High Sierra Topix

[amazon=]My winter's project has been to clean up and make PDF copies of all my trip reports as a backup. Since I used Photobucket for years, the photos in a lot of my trip reports in HST do not show up. The trip below was the first post I made on HST. I only posted parts of the trip. This is the full trip report with photos that you can actually see. Since the route shows many of the ways into Bear Basin (our 2024 meetup) I thought it would be useful.

North Lake Loop
August 4-13, 2008 11 days, 75 miles

Many destinations were on my wish list for this summer. This loop from North Lake stuffed as many items as I could knock off in one big trip. I would simply stay out as long as food remained! I ended up enough ahead of schedule that I added Darwin Basin and exited Lamarck Col. I went pretty light with a bivy and minimal extras. It was not an easy trip but one of my all-time favorites. About 60% of the route is off-trail.

Day1. 8/04/08: North Lake Trailhead to Puppet Pass
9.5 miles, 6.6 hours, 3055 feet gain

Although the quick 7-mile walk on the trail from North Lake to Lower Desolation Lake was full of people, it was beautiful as I passed a handful of lakes on the Piute Pass trail! I then began the slow off-trail wandering, past Mesa Lake, spending my usual hour trying to find the most scenic campsite, only to end up about a mile further and 300 feet higher, next to a tiny trickle of water near Puppet Pass at 3PM. I spent the late afternoon listening to light drizzle on my small tarp over my bivy. The view was fantastic. I could see a small colored dot at Mesa Lake- someone else camping.



Day2. 8/05/08: Puppet Pass to Royce Lake
6.8 miles, 5.1 hours, 1175 feet gain

It was still drizzling when I awoke at dawn. I packed up anyway. It was luckily that it cleared by 7AM because wet rock makes Puppet Pass dangerous and difficult. The bench below contains 16 named lakes and many more small ponds, all above timber and pure deep blue. Off trail travel through the lakes was delightful. A bit worried about the deteriorating weather, I skipped visits to Steelhead and French Lakes. At 11400 feet I traversed towards Star Lake with nice views west to Pilot Knob, Alsace Lake and Puppet Lakes. Then I dropped to Moon Lake. The trail miles past Elba Lake to Pine Creek Pass were quick.

After a short break I headed up the hill to the five Royce Lakes. I kicked steps up a snowfield and then it was an easy upward traverse to Royce Lakes. It was too exposed at Royce Lake 11656 so I continued up to the small unnamed lake below Lake 11725. Just before getting to the lake I found a sandy campsite that was somewhat sheltered by large rocks. It rained in the afternoon and I again rigged up a roof with my little tarp. During a break in the rain I hiked up to Lake 11725 getting back just in time for some more rain.

The only person I saw today was a fellow I had met at North Lake on the first day. He was the real ultra-light packer on a 6-day loop with the same route as mine for the first five days. What a coincidence! He started with 18 pounds; me with 28, so I did not expect to see him again.

Day3. 8/06/08: Royce Lake to V-Lake
8.3 miles, 8.5 hours, 2295 feet gain

The ultra-light backpacker and I leapfrogged each other all day! I took the easier Class 1 Royce Pass and he took the class-2 Croft Col. We stumbled upon each other at Granite Basin, both of us patiently waiting for the right lighting for stunning photographs. A barely discernable trail ascends to Italy Pass, from where I traversed high in the mile of talus to Dancing Bear Pass and he traversed lower. There he was again on the pass. We finally traded e-mail addresses and parted ways!

The beautiful Bear Lakes-Seven Gables Basin contains another 16 named lakes and many ponds. I slowly meandered by five on my way to camp on a flat rock above the outlet of Vee Lake, running into several Ptarmigans, one other backpacker and spotted one tent in the distance. The weather cleared and the wind subsided, unfortunately allowing mosquitoes to be pesky. Otherwise, it was a very fine day.

Day4. 8/07/08: Vee Lake to Three Island Lake
6.5 miles, 7.3 hours, 855 feet gain

There is a poor use-trail from Seven Gables Lakes to the PCT. Even though I had been down this use-trail before, I missed it in several spots. Where the trail starts on the 7.5-minute topo map, I crossed the river (south) and contoured directly to the basin above Sandpiper Lake, primarily following good game trails. This beautiful basin, barely a mile off the PCT, contains over a dozen lakes, many with musical names, like “Flat Note Lake” and “Sharp Note Lake”. I slowly wandered through the lakes and found a nice campsite at Three Island Lake, with a great view of the west side of Seven Gables Peak. At the end of a leisurely day with lots of “stop and photograph” moments, I spent the night worrying about my route for the next day.




Day5. 8/08/08: Three Island Lake to Big Chief Lake
6.4 miles, 7.1 hours, 2040 feet gain

There is no pass explicitly leading to West Pinnacle Creek. I steadily climbed an easy, grassy, upward ramp to Peak 11840 Pass, a notch dropping into Sanger Creek. From the notch I climbed up some pretty difficult slabs and over the top of a rounded mountain to a set of beautiful small lakes, perched up high, called the Upper Turret Lakes, where I again ran into Ptarmigans who did not appear to be concerned about me in the least! After a lunch break, I descended an easy gully to Old Squaw Lake. West Pinnacle Creek contains eight named lakes and numerous unnamed ponds. I think I visited every one on my quest to finally settle into a campsite at Big Chief Lake! I spotted big golden trout in Spearpoint Lake and regretted not fishing. I again worried about my route. My plan was to traverse to East Pinnacle Creek and descend directly to Piute Canyon. If this did not work, I would be up a creek, so to speak, and have to back track with little food!

Day6. 8/09/08: Big Chief Lake to Big Moccasin Lake with upper lakes
5.4 miles, 6 hours, 1650 feet gain

The traverse to East Pinnacle Creek was much harder than I had anticipated, with very tricky route-finding. But, the view down the slope to the canyon was a big relief; there were plenty of good, easy routes to descend. My current problem was to keep traversing without too much elevation loss. Many of the benches ended in small cliffs forcing me to backtrack several times. I finally rounded a buttress to the banks of Pinnacle Creek.

When I reached a series of ponds on East Pinnacle Creek, I decided to keep on my pack as I looped through the eight lakes of the upper basin, just in case I wanted to camp there. In the end, I stuck to my original plan and camped at Big Moccasin Lake, at the very edge of the bench. What a view! Although I only traveled about five miles, it took me over six hours. I had not seen a single person in the last few days.



Day7. 8/10/08: Big Moccasin Lake to Packsaddle Lake
8.5 miles, 8.4 hours, 2305 feet gain

I descended to Piute Canyon in short order, where immediately, I ran into seven groups of people on the two miles of trail that I traveled before crossing the creek to go to Lower Honeymoon Lake. Although there is a trail to the lake marked on the 7.5-minute topo map, I never found it. The plan was to traverse high to reach Lobe Lakes. A big route-finding error (corner of 4 maps!) created much more difficulty than needed as I took the wrong gully and ended up at a set of small ponds north of Lobe Lakes. I cannot recall if I actually continued to traverse to Lobe Lakes.

The traverse to Packsaddle Lake was also tricky. The joint system in the rock kept veering me where I did not want to go! The first thing I did when I finally reached the lake was jump in! I had the entire basin to myself. I did not have the energy to climb the several hundred feet over talus to see Paine Lake.

Day8. 8/11/08: Packsaddle Lake to Darwin Bench Lk 10640
8.9 miles, 8.5 hours, 2510 feet gain

I left Packsaddle Lake before 8AM and contoured at timberline to Lower Golden Trout Lake, briefly walking on the trail where, predictably, there were people. Once off-trail to Wahoo Lakes nobody followed me, and for a good reason. You better like talus-hopping if going to Wahoo Lakes! Now I had to make a decision. My original plan was to traverse to Goethe Lake and exit Piute Pass, after a side trip to Wahoo Lakes. I was a day ahead of schedule and now that I was at Wahoo Lakes, backtracking over that talus was not too appealing. Although a bit risky with limited food, I decided to go over Snow Tongue Pass, (part of Roper’s High Route), drop to Darwin Bench and exit Lamarck Col to North Lake.
After endless talus to the base of the pass, the pass itself was short with only 30-minutes of exposure. The steep, loose, scary stuff was not quite the horror stories that I had read on the internet yet dangerous enough due to potential slope sluff and rock fall that I vowed to never do it again. I felt the entire slope was going to give way! Thank goodness for a light pack. The south side was easy and now I traversed several miles of delightful grassy benches full of bright blue lupine and drop-dead views of Evolution Basin below.

The only trouble was getting off the bench! I vaguely recalled Roper warning of this. There is little water on the east bench as I traversed towards Darwin Bench; failing to fill my water bottle when I passed the lakes on the western side of the bench, I became a bit anxious. The terrain kept pushing me too high and at one point I needed to just get down. After scouting I found a break in the cliff with class-3 scrambling and ended up at Darwin Lake 11640, instead of my plan to camp in Darwin Canyon. The view of Mt. Darwin was fantastic.



Day9. 8/12/08: Lk 10640 to Darwin Bench +day hike
5.7 miles, 5.0 hours, 1160 feet gain

I packed up, stashed gear and day-hiked to Alpine Col. I was curious, since there was comment on the internet regarding this pass. The south side was much worse than Snow Tongue Pass, but what a view! I peeked over the top to Goethe Lake. It was not as impressive as the view back down to Darwin Lake 11910. In 2010 I descended to Goethe Lake. The north side had a lot of talus hopping but was not as dangerous as the unstable rock on Snow Tongue Pass. Considering both sides of each pass, it is a toss-up regarding which is easier.

Back at camp I picked up my pack and moved down to Darwin Canyon lakes, where I camped on the top of a buttress adjacent to the outlet of the lowest lake. Perched on the very edge of Evolution Canyon I could watch several people passed on the trail far below and still have a great view into Darwin Canyon.

Day10. 8/13/08: Darwin Bench to Lower Lamarck Lake
6.6 miles, 7.4 hours, 1930 feet gain

I had been over Lamarck Col many years earlier and was really surprised at how the use-trail had now become quite distinct. A string of large lakes in Darwin Canyon were followed as the use-trail stayed on the north shoreline, at times literally climbing over rocks above the water. I met two groups of climbers. Ascending, I ended up on the wrong pass! Thank goodness I knew when I looked over the top that I was in the wrong place.

A quick traverse north brought me to the proper pass! The east side was so different; previously it had been all snow; now it was an ugly mixture of ice, sand, and talus. I chatted with an Australian couple on the other side before descending the large, easy-to-follow trail that used to be just a faint path. Although I easily could have made it out to North Lake, I camped at Lower Lamarck Lake, the most “fishy” smelling lake I have ever been to. Stopping short of the final 1,000 feet of descent saved my old knees as well as a $20 campground fee.



Day11. 8/14/08: Lower Lamarck Lake to North Lake TH
2.3 miles, 1.2 hours, 1320 feet loss

I was up early and quickly descended. I was grateful that my car started and headed home, not even stopping in Bishop, however, I could not resist Jolly-Kone in Bridgeport. Ice cream is my weakness. The route was about 75 miles, about 60 percent off-trail. As usual, my travel rate averaged about one mph, purposely slowing down to enjoy the lakes and photograph.

Thanks for all the beautiful photos of such a scenic area. Your route looks extremely ambitious! And you hit the flower jackpot with those lupines on Darwin Bench. I didn't see any such flowers on my only trip to Darwin Bench in August 2002.
-Phil

Thanks for reading the report.

2008 was essentially a "normal" snowpack year. So far 2024 is following this same pattern. Our 2024 meetup is about a week earlier so the conditions described on the trip report may be what we will see at our meetup. I hope to attend if I can get a permit.

The photos, your narrative, and the route are all fascinating and a real delight to see. I did Darwin Canyon/Lamark in 2008 and Bear Lakes Basin/Dancing Bear Pass/Royce Lakes in 2009 so it was fun to see those areas again with a different route and thus different photos. When I went through Darwin Bench and over Lamark Col 2008 I found the same use trail and remember the "literally climbing over rocks above the water." I really wish I had done East Pinnacles Creek at some point so it was wonderful to see your photos. In 2009 at Merriam Lake the one other person there was this young man doing Roper's High Route (before the internet GPS tracks made it so popular). He had just been over Snow Tongue Pass and said it was the scariest thing he's ever done. Thank you for sharing this great trip!

Thanks for sharing this fantastic report! I have an Italy Pass permit for this summer, and have been dreaming and scheming of spending some time at Medley Lakes and beyond, so this just sealed the deal (and increased the excitement).