TR: Blown away by the Bears (and Vee and Merriam)

[cgundersen]

TR: Blown away by Bear Lakes

Since 2009, my old college roommate has been flying out to LA (from Virginia) to escape into the Sierra. This year, he ratcheted up the ante: after looking after grandkids for 2 months, he flew them back to Hawaii and immediately hopped a redeye to get to LA early on a Sunday morning (Aug14). I collected him in an Avis rental and whisked him to Bishop where he got the rest of the day to sort through gear and recover from traveling. The next morning, we hit the Pine Creek trailhead on the first leg of a trip that followed a well-traveled loop: Granite Park; Italy Pass; Lake Italy; Teddy Bear & Brown Bear Lakes; White Bear Pass; White Bear Lake; Vee Lake; Den Lake & Feather-light Pass; Merriam Lake; French Canyon to Pine Creek Pass and out.

Bear Lakes basin has featured in so many TRs that I’m dubious I can add too many more insights (and praise). But, I’ll try. After all, this was my buddy’s first trip into the Bears, and it’s invariably fun to see a familiar area through someone else’s eyes. And, we added a little frosting: Neither of us had “done” White Bear pass, and after reading the commentary in the XC passes section (from shtinky and Dave Senesac), I was keen to see how this ascent played out (note that we followed their advice to climb White Bear pass rather than try to descend it). But there was a bit of eye candy preceding that phase. My buddy was enamored of the (unnamed) striped mountain above Pine Lake and took multiple photos. And the jagged peaks (like Royce & Feather) lining the southern boundary of Granite Park also caught his eye. The absence of any residual snow on Granite Bear pass was a first for me. And Italy pass seemed easier than the last time I trudged up there, but that’s probably because the use trail has become easier to follow.

048 Crisscross Rock Zoom copy.jpg

Royce-Feather and Granite-Bear copy.jpg

Granite Bear pass copy.jpg

Cam Italy Pass Horizon copy.jpg

As anyone who has gone backpacking this Summer can attest, the monsoonal system that has gripped the Sierra for the last couple months forces regular glances at the clouds. That way a conscious decision can be made about whether to get drenched. Mostly, we demurred. So, after dodging snippets of rain the first couple days, we hit the jackpot on day 3. We’d pulled into Teddy Bear Lake and during a lazy lunch were still thanking the intrepid folk who had carved the (unmaintained) trail past Jumble Lake (through some otherwise nasty talus), when it became clear that the promised rain was going to materialize very soon. We hustled to get the tent erected and got in soon after the first drops started. Fifteen minutes later the thunder and lightning began. The canyon in which Teddy and Brown Bear sit amplified and added reverb to the frequent crackle and booms. And the steady rain became more and more intense. Ditto the wind (almost literally blown away!). To MSR’s credit, the Hubba-Hubba tent held up to the deluge as water scoured the gravel where we’d set up. As the cacophony from the rain, wind and thunder was reaching its peak, we heard a deafening rumble that went on, and on and on. Clever chaps that we are, it finally dawned on us that this was not just another thunder binge. It was a rockslide. A massive one. In spite of the torrential rain, we pulled open the rainfly just in time to see a huge cloud of dust rising up the opposing hillside. But nary a rock was stirring. We’d missed the visuals, but the sound still echoes every time I think of Brown Bear Lake. I’ve heard rockslides in the Sierra, but this far surpassed anything I’d encountered. Sure glad we weren’t in the path!

Lake Italy and Bear Creek Spire.JPG

The day 3 storm subsided just as the sun was setting and created intense lighting effects that we embarrassingly failed to capture on camera. We were pre-occupied scoping out White Bear Pass. With my binoculars, it looked pretty straightforward to go “right up the middle” to about 2/3rds of the climb and then zig left before zagging right. I know the XC writeup advocated following some of the “greenery” zones that decorate the North wall of the ascent, but to us, it looked easier to save the traversing till the end. That was the plan we’d sleep on.

Day 4 dawned bright and clear, but being deep in the Brown Bear bowl, it took forever for the sun to find us and dry things out. My buddy’s Fitbit said it was 10am before we started around Brown Bear Lake. Still, even with all the rain, it was clear that the terrain we were crossing had seen plenty of action from Roper (High Route) devotees, and we kept seeing cairns in places that made no sense. So, we stayed on track for the “up-the-middle” approach until we hit a patch of greenery that appeared to stretch much of the way up the hillside to our left. Well, so much for planA. I’m always happy to contend with grass, shrubs, low willow and other weeds rather than struggle with edges, ledges, chimneys and cliffs. So, we followed the green. And kept following it. And before you know it, the White Bear ridge was a 250 yard traverse and a short climb away. Upon reaching that ridge, it was very easy to confirm the admonition of shtinky and Dave: if you are looking for a way down White Bear pass, you’ll be very fortunate if you can recapitulate the route shown in the XC passes write up. Ascending White Bear is not bad. Going down could be much more challenging & time consuming, simply because the route is hard to judge and there are plenty of spots to “cliff out”.

013 White Bear Pass 20220818 copy.jpg

Halfway up White Bear Pass copy.jpg

White Bear Pass ridge copy.jpg

Brown Bear Lake copy.jpg

Among Bear Lakes basin’s claims to fame are the amazing sightlines to Seven Gables, Gemini and Feather Peaks. But especially Seven Gables. And I’d conveniently forgotten how compelling the distant views of the basin were from the outlet of White Bear Lake. Well, it did not take long for my buddy and me to cut short our day’s hike and plant at White Bear. We spent the afternoon doing mini-day hikes and cleaning up after several days when afternoon rain had made cleaning up less than satisfying. Yes, the lurking clouds convinced us to erect the tent, but by early evening the clouds had dissipated and we slept under the stars.

021 White Bear Lake Camp 20220819 copy.jpg

White Bear Lake copy.jpg

Our target the next day was Vee Lake. Yes, we were really pushing it on this trip. What, a 45 minute walk? Maybe, less? Even if you do stop to admire Big Bear Lake? The real revelation was at the top of the knoll separating Big Bear and Vee. From there, the whole Vee basin stretches out and is anchored at its southwestern edge by those sublime views of Seven Gables. My buddy wandered around for an hour snapping photos. Or simply gawking. Among the dozen or so Sierra trips we’ve taken since starting this annual routine, he was convinced that this was the very best. Who am I to quibble? I thought we did pretty well in the Upper Kern basin (the panoramas from Lake South America/Bighorn Plateau are not too bad!), Amphitheater basin (with the Palisades to the East and Black Giant up North) or even the loop around Mt. Lyell a few years ago, but this one came out tops for him. Well, OK! The place definitely rocks!

Vee Lake Pano copy.jpg

I'll add a few more photos below.

We got another rain-free day at Vee and a night under the stars before getting up early for the (usually) stunning sunrise on Seven Gables (I still have a mental image of a striking shot Dave Senesac posted ages ago of Vee-Seven Gables). Well, a combination of ample condensation and early clouds blunted the glow, but let’s not get greedy. With an easy hop over Feather-light pass to Merriam on tap, we took our time ascending to Den Lake and then up to the Feather-light ridge. It re-confirmed my impression that Feather-light is indeed hugely easier than Feather Pass (I added a few photos in the XC passes section). Short of the stroll up the East fork of Bear creek, it’s the easiest access into the Bears/Vee. We got to Merriam with plenty of time for me to check whether all the rain had triggered a boletus (porcini) bloom in the wooded area around the lake. Nary a hint (but there were still plenty of tadpoles in the ponds)! The next day was a different story. As we were hunting for the use trail on the plateau below Merriam, we started running across boletus. In most cases, the worms had gotten to them before we did (well, it has been on-and-off raining up there for more than a month), but we did manage to score numerous beauties. This trend persisted all the way up French canyon. I’d guess your average ultralight backpacker could cover the distance from Merriam to Pine Creek pass in a couple hours (or less). We took 6-7 with lots of time spent foraging. A bonus is that French canyon still had a pretty good wildflower bloom (especially, the lupine). And the waterfall coming from Royce plateau was crashing with a ferocity usually reserved for runoff season. Those rains had plumped up the waterways and rejuvenated springs throughout our route.

A couple years ago, my wife and I had approached Pine Creek pass from Royce plateau and had run across a couple tiny ponds a hundred feet above the lakelets at the pass. The views of upper French canyon, Humphreys, Bear Creek Spire and the horizontally striped peak above Pine Lake were superb and I’d made a mental note to aim for the ponds if I ever needed to camp near the pass. Well, in spite of all the rain, the ponds were dry, so we parked closer to the lakelets and enjoyed a final night in the Sierra. As we were relaxing, we expressed surprise at the relative dearth of folk we encountered on all but the first day. Even during that protracted walk up French canyon, we only ran into two other hikers and that was the max for any of the 6 middle days of our loop. Where did everyone go? For how compelling Bear Lakes basin remains, I’d anticipated seeing plenty of folk there, but we topped out at one couple on the shore of Vee. So, even during mid-August, tranquility can be had up there! Meanwhile, the moon had dwindled to a sliver and came up close to dawn, so the stars/Milky Way were magnificent on that final night.

[cgundersen]

Here are the rest of the photos:

Vee Lake Outlet .JPG

Above Vee Lake copy.jpg

Claw Lake copy.jpg

La Salle Lake copy.jpg

Downstream La Salle Lake copy.jpg

041 Merriam Lake Campsite copy.jpg

042 Royce Lakes Falls copy.jpg

043 Pine Creek Pass Lake copy.jpg

[Wandering Daisy]

What were the dates of the trip? I am curious to know the dates of the big storms.

[scottmiller]

I went to Bear Lakes Basin last year, and I want to go back. We started from the west at the Bear Creek Diversion damn, but no way are we driving that road again. If I came from the west again I would start at Lake Edison. We got to Vee Lake on day three hiking up Bear Creek, but someone stronger than me could maybe get there in two days. There are no high passes from the west, just a long uphill climb.

[cgundersen]

Daisy: Clouds looked threatening on our first day (Aug 15) but we got no moisture till day 2 when it rained intermittently. It was day 3 (the 17th) when things really let loose in the Brown Bear area. It looked very threatening to the North on the day we spent at White Bear Lake, but we were spared any rain. Ditto the rest of the trip: yes, it looked like clouds were continuously condensing above Florence/Edison, but we got no rain.

Scott: Yep, that's one of the reasons I expected more traffic in the Bears is that it has a great reputation and it's not that difficult to reach, especially via the approach you noted. And I still recall a long-ago post from Mokelumne-kid who in his younger days had made it all the way from North Lake trailhead to Merriam Lake in a day. Even by today's standards, that's trucking!
Cameron

[michaelzim]

C. A fun report and nice pics too!
That terrain can sure get hot in full sun with no clouds and no shade - and your 'avalanche' story reminds me that trying to get out of the sun near very steep slopes or cliffs is not a good idea. When I was camped on Bubbs Creek near Charlotte Dome early August just one huuuuge rock crashed into the valley floor just the other side of the trail. Made a 21 gun salute sound tame. Seems like all the rain this summer has sure loosened things up a lot.
Thanks for the TR.
Michaelzim

[astrogerly]

Great report and photos! We were in that zone at the time too… and that storm was pretty “entertaining” (I’m not good at staying in the tent for long periods of time).

[maxr22]

Great TR and photos!

[Harlen]

Another great gunderson trip! Thanks for putting the TR together, we really enjoy your writing. Excellent photos too-- do you get credit for some of those too? I too am intrigued by your rockfall story. In the 9th photo, titled:

Brown Bear Lake from White Bear Pass (Mt. Hilgard in the distance)

I can see a recent rockslide coming down from high up the west side of the valley. Did you see that Cameron; it's in the upper left in that photo? I wonder if that might've been the slide you guys heard? Rockfalls are scary experiences, especially in the night.

So no smoke to mar the views? That's good fortune, and you guys deserved it. And thanks for the tip on the Royce Lakes Basin; I remember that impressive view across to Mt Humphreys, we really want to get back there to camp and enjoy those sunset views.

[cgundersen]

Thanks for the comments, and as for Ian's query, it's a possibility, but I'm skeptical for the following reasons: first, for the location of the scar in that photo, it's too far west relative to where we saw the dust cloud when we opened the rainfly; second, we spent time the next morning trying to catch signs of the mayhem and it was difficult to make out any clear path; I think the reason for this is that it continued to rain heavily for a couple hours after the initial big rock fall, yes, there were occasional laggards that made a brief clatter, but nothing like the sustained rumble we heard. So, as Michael noted, the rain was loosening up everything from dirt to gravel to boulders and I suspect the scar in the photo was more of a gravel flow.
But I'd not bet a buck that I'm right (maybe a Nickel?)......Cameron