TR: Pine Creek to French Canyon, Bear Basin, and Granite Park. June 22-30.

[grampy]

Thanks so much for posting this! As always, fantastic images, but I really appreciate the naturalist elements - especially the flower identification- and your sensitivity to not disturbing nesting sites. Great that you get to bring your doggo friends. And the sunrise profile of Wolfie - he looks so noble !

[SSSdave]

I would do well in such a group of poky natural science enthusiast, haha. Good to read you brought your wife and happy dogs along. Looked so late July for late June.

Thanks for the photos of Lobb's lupine or Lobb's tidy lupine, lupinus lepidus var. lobbii, as it helps calibrate when is the optimal dates in that zone during dry years. From the Bearzy dawn image, I see where you folks camped the second day. The large plateau north of there is where lupines are most impressive after wet winters I hope to return to. A superb zone for we older folks to base camp at. August 3, 2016, a drier than normal year I'd like to return to after a wet winter early August:



Did misses Toady squeak then pee on your hand? Yes our lower creaturely relatives have emotions too. Love such vulnerable little amphibians. Liked your family group shot at the pass.

[robertseeburger]

Great shots and report Ian. It looks like we only missed by about 3 days.

I like all the views you have of Seven Gables..and the cloud shot in Granite Park looks great.

For the uninformed, what pass is Feather light? I had looked at a pass connecting Den Lake and La Salle lake, ( which I called LaDen), and it looked doable, just to the west. I have never done this one though. Just curious.

Great tr.

[Harlen]

robertseeburger writes:

For the uninformed, what pass is Feather light? I had looked at a pass connecting Den Lake and La Salle lake, ( which I called LaDen), and it looked doable, just to the west. I have never done this one though. Just curious.

This is from the Comments to cgunderson's TR: Cameron wrote;

Hi Laurence,
Your post on Feather pass in the Xc section is wonderful and I'm certain you'd appreciate the economy of Feather-light. Personally, I see no need ever to do Feather again.......well, unless I'm looking for the challenge.

Earlier Cameron says:

...The original plan was to head over Pine Creek pass and work our way to Merriam before using Feather Pass to access the Bear Lakes. Instead of Feather, we hopped the ridge to Den Lake a bit south of Feather (directly above La Salle Lake).

If you missed that TR, here it is: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=21603 Did that link work?

[windknot]

Thanks for this great trip report! What a wonderful collection of images. I've been in some of these areas, and your photos do them service. I haven't been in other areas you explored, and your photos make me want to visit. And your commentary does a fantastic job of conveying your joy for backpacking (and your willingness to not take yourself too seriously).

I'll bite on the arcane fish spot rules thing: naming lakes with fish is always fine. One can find this information easily online elsewhere. We fishing sorts like to be a bit reticent about the lakes with tons of huge fish, but it's probably a testament to my lack of fishing ability that I never seem to be able to find such lakes in the first place even when I try!

[Harlen]

grampy writes:

I really appreciate the naturalist elements - especially the flower identification- and your sensitivity to not disturbing nesting sites. Great that you get to bring your doggo friends. And the sunrise profile of Wolfie - he looks so noble !

giantbrookie decided not to castigate me for my sins divulging lakes with small, edible fish. He also commented favorably on the flower shots, so I'll include a few more of those, and add a couple of favorite dog pics for grampy. I appreciate the interest, and the comments, thanks.

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Another Red Mountain Heather (I like to add the name "Mountain" wherever I can). This mat-forming species must be the dominant flower throughout most of the Sierra tree-line zone, is there any competition?

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A giant little dog, Wolfie is!



Due to the interest in Natural History, I'll add some of the notes I culled from the TR, and D & C's comprehensive Bird list:

NATURAL HISTORY

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This is the nest and scat pile of a Western heather vole, genus Phenocomys. The Heather vole does not hibernate. In the winter, the vole builds its nest on the surface of the ground under the snow. These small rodents keep active all winter long, eating stored food like the Pika do.  They build their winter nest right on the surface, under the snow.  They have a tunnel to defecate in, just by the nest.  This is why we are pretty sure this is Heather Vole scat and nesting material.  The scat was originally found in a tight, cylindrical shape, before I began examining it.  This is the shape you'd expect if it were deposited into a tunnel.  The tight grass nest material fits the description too. 

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Note the cylinder composed of many thousands of little scats.  

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So many color variations here growing side by side.  I just clarified something I have always wondered about Columbine:  "The genus name Aquilegia is derived from the Latin word for eagle (aquila), because of the shape of the flower petals, which are said to resemble an eagle's claw."  

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The most common color of Paintbrush flowers, probably C. miniata.  

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This is the Wyoming paintbrush, or Narrow-leaved paintbrush, C. linariifolia, which we found growing in its lovely pink variant, all along the Pine Cr. trail up to the Brownstone mine, and even above.  I looked it up, and read this about it:  "... while the species is widespread in the western US, this unusual color form is endemic to the east slope of the central California Sierra Nevada."  It is Wyoming's State flower too.  I'm not sure that I have ever seen this light pink form anywhere else.  Note that it's not to be confused with another somewhat rare, pink colored paintbrush flower, which usually grows up in the high meadows; that one is C. lemmonii, and it is usually a darker pink.   

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This neat little fern was familiar to me, but I'd never read up on it. Here is what I found:

PARSLEY FERN, Cryptogramma crispa var. acrostichoides

Plants 2 to 9 inches high, the fertile fronds taller than the sterile ones. On sterile branches a narrow wing follows from the flat pinna
down the stalk, the wing usually absent in the fertile stalk, or scarcely winged.
American Rock Brake is another common name for this species. Distributed from 5,000 to 10,000 feet elevation, more common in the
higher elevations, in cracks of granite rock. Known from Alaska, Labrador, around the Great Lakes, and in Nebraska and New Mexico.
It may be observed above Tenaya Lake, along trails leading out of Tuolumne Meadows and on Sentinel Dome in Yosemite.


Diana and Carleton's Bird List: 
[Diana writes: "Here's our trip list! Let me know what I forgot or got wrong! Am I remembering we had Common Nighthawks somewhere - or possibly we had them at Mono Lake? I didn't write it down. We had a couple new species (MacGillivray's Warbler, Red-breasted - not Williamson's! - Sapsucker) on our hike out without you.]

1.    Mallard
2. Red-tailed Hawk
3.    Peregrine Falcon
4.  Gull spp.
5.     Spotted Sandpiper
6.    White-throated Swift
7.     Rufous Hummingbird
8.     Hairy Woodpecker
9.     Red-breasted Sapsucker
10.   Red-shafted Flicker
11.   White-headed Woodpecker
12.   Mourning Dove
13.   Olive-sided Flycatcher
14.   Western Wood-Pewee
15.   Pacific-slope Flycatcher
16.   Dusky Flycatcher
17.   Warbling Vireo
18.   Swallow spp. (Tree or Violet-green)
19.   Steller’s Jay
20.   Clark’s Nutcracker

21.   Common Raven
22.   Horned Lark
23.   American Pipit
24.   Mountain Chickadee
25.   House Wren
26.   Rock Wren
27.   Golden-crowned Kinglet
28.   Ruby-crowned Kinglet
29.   Mountain Bluebird
30.   American Robin
31.   Hermit Thrush
32.   Townsend’s Solitaire
33.   Nashville Warbler
34.   Wilson’s Warbler
35.   Audubon’s (Yellow-rumped) Warbler
36.   MacGillivray’s Warbler
37.   Hermit Warbler
38.   Western Tanager
39.   Spotted Towhee
40.   Green-tailed Towhee

41.   Chipping Sparrow
42.   Song Sparrow
43.   (Mountain) White-crowned Sparrow
44.   Dark-eyed (Oregon) Junco)
45.   Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch               
46.   Cassin’s Finch

[michaelzim]

@Harlen - The comments so far on your TR petty much cover it! Great photos. Wonderful descriptions. Deprecating zest that always makes me chuckle and grin. Natural history knowledge that equates mine to a mall rat in comparison (though I guess I would do OK with central African counterparts). And the clear passion and feeling you have for the high country. Makes me want to just drop everything and go there...now!
So, so, many gorgeous places yet to visit - THANKS much!
Best ~ Michaelzim

[cgundersen]

Hi Ian,
Simply magnificent and what a great group of folk to ramble through the hills with. For the meager moisture this year, the flower bloom certainly did not suffer. The only question I had was whether the frog population around Merriam Lake was as vocal as it was for Joy & me. Or, do they quiet down after mating season?
And, for a guy suffering bursitis, it did not compromise your writing skills; thanks for a great TR. Cameron

[grampy]

Narrow-leaved paintbrush, C. linariifolia, which we found growing in its lovely pink variant, all along the Pine Cr. trail …



… Note that it's not to be confused with another somewhat rare, pink colored paintbrush flower, which usually grows up in the high meadows; that one is C. lemmonii, and it is usually a darker pink.   

So, like this ? Or is my identification wrong ?

Lemmon’s Paintbrush - Castilleja lemmonii
… observed somewhere in Vidette Meadow.

[robertseeburger]

robertseeburger writes:

For the uninformed, what pass is Feather light? I had looked at a pass connecting Den Lake and La Salle lake, ( which I called LaDen), and it looked doable, just to the west. I have never done this one though. Just curious.

This is from the Comments to cgunderson's TR: Cameron wrote;

Hi Laurence,
Your post on Feather pass in the Xc section is wonderful and I'm certain you'd appreciate the economy of Feather-light. Personally, I see no need ever to do Feather again.......well, unless I'm looking for the challenge.

Earlier Cameron says:

...The original plan was to head over Pine Creek pass and work our way to Merriam before using Feather Pass to access the Bear Lakes. Instead of Feather, we hopped the ridge to Den Lake a bit south of Feather (directly above La Salle Lake).

If you missed that TR, here it is: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=21603 Did that link work?

Wow.. to both Ian and Cameron. I guess great minds think alike. Everyone decided on a similar route this June..
I hadnt even read Cameron's post until Ian referenced it. I went on my trip just a couple days after posting and never went back that far.
Interesting that Cameron went over a pass that I researched..and have never seen written up.
Cameron, you should do a pass write up on it. And Cameron, also a great post..