I have regrets. Based on frozen Ruby Lake, I stashed my fishing gear there. As I day-hiked the basin, I soon saw the open lakes and fish, albeit small fish. Had I brought the fishing gear, I would have stayed another day to enjoy and fish the basin. Instead I lugged up that stupid ice axe and did not even need it! There was plenty of dry ground all the way up to the uppermost lake. I headed to the upper lake first, for optimum morning light on the east facing cirque. This lake at 11,200 was open at the outlet, but with a thin coating of ice still on the surface from the night’s hard freeze. I saw one small fish. I then traversed east to Lake 11,026 which was open water in the middle, but surrounded by float ice. One would not have been able to fish this lake safely at all. As I dropped back towards Lake 10,862, I realized I had lost my gloves. Luckily I soon found one. Hoping to find the other, I again circled my route again with no luck.

I continued my day-hike along the east side of the very long Lake 10,862. At one skinny arm there was an amazing snow wall undercut by the lake; I waded across the upper end to get a better view. I observed quite a few small fish in this lake. The two lower lakes are harder to get around; both had steep snowfields so I had to go back up the eastern hillside and drop to each lake separately. All three of these lower lakes were mostly ice-free. The lowest lake had a big camping area at the outlet. Obviously this was a popular spot later in the year. I returned to my camp by traversing the ridge east of the string of lakes, with a short side-trip to a lake at the head of the main stream I followed up the day before. (Later, comparing Google Earth to the topo map, I will call this “Missing Lake”, as it clearly shows on Google Earth but is not on the map at all, in spite of the much smallerlittle pond I camped near being shown on both Google Earth and the map.) At the time I thought this may be a flooded arm of lake at 10,915, with the larger part of the lake around the corner. Once I figured this all out at home, I now realize I that I never did visit the lake at 10,915- another regret. Oh, well, guess that means I get to go back there again!

It was early enough to drop back to the “lake” at 10,400 where the view was actually better. I took a bath, washed clothes and then spent much time looking for the perfect campsite. Again, it was a trade-off; a lovely established campsite nestled in tall trees with a flat soft tent spot, vs. a lumpy exposed site with a better view. I chose the former and just walked up to the lumpy site for views; obviously the best choice, but it I really like to lay in my sleeping bag and look directly out at a great view in the moonlight.

Day 4: 4.5 miles, 2,015 feet gain. Next goal was to end the day at Trail Lakes and visit Fourth Recess Lake. Two methods were considered; 1) drop to Mono Creek Trail, cross and take the trail to Fourth Recess, return and cross Mono Creek, go up the trail to the Trail Lake crossing of Mono Creek, and end at Trail Lakes, or 2) go directly to Trail Lakes and day-hike to Fourth Recess. I chose the latter in spite of 1,000 feet extra gain because my pack was still heavy and three stream crossings did not appeal to me, particularly if during the day the water rose enough that I would get stuck behind one. In the end it worked out well and I day-hiked to Fourth Recess Lake by an adventuresome hideously steep and cliffy drop just north of the outflow creek from Trail Lakes, which only took 45 minutes to go down, but was a bit less “adventuresome” and more strenuous coming back up! Half way down I realized, with threatening clouds above, that I forgot to zip up the fly to my tent door, so my day-hike turned into a bit of a race to beat the weather. Quite proud of my amazingly fast trip for an old woman, as I returned to camp, the clouds miraculously dissipated, the weather gods up there laughing at me. Although exhausted I wanted to do the short hike up to Neelle Lake while still motivated. Now I had wished I had camped up here! This little lake is spectacular and it has a few sheltered campsites.

Back at my camp on the sunny hillside north of Trail Lakes, I took my bucket-bath in the small stream between the lakes and lay contented in the grass, watching the clouds change shapes overhead. At about 5PM I saw a person fishing in the upper lake. Curious about the possible change in conditions of Mono Pass, I walked over to talk to him, a little embarrassed because perhaps he had seen me taking my bath (he did not). This day-hiking teen was living proof that God protects fools. He had tennis shoes, shorts, a T-shirt and a small Camelback, fishing pole, and NOTHING else. It was 5PM and he had to get back to Mosquito Flat. I must admit that his lack of equipment did assure me that perhaps I was a bit overly concerned about the condition of Mono Pass! He confessed that Mono Pass was still icy in the mornings but was too scared to turn around, so just kept going. More disturbing to me was that he said he caught 16 fish and watching him “release” that last poor fish, I am sure they all died. He wanted to catch a Golden Trout. Well, if he had just looked at the F&G database, he would know that Trail Lakes do not have golden. He asked where he could catch a golden. Off he went, blissfully ignorant and evidently made it out fine.

Day 5: 4.0 miles, 1,275 feet gain. Since the lighting was not great the previous afternoon, I returned to Neelle Lake to get some better photos before packing up. At the saddle at 11,600 I had two choices, both requiring crossing snowfields before dry ground was reached; the official trail on the map or a use-trail on the ridge to the west. I chose the latter that required more elevation gain, but avoided the miserable sun-cups around Summit Lake. On Mono Pass I met three people and we chatted a while. Many day-hikers must have been up to Mono Pass in the past few days, because now there was a well-worn path traversing the steep snowfields. I traversed the first snow bowl. Although everyone was traversing the lower bowl above the rock band, since one crampon was broken and self-arresting with my pack did not appeal to me, I dropped to the bottom (good runout on this route)and traverse under the rock band and scrambled over dry rock to reach the trail again. Although a bit more work, I preferred this route as there was no chance of slipping off the traverse into the rocks. Soon I left the trail and dropped directly to my old campsite at Ruby Lake and retrieved my fishing gear. I set up at a better site on the next bench down, which had a better view of the lake. Tons of day-hikers and kids were frolicking in the snow across the lake. I could have walked out to my car, but wanted to spend more time photographing Ruby Lake, which I think is quiet beautiful. I walked nearly to the north inlet of Ruby Lake; tricky in places as the fisherman’s trail is flooded in places. Near the inlet, a huge avalanche had knocked down trees all the way out into the lake. Returning, I found a perfect bathing rock, although it was in the thin band of water between shore and float-ice! It was really hot, so this dip was really quite refreshing. After dinner I fished, catching two “sardines” and releasing them.

Day 6: 2.0 miles, all downhill. The plan was to return to my car and dump the heavy unneeded gear and go back up Rock Creek to camp at Chickenfoot Lake and fish the remainder of the day. It was Saturday and Rock Creek was an absolute zoo! One fisherman who had been up the trail said mosquitoes were horrible, and given how many fishermen had full-on bug gear, I decided to just go home.

[maverick]

Since no photos yet and you made no mentioned of it in your TR, how was Snow Creek flow into Fourth Recess Lake, was it at a high flow or does it still needs to melt out up high to get a better volume?