"The Gables" were a walk up most of the way, and the view from the summit was as stunning as we thought it would be, having just hiked beneath the 700 - 1000 foot northeastern cliffs the day before, on the way down from the high basin via the East Fork of Bear Creek. The series of curving stone couloirs offer quite a sight looking down them from above, and would be wonderful to climb, and not nearly so difficult as one might expect- class 3-4 with a lot of exposure, much like the climb up the east face of Seven Gables, which tops out ~200' north of the summit. The real vertical face of the North Gables is the tallest easterly wall, which is even overhanging in places. The direct east face climb is graded either 5.9 or 5.10, though I'm sure variations could make it much harder.
We had minimal trouble with the stream-crossings, five times crossing in running shoes, (we carried a single pair that we tossed back to each other) while dragging the swimming dogs downstream of us using climbing rope and a full harness. At the East Fork crossing 3 miles up from its juncture with the main fork, we turned all tails and ran back to the outlet of Lake 10,640 to cross via a waist-deep wade, rather than chance the shallow but slippery and really rushing stream-crossing that the use trail leads one to. The real problem there is that the rocks lining the East Fork at this point are sharp and jagged, and could do real damage if crashed into, and a slip would have precipitated one into faster and deeper water downstream. We needed the wash anyhow, and the lake crossing is just 3/4 of a mile upstream.
We didn't need to make the troublesome West Fork crossing at the 9,500 point, but met a few JMT and PCT'ers who commented on it. Only one guy had fallen in- twice he said- an he had facial abrasions to prove it. He was a bit shaken, and said that he was lucky to have his big partners there to pull him out. We wondered why they all didn't cross linked together, but live and learn eh? Another party said that the best way across was to go 5 minutes downstream to a big log, which can be walked to about halfway across the stream, and that from there the water was less than knee deep.
Thanks to Paul, Druid and others of this forum for their advice on the narrow point along the Hilgard Branch route in. The trail was just as they said it would be- tricky to follow, but well above the stream. We enjoyed that section of the hike very much. Carleton and I reckon this is a great time to be in there, as flowers of many species were in full bloom, with meadows full of shooting star, larkspur, yellow asters of several species, Indian paintbrush, Mariposa lilies, and even some lovely purple brodiaea! The birds are all singing their very best, most catchy love songs, and nesting and fledgling behaviors are in full swing. Some highlights for us naturalists were the howling and barking of coyotes, the explosion of feathers as a Ptarmigan broke from cover, one fine deer, a junco nest full of tiny eggs, and the very near fly-over of a huge Golden eagle, just as we crested the ridge to look into the wild Bear Basin!
I will continue the report with pictures and captions.
