Day 1 (9/1): We left the Bear Creek Cutoff Trailhead around 9:00am and hiked along the creek until we reached about 8000 ft. We camped in a nice shady spot just before the trail starts to climb in earnest. It was a warm day and we had a pleasant evening without any mosquitoes. Met a 73 year-old man from South Korea on the trail who was out of food and headed to Vermillion (we gave him some snacks). He had been on the trail for a month. Quite a character.
Day 2 (9/2): We headed to Croney's Camp on the Hilgard Branch, right above the JMT. It was buggy (4), but had great views. We found it on the Earthmate app.
Day 3 (9/3): Awoke to hazy, smokey air coming from Selden Pass. It cleared out by the time we hit the JMT. This was the only real smoke we had on the trip. We headed up the Seven Gables trail, which was an interesting and somewhat technical ascent. There were sprinkles off and on, and bugs (3-4), but the cool weather was a plus overall as we climbed. I had contracted a headcold overnight, so we camped at one of the Seven Gables lakes. There were several folks around, and we met a guy who preached the merits of a light pack. He was carrying just 14 pounds for a 5-day trip and was covering 15-20 miles x-country each day. He was our age (40-50), so we were inspired to think about lightening our loads next time...but just enough to give his method a nod and not totally sacrifice comfort.
Day 4 (9/4): Headed up the easy shoulder route to Vee Lake (as opposed to the chute). The lake is quite beautiful, as mentioned here. We headed into Bear Lakes Basin, fully enjoying the lovely lakes and surrounds. I think we crossed a snow field to reach the NE side of Big Bear Lake, but it wasn't a big deal. We camped at Big Bear Lake, and did a day hike to Ursa and Bear Paw Lakes. On the way back to Big Bear, we hiked up to see Black Bear Lake and the pass above. There were two folks headed down and across a snow field above Black Bear Lake, but we never saw them again. Very few bugs and a little afternoon rain.
- Ursa and Big Bear Lakes
- IMG_1251 (1).jpg (23.25 KiB) Viewed 364 times
- White Bear Lake
- IMG_1252 (1).jpg (23.22 KiB) Viewed 364 times
Day 6 (9/6): We day tripped into Chalfant Lakes, which were very beautiful. Our campsite in Granite Park was just above the first place the trail crosses lake outlets. In retrospect, we should have headed directly North from our campsite to get into the Chalfant area, but we crossed over further down the trail instead and had some ledges to address on the way down to the lakes. Saw lots of 6-8" brookies.
- Chalfant Lakes
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- Granite Park Sunrise and Moonset (look closely)
- IMG_1260 (1).jpg (47.4 KiB) Viewed 364 times
Days 8 (9/8): After breakfast under clear blue skies, we headed down to the JMT and went North to the "pass" at 9800 ft. From there, we headed West on the Bear Creek Ridge Trail and traversed off trail to camp at two lakes at 8800 ft. They were both covered with lilypads, surrounded by reeds, and about 18" deep. Not gorgeous, but we were in no rush to return to civilization. We watched the sunset from a granite peak, which was red through the lingering haze to the West. Looking toward Graveyard Peak was a bit hazy, but we didn't suffer from the smoke. No bugs at all here.
I can't help but mention the disappointment of coming across a well-established campsite earlier on the trail that had a lot of trash, an abandoned sleeping bag, and two bottles of "scent be gone". We surmised it was heavily used by deer hunters. My buddy was good enough to pack out the sleeping bag, but there was too much trash to carry. What a shame.
Day 9 (9/9): We did the short hike to Bear Creek Trailhead and had about a mile on the road back to where the car was parked (BC Cutoff Trailhead). Headed straight to Vermillion for a shower and some grub. We were pleased with the proportion of x-country to trail on this trip, and with the truly beautiful areas we were able to see.
Marnie
