If you use this trip report, PLEASE practice LNT principles; and if you already do, please pass it on to others
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We drove up from San Diego on Wednesday night, and crashed at a campground near Bishop. The next morning we got the last two permits for Piute Pass, despite being the first in line at the White Mountain Station?
We started out over Piute Pass. The wildflowers were spectacular, and the photos never do it justice.
Hazel tromping around while we took a break due to altitude.
Waiting out the small hail storm that was passing through.
Up over the pass and into Humphrey’s Basin, the clouds broke briefly and the open land under the divide looked spectacular.
Desolation Lake
Mesa Lake
Here we met Andy, who was doing the SHR. It was really great to meet an experienced and lightweight hiker who was in the midst of an incredible trip
His travels have been real inspirational to the both of us!Easy XC from S to N up over Carol Col.
There’s a number of cairns on top, and we didn’t take the right route down. It would’ve been a fun boulder hop with the two of us, but having good ol’ Hazel there complicated things. We met a nice guy on the top, who waited for us at the bottom and shouted directions that I couldn’t hear in the wind. He was cookin’ and I wondered how many miles he could cover in a day. Eventually we got down to Puppet Lake, where the wildflowers were stunning.
The boulder hop from puppet down to Elba is fairly straight forward and a fun route find. Again made more complicated by having Hazel and picking moves she could do safely.
We ended up heading for Royce Pass beginning at the 11k foot contour line west of Honeymoon Lake in Granite Park. Due to some large granite shelves, I think the more efficient route would’ve been to start heading XC SW from Honeymoon Lake. We definitely need to explore Granite Park more.
Class 1 on the way up to Royce Lakes.
I remember thinking how incredibly beautiful Royce Lakes were because they were so, so pristine.
The hardest part of the Royce Lakes excursion (and the whole trip) was, as I was warned by something I’d read, the boulder hop on the east side of Lake 11725 (Lake 2). I think there must’ve been a rockslide. Again, this would’ve been challenging but fun with the two of us carrying light packs, but with Hazel it was really stressful. We had to lift all 70lbs of her over certain gaps and to bypass rocks that she could not have gripped. At certain points I thought we’d bitten off more than we could chew, and we debated having her swim alongside us while we boulder hopped on shore. Her paws were bleeding by the time we finally made it around the east edge of the lake. We took lunch to regroup and split Hazel’s pack between us to give her some relief. She seemed hunky dory after that, and took interest meeting what must’ve been her first grasshopper.
There was a moment here where I realized something. This landscape doesn't give a s*** if we're here or not. I mean really. It just sits this beautiful and pristine whether we're here to see it or not. It was one of the most humbling experiences ever.
The previous day, on our way to Pine Creek Pass, I’d visually scouted a route down the Royce Lakes shelf (back into French Canyon). I was glad I did so. From on top of the shelf as you travel towards French Canyon, it looks like a sheer drop off until you get very near the edge. To the right, the terrain drops off very steeply and is pretty rough—as exemplified by the Royce waterfall (and the extremely close contour lines!). We picked our route well and descended on some steep but solid grass, roughly following the outlet of the tarn located to the east of Lake 11658 (Lake 4).
Down the beautiful French Canyon, and then a slog up and over Piute Pass back to the trailhead.
I hope this TR has fueled your cabin fever—much like yours do to mine!
