High Sierra Topix

grampy wrote: ↑Thu Jan 18, 2024 3:52 pm Are you talking about inputting map data in OSM, or directly into CalTopo ? Either way, it’s cool that you can do that.

Caltopo uses a bunch of different data sources (from what I can figure out anyways) - trails, roads and boundaries (mostly? entirely?) come from OSM... so I updated the trail in OSM. then we wait... Caltopo appears to have refreshed their OSM data recently, so it'll probably take 3-6 more months for this change to be reflected there.

Some of the "named" things in Caltopo come from OSM, but others appear to be from GeoNames, Peakbagger, NHD and others. Not really sure how frequently those are updated. I'm waiting for GeoNames changes from many months ago to show up still.

For whatever it is worth, long range forecasts are saying it might be like 2018/2019 in which it is dry in the beginning and then we get TONS late season February and March so we may have high water in any case.

grampy wrote: ↑Thu Jan 18, 2024 3:52 pm Now that Vee Lake has been mentioned as the 2024 HST Meetup location, I just need to strategize whether a west side (Bear Ridge / Bear Creek) entry might be best, and save Merriam for a separate Piute/Puppet Pass route as a separate trip. Doing Puppet Pass and those lakes are probably too ambitious to include if I am aiming for the meetup at Vee.
Thanks again !

I'm sure you thought about this but just in case: you can take Feather Pass to get from Merriam to the Bear Lakes Basin and Vee Lake if you want to still visit Merriam. This was 2019 and the snowpack lingered late in the season. Looking north from Feather Pass on 8/20/19:

View by Maia Averett, on Flickr

Thanks, Maia -
My plan now is to enter BLB via Dancing Bear Pass (hoping to attend this year’s Meetup).

From Den Lake, I want to climb “Feather Light” Pass (as described by cgundersen) as a day hike to check it out; if comfortable with its east slope, will probably use it to exit the basin and thereby get to visit La Salle and Merriam Lakes on my way out.

Thanks everybody for your input.

All this talk is getting me jazzed for the upcoming season and meetup festivities.....

I have done the Pine Creek trailhead/Italy Pass/Dancing Bear to Vee lake, and enjoyed it. This time, I am going to go over Piute, and Feather Pass by Merriam because I have not done it before. Perhaps exit out Dancing Bear, making more of a loop trip. Should be fun! i don't think Feather looks like it is going to real difficult, I plan to do it with my dog

richlong8 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 14, 2024 9:36 pm I have done the Pine Creek trailhead/Italy Pass/Dancing Bear to Vee lake, and enjoyed it. This time, I am going to go over Piute, and Feather Pass by Merriam because I have not done it before. Perhaps exit out Dancing Bear, making more of a loop trip. Should be fun! i don't think Feather looks like it is going to real difficult, I plan to do it with my dog

re: dogs & Feather Pass

I managed to do Feather Pass in mid-August of 2019 -- so just a few days before Maia's picture above -- with a friend and their border collie/heeler mix dog. The dog is adventurous but not big, and we were able to find a route up/down the pass that worked well for him.

The dog has a chest harness with a handle the owners use during canyoneering trips so that they can raise/lower the dog. We never needed it on Feather.

PS - the dog's name is Banner, after the peak!

Hey Richlong8, We love Bear Basin, and in better days, Bearzy and I have crossed in and out of Bear Basin via Feather, Feather Light, Gemini, White Bear, Dancing Bear, Granite Bear, and even BeaRoyce-- which was perhaps the wildest:

Feather Light. (south side)


Gemini (top of the pass)


Granite Bear (west)


White Bear (north)


BeaRoyce. (west)