High Sierra Topix

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.
cont...

Not sure what's happening, but I can't see your photos........ anyone else having an issue?

not seeing them either. It's a google photos permissions problem.

Pictures not showing for me either.

I started to really feel the elevation toward the top of Julius Caesar. I slowed down a bunch and continued to be two steps, sit, two steps, sit for a lot of the way down.
We summitted around 7 and didn't make it back to camp until 1030, thanks to my condition and navigating the here and there trail in the dark.

The next morning we took our time getting our stuff together and headed out, making it back to the cars around 1.
Great time out sharing the mountains with some new folks. Hopefully, they get back out there sometime soon!



PS it took waaay too long to post all these pictures. sheesh

ksenn wrote:PS it took waaay too long to post all these pictures. sheesh

The first time does indeed take a while, but it gets faster after you've done it a few times. I use photobucket and that goes pretty quick for posting TRs with pics. Plus everyone on HST really appreciates seeing the photos of your trip and being able to go along with you vicariously. Thanks for your efforts!

Thank you for getting the pictures up, worth the short wait.
Nice shots from the summit, really like the one looking down at Chalfant Lakes.

Jason wrote:Not sure what's happening, but I can't see your photos........ anyone else having an issue?

I can see them now.......... worth the wait. Thanks for the report. Looks like an awesome trip.

Thanks! I may be a bit west and southwest of there this weekend so seeing the views from Julius Caeser is informative.

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Thanks for the report and for taking the time to post the photos! Totally agreed that it takes a while, but it certainly is appreciated.