I took 4 friends up Pine Creek for the weekend. For 3 of them, it was their first backpacking trip! A lot of fun. The weather was perfect, no smoke until Sunday and then just barely.
We left San Diego around 1130 and made it to the trailhead around 630. Everyone was a good sport about the mosquito's and the night hiking as we made it to Pine Lake well after dark. Luckily, the water at the log crossing below Pine Lake was just under the log when we got there.
The next day we moved our camp up to Honeymoon Lake. It seemed like they really liked the adventurous mid-calf to knee high water crossings along the way.
After getting our stuff squared away at the lake, we headed up into Granite Park through snow and more water crossings.
My more experienced friend and I had a plan of putting our ice axes and crampons to use and getting up Mt. Julius Caesar. The new guys were pretty beat by the time we got within view of Italy Pass. The new guys had decided they had had enough and wanted to check out the frozen lake nearby and head back to camp. Soon my friend and I were post holing our way toward Italy Pass. Once we got to the steepish part, we broke out the axes, but didn't need the crampons.
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