High Sierra Topix

After gathering good advice (thanks Mike) from the HST Backcountry Passes site, "Bearzy" and I went back into one of our perennial favorite spots-Bear Basin, this time in via "Gemini," and out via "BeaRoyce" passes. We began the trip 9/2 from Pine Creek TH, and we made a nice circle, coming down from Granite Park four days later. Short storms with thunder and lightning made for some exciting moments, and fantastic lighting! Both passes, and most of West Pinnacles Creek were new to us, and it was nice to explore some new ground.

Sunset light on the Ritter Range- Mav, is the smoke from the fires making these amazing sunsets?


Day 1: Pine Creek TH over Pine Creek Pass- camp in upper French Canyon.

Autumn hiking means berries and fall colors. I was a little early for the best aspen and willow colors, but I caught some perfect elderberries and currants.






A few flowers were still in bloom- the "sneezeweed," gentian, paintbrush, and a few lupine.








I love the colors of the fading shooting stars.


The view below is east, to the bottom of the Pine Creek Valley. It has nice fir and pine forest, with water birch and dogwood in the streams. Here are some berry-laden Sierra junipers.

Both upper and lower Pine Lakes are beautiful. The side pool, and shallows of lower Pine Lake are currently emerald green due to submergent algae.

Day 2: Down French Canyon, up into West Pinnacles Basin.
We began the day by exploring the lakes above French Canyon. There is a trail up, and then easy cross country traveling down to the west where we were heading. At 9,200' we traversed up the eastern slope of "Pinnacles Ridge," which separates the East and West Forks of Pinnacle Creek. The contours make it look a lot easier to angle up from where the East Fork meets the valley floor- has anyone struggled up into the West Pinnacle Basin directly along the creek? Looks awful steep. We rounded the ridge 150' above Pemmican Lake, and dropped down to it, and on to Big Chief Lake. It is tricky going for a man and a dog, as Bear's down-climbing abilities cease when the ledges are more than about 6 feet high.
We got cliffed out more than once, but enjoyed the route-finding. West Pinnacles Creek feels very remote; there's not a single sign of a human- no cairns, no camps, not even a rusty can. We got to the big lake just in time to be soaked in sleet and hail while setting up the tent.

Above is Moon Lake, looking west, with the western ridge of the Merriam LaSalle Lakes Basin beyond- another great route into Bear Basin.


Bear was fine and happy, but another dog was not. We heard from a hiker that a husky was lost in the area. We looked and called as we went to no avail, but at the trailhead when we went out, there was a note saying the dog was found, so a nice dog SAR succeeded. Are there formal dog SARs?

That's Pilot Knob, splitting French Canyon and Piute Creek Canyon, with Mt. Humphreys in the background. We've come down from French Canyon, and are about halfway up the traverse to West Pin.Basin.

Now we are in West Pin Basin, and Bear seems to know that he is about to be hailed upon- which he hates.


What a brief but dramatic storm we had! That's "Pavilion Dome" in the background, the very tail end of Glacier Divide.

Those are unnamed peaks with a huge white dike running the length of the nearest one.


Looking up the basin from Wampum Lake, with Gemini Mountain in the distance. There's a dividing ridge between the East Pin. Basin, and the basin that holds Three Island and Medley Lakes. I managed to cross it about 400 feet higher than necessary, reading somewhere that I needed to traverse the shoulder of Gemini. Worked out fine, since I wanted to climb Gemini anyway, and "what doesn't kill you is training" as a hiking buddy always says.


Looking over at Seven Gables Peak, from our perch far, far above Gemini Pass- WHY? Gemini Pass is just a few hundred yards to the east, and ~100' above that upper lake. *Anyone? Is that Mt Hilgard in the distance to the right?

This is an overly dramatic view of the Mount Gemini summit complex. It is really just a class 2 scramble till the very end.

This is the view southwest from near the summit; that's Three Island Lake below, and Mt Senger above it. Where the sunlight turns to shadow is right on Selden Pass of the JMT masses, and the pyramidal peak to right of that is Mt. Hooper. Unlike Bear, I love this kind of weather- as long as the thunderstorms are brief. Doesn't a sky full of clouds add another whole dimension to the mountain scenery? I'll take it over clear blue sky any day.

Feather Peak and Mt. Royce- Royce is balancing the round cloud on its head. My pass out of Bear Basin is the very farthest notch in the northern ridgeline of Feather- "BeaRoyce Pass."

Another wonderful storm coming, so I raced it down into the Seven Gables Lakes Basin, and just beat the hail.

Days 3-4: Up Mt Gemini, over Gemini Pass, Bear Basin, and over BeaRoyce into Granite Park

We got down to the first of the Seven Gables Lakes and under a tent just before the second hail storm, which came in with amazingly long peels of thunder- I counted 20 second long thunder rolls! It lasted longer this time, from about 1:30 till 4 pm. I couldn't bear to be camped so early, so when it paused, we rallied, and repacked every wet thing, and shot off up to Vee Lake. This is one of our favorite camps, and we really enjoyed the soft meadows. BeaRoyce Pass proved to be a very elegant route- no trouble at all up the west side, and an absolute flight down the east! I was nervous about it for no good reason, as with most passes, they look harder straight on from a distance, and get easier up close.
The Royce Lakes Basin, and Granite Park both struck us as fantastic places, and I wondered why we haven't been back there for so long. It is a water-loving dog's paradise, and Bear raced through the shallow lakes and wet meadows like a puppy! It was a great place to end the trip.

Looking straight down the steep eastern face of Gemini.

In this photo I am looking down the east side of Gemini Pass, and the route down is just as Mike stated, not too bad if you can find the system of little terraces, first on the right of the notch, and then I crossed over to the left about halfway down. It's a good pass to take your time- couldn't be any more different from the east side of BeaRoyce, half of which is a sand slide.

The sun rising behind Feather Peak

Sunrise on Seven Gables from Vee Lake





View down on Bearpaw Lake from the saddle east of Vee Lake. Dancing Bear Pass is in the upper left, at the foot of the smooth light colored slope.



Halfway up BeaRoyce, on the western slopes of Feather Peak.

View west across Bear Basin, with Gemini on the left and Seven Gables on the right. The small patch of snow on the ridge between them is Gemini Pass. In the photo below, Bearzy is sitting on that same snow.

Day 4: Over BeaRoyce Pass and into Granite Park and out Pine Creek.


Looking down the pass east into Royce Lakes Basin. To the left is a deeper, cleaner sand slope that can be raced down, leaping and heel-plunging to get to that lake in a very little over ten minutes.


Royce Lakes.


Unnamed lake above Granite Park.


Granite Park marshland.


One of the marshland locals


Grass of Parnassus, Parnassia palustris


Crimson Monkeyflower


Back down in the forest, local strawberry plants and lodgepole cones.


Very old bear shite with bone shards.


"Bigelow's sneezeweed," Helenium bigelovii.


Beautiful Pine Lakes again.


Minerets, Ritter and Banner.

Dave asks:

Tell us some more about how Bear reacts to hail both out in the open enroute and under your tent.

As I noted in the TR:
"We got to the big lake just in time to be soaked in sleet and hail while setting up the tent."

So, Bearzy got the full nasty treatment in that first storm- lightning, thunder claps, and hail, all pretty much at the same time; I didn't really like it either Dave. Interestingly, he doesn't seem to mind it once he's inside the tent. Lizzie and my first dog together was a golden retriever who freaked right out in any thunderstorm, and even got away from us once. So, I make it a point with our dogs to immediately pet them, tell them "It's okay, it's o-kayyyyy" at every loud sound. That may be why they don't freak out with storms, fireworks, or whatever. Bearzy just gets miserable when he's outside getting drenched, and is happier sitting it out under trees and tents. Do you have troubled in storm, dog stories Dave?

SSSDave writes:

...Also BeaRoyce Pass

I checked the map, and it looks like I should be calling the pass I was on "BeaRoyce" instead; so I have changed it to that in the TR. Thanks for the heads up Dave.

Cool trip, great report and photos.

Bear in Bear Basin. That would be a good trip report name! Your dog is a lot tougher than ours. Our dog definitely likes to be out backpacking, but she also wants to be coddled. She barks like crazy when there is lightning and thunder, even at home. But, yes, being in the tent with us helps.

Years ago I came into West Pinnacle Basin from Turret Pass and then dropped down to the trail. Good to hear that Gemini Pass is OK. I liked your route- I will have to do it some time, taking more time to fish. You could also do your basic loop from other trailheads; Edison or Florence lakes or North Lake. I have gone over BeaRoyce before but was on climbing trips, so had an ice axe for the snow. I looked at the pass last fall with the snow and decided against doing it. Probably would have been OK if I just got up on it. Like you say, lots of these passes look worse than they really are.