Route inquiry: Hilton Creek Lakes -> Pioneer Basin

[giulia]

Greetings! I have permits for the Hilton Creek Lakes, and I wonder if there are use or x-country routes to get from any of those lakes to the Pioneer Basin area though the ridge with Mt. Hannington (which I'm not planning to summit). I have attached a map of the area for clarity.
It will be four of us, all experienced Sierra backpackers on both trail and x-country and who are comfortable with class 2 scrambling.
Any suggestion for us? My general idea would be to then proceed toward the Pioneer Lakes, Forth Recess and return from Mono Pass making a loop starting and ending at Rock Creek lake

I'm definitely pledging a trip report for this one! Many thanks for your ideas
Giulia

[grampy]

A similar inquiry came up earlier this year.
See this:
viewtopic.php?t=21390

… and this:
viewtopic.php?t=9439

Not sure if these are helpful, but you might take a look.

[giulia]

Thank you Grampy! Erutan's post has a reference to a trip report of Pioneer Loop & Mount Stanford which is extremely close to what the loop that I had in mind - if in the opposite direction. Hopefully the smoke and the fires will hold away until Labor Day and beyond.

Giulia

[giulia]

Sadly my permit for Labor Day weekend has been cancelled because of the closure of National Forests, and I'll have to postpone to a later time the route that I had put together with all information provided - sigh
At least we were able to grab 4 permits for Alder Creek: not quite Pioneer Basin, but a new area for me.

Giulia