Italy Pass Pine Creek Pass Lollipop

[mxoyez]

Hey,
I was planning on doing a loop in eastern Yosemite to Virginia Lakes, but that seems to have been smoked out, so I'm thinking of instead getting an Italy Pass permit. However, I first want to make sure the "loop" I'm planning works before getting a permit. I am planning on doing a lollipop from Pine Creek Canyon -> Italy Pass -> Hilgard Branch -> JMT -> French Canyon -> Pine Creek Pass -> Pine Creek Canyon, hopefully quickly checking out some of the french canyon lakes. Does anyone have an Idea how long this would be? I measured it on alltrails and got 46 miles, whereas one source (the only I found )I found online listed it at 58 miles, which is a pretty big difference.
I'm also curious if you would expect the creeks to be flowing (French, pine, etc.) during this dry year.
Also, do you guys expect the whole sierra to be smoked out in the coming days, or is higher elevation generally better? Seems like the whole state is on fire once again
Thanks for the help as always! Really hoping to get out into the mountains again.

[thegib]

The bear lakes region had better water levels than further south when I visited a month ago. And they had lots of monsoonal thunderstorms recently. So my guess is that water levels are ok. The smoke forecast, as of right now, is to shift back to the east come Sunday. So there's reason for optimism.