High Sierra Topix

The route on Caltopo is https://caltopo.com/m/B01L. Highlights were climbing Feather, exploring West Pinnacle Creek and crossing Gemini Col.

We were a group of 5: my wife and son, one of his buddies, and our dog.

Snow levels right now are impressive. Many key passages involved crampons/micro spikes and axes. Mosquitoes could be managed at most camps - worst being the last directly in Pine Creek Pass.

We saw few mammals, but several red tails, possibly an osprey and definitely a bald eagle flying across Old Squaw lake. A golden eagle came close as we were sitting on Julius Caesar.

I will look thru our photos and find more, but these are some good ones to start out with, in no particular order:


The creek below Seven Gables lakes took up a lot of space with all the run off. Here we are wading a big flooded area.


Near the top of Feather.


Pemmican lake


The lake below the south side of Gemini Col


Preparing to descend mandatory steep snow down to Seven Gables lakes.


A glorious camp on the edge of Piute Canyon, on the traverse between East and West Pinnacle Creeks

Thank you for the TR and wonderful pic's, area below Gemini looks, more like late June or early July. Cool ski googles on the dog!

A fascinating route through some rarely seen territory. Outstanding. Your camp 4 must have been very special.

Neat trip and report. Heckuva nice route! I overlapped a lot of that country back at the beginning of August 2015 and it goes without saying that you encountered a ton more snow and runoff. The snow below Gemini Pass and at the top (including the frozen over lake) was something I didn't see back in 2015, nor the wide flooded crossing below Seven Gables Lakes. The north side of Gemini Pass looks very alpine compared to its much tamer disposition without snow in 2015.

giantbrookie wrote:Neat trip and report. Heckuva nice route! I overlapped a lot of that country back at the beginning of August 2015 and it goes without saying that you encountered a ton more snow and runoff. The snow below Gemini Pass and at the top (including the frozen over lake) was something I didn't see back in 2015, nor the wide flooded crossing below Seven Gables Lakes. The north side of Gemini Pass looks very alpine compared to its much tamer disposition without snow in 2015.

Thanks! Your TR, among other bits of inspiration, laid the foundation for this trip.

We did some of this route in 2007 (I think), except that we began at Piute Pass, and went over Puppet Pass, Feather Pass, through the Bear Lakes, over Seven Gables Pass, and across the shoulder of Gemini and down not-to-steep slabs to the inlet of Big Chief Lake. We camped at the outlet. From there, we did the same route on the traverse over to the small unnamed lake below Little Moccasin, right on the lip, where we camped. Gorgeous camp site! We then contoured down to Hutchinson Meadow and out Piute. One of my favorite trips. Such a remote area. The photos are great and the one of your camp 4 reminded me of our camp, which was not too far from yours.

What a great idea for a trip. Thank you for posting.

Thanks everybody.

Btw, this is the state of the traverse from Italy Pass to White Bear Pass on August 14th. Not bad. We used crampons to speed things up, but the combination of sun cups and afternoon corn made it safe and easy.



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That's a great shot showing how steep White Bear Pass near the top. I've been down it, but there was no snow. I'm surprised this much snow remains on the north side. Thanks again for the photos and report.

What a great trip, I've done all the parts in a bit different order; never get enough time in West Pinnacles.