R04/R03 TR: Bear Lakes and more (5/27-6/6) 2021
Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2021 4:53 pm
TR Bear Lakes Basin and more (5/27-6/6)
Kudos to the folk who managed wilderness trips in the strange days of 2020; my wife and I were among those stymied by the pandemic and then the fires. This year we narrowed down our list of trips to 3 candidates and ultimately went for Bear Lakes basin with a finishing leg in the East Pinnacles basin. Let’s see how that worked out. I’m going to frame this as a Q and A (where I handle both hats). I’ll then append a bunch of photos to illustrate the text.
Q:You scheduled this trip for late May; isn’t that a bit risky for late storms, high creeks, etc.? A: Well, after getting shafted last year, we wanted to make sure we got into the Sierra. And, we’ve historically enjoyed early season trips. We’re pretty comfortable with snow and this year was a very low snow year as many of the Sierra webcams showed. The real question was whether we’d beat the bug bloom, or whether it would beat us.
Q: So, how were the conditions? A: Spectacular. We had some of the best weather of any backpacking trip we’ve been on (since the early 1970s). The snow was melting fast and runoff was everywhere which makes it easy to camp anywhere. So, whenever we got to a particularly scenic spot, the debate was whether it was time to call it quits. After all, we’d packed food for 11 days and it’s not that hard to get into Bear Lakes basin. Plus, there was no sign of bugs and after seeing 4 climbers and 2 backpackers on day 1, the tally fell to zero for the next 9 days. Talk about tranquility! Just about every night provided an amazing light show topped by a diaphanous rainbow above Feather Peak that accompanied the evening’s alpenglow. Yes, the flower bloom was just beginning, so it will be in synch with the bugs!
Q: You really have not outlined the route; where’d you go? A: The original plan was to head over Pine Creek pass and work our way to Merriam before using Feather Pass to access the Bear Lakes. Instead of Feather, we hopped the ridge to Den Lake a bit south of Feather (directly above La Salle Lake). Vee Lake was high on our list, because we finally figured out that camping on the peninsula yields jaw-dropping views of Seven Gables. Then the idea was to enter East Pinnacles basin via Gemini Pass (which we’d done about 5 years ago and we wanted to return). But for several reasons (mostly that we were post-holing in the snow and the eastern horizon looked sketchy with a storm brewing), we backed off from Gemini and found a great spot to camp above Little Bear Lake. At that point we debated whether to go for White Bear pass, Granite Bear pass or back toward our entry route via Feather. In the end we chose to get back to Pine Creek pass via Feather and then Roy-Mer col. Two guys were climbing Merriam Peak while we were getting over Roy-Mer, but we only heard them: no visuals. Our last night was spent on the vast Royce plateau above Pine Creek pass with dramatic lighting on Mt. Humphries.
Q. You mentioned the rainbow; were there other highlights? A: Um, after a year of covid-19, the whole experience was a highlight. But there were other beguiling elements. For instance, for reasons we could not fathom, it had been more than 2 decades since we’d been to Merriam. It’s both gorgeous and carpeted with excellent campsites, so it’s wonderful that it shows little sign of disturbance beyond the well-worn lakeside path. Also, the frog population was going bonkers in the ponds dotting the approach to Merriam. And, returning to Vee was as rewarding as we’d expected, because the looming wings of Seven Gables look on the verge of swooping down to greet you. But by far the most memorable segment was a bizarre manifestation on our first night at Merriam. It was warmer than expected (I sleep out, while my wife gets the tent) and I was having trouble getting to sleep. So, while looking for shooting stars, I got a bonanza instead. For several minutes I watched as a stream of orbs (maybe twice the brightness of the brightest stars) emanated from a point very close to the “pouring” star of the Big Dipper. These orbs propagated due south until they reached a point where they vanished from sight. I tried waking my wife, but she was out cold and I did not want to disturb her. But, since she carries the camera, we did not record the event. Instead I watched as maybe 40, 50, 60 orbs formed a silent, linear procession across the night sky before blinking out. For the next several days we pondered explanations (no, we had no hallucinogens; these were not retinal after-images, etc), and settled on two possibilities: the US Space Force is up to some monkey business; or it was a deployment of low-Earth orbit satellites. I’m leaning toward the later, but I still have not gotten the smoking gun proof. Regardless, it was a stunning display. Beyond that, the whole Bear Lakes basin remains a delightful area and we banged around there for several days before making our way back to “civilization”.
Time to let the photos tell the rest of the story……..
Kudos to the folk who managed wilderness trips in the strange days of 2020; my wife and I were among those stymied by the pandemic and then the fires. This year we narrowed down our list of trips to 3 candidates and ultimately went for Bear Lakes basin with a finishing leg in the East Pinnacles basin. Let’s see how that worked out. I’m going to frame this as a Q and A (where I handle both hats). I’ll then append a bunch of photos to illustrate the text.
Q:You scheduled this trip for late May; isn’t that a bit risky for late storms, high creeks, etc.? A: Well, after getting shafted last year, we wanted to make sure we got into the Sierra. And, we’ve historically enjoyed early season trips. We’re pretty comfortable with snow and this year was a very low snow year as many of the Sierra webcams showed. The real question was whether we’d beat the bug bloom, or whether it would beat us.
Q: So, how were the conditions? A: Spectacular. We had some of the best weather of any backpacking trip we’ve been on (since the early 1970s). The snow was melting fast and runoff was everywhere which makes it easy to camp anywhere. So, whenever we got to a particularly scenic spot, the debate was whether it was time to call it quits. After all, we’d packed food for 11 days and it’s not that hard to get into Bear Lakes basin. Plus, there was no sign of bugs and after seeing 4 climbers and 2 backpackers on day 1, the tally fell to zero for the next 9 days. Talk about tranquility! Just about every night provided an amazing light show topped by a diaphanous rainbow above Feather Peak that accompanied the evening’s alpenglow. Yes, the flower bloom was just beginning, so it will be in synch with the bugs!
Q: You really have not outlined the route; where’d you go? A: The original plan was to head over Pine Creek pass and work our way to Merriam before using Feather Pass to access the Bear Lakes. Instead of Feather, we hopped the ridge to Den Lake a bit south of Feather (directly above La Salle Lake). Vee Lake was high on our list, because we finally figured out that camping on the peninsula yields jaw-dropping views of Seven Gables. Then the idea was to enter East Pinnacles basin via Gemini Pass (which we’d done about 5 years ago and we wanted to return). But for several reasons (mostly that we were post-holing in the snow and the eastern horizon looked sketchy with a storm brewing), we backed off from Gemini and found a great spot to camp above Little Bear Lake. At that point we debated whether to go for White Bear pass, Granite Bear pass or back toward our entry route via Feather. In the end we chose to get back to Pine Creek pass via Feather and then Roy-Mer col. Two guys were climbing Merriam Peak while we were getting over Roy-Mer, but we only heard them: no visuals. Our last night was spent on the vast Royce plateau above Pine Creek pass with dramatic lighting on Mt. Humphries.
Q. You mentioned the rainbow; were there other highlights? A: Um, after a year of covid-19, the whole experience was a highlight. But there were other beguiling elements. For instance, for reasons we could not fathom, it had been more than 2 decades since we’d been to Merriam. It’s both gorgeous and carpeted with excellent campsites, so it’s wonderful that it shows little sign of disturbance beyond the well-worn lakeside path. Also, the frog population was going bonkers in the ponds dotting the approach to Merriam. And, returning to Vee was as rewarding as we’d expected, because the looming wings of Seven Gables look on the verge of swooping down to greet you. But by far the most memorable segment was a bizarre manifestation on our first night at Merriam. It was warmer than expected (I sleep out, while my wife gets the tent) and I was having trouble getting to sleep. So, while looking for shooting stars, I got a bonanza instead. For several minutes I watched as a stream of orbs (maybe twice the brightness of the brightest stars) emanated from a point very close to the “pouring” star of the Big Dipper. These orbs propagated due south until they reached a point where they vanished from sight. I tried waking my wife, but she was out cold and I did not want to disturb her. But, since she carries the camera, we did not record the event. Instead I watched as maybe 40, 50, 60 orbs formed a silent, linear procession across the night sky before blinking out. For the next several days we pondered explanations (no, we had no hallucinogens; these were not retinal after-images, etc), and settled on two possibilities: the US Space Force is up to some monkey business; or it was a deployment of low-Earth orbit satellites. I’m leaning toward the later, but I still have not gotten the smoking gun proof. Regardless, it was a stunning display. Beyond that, the whole Bear Lakes basin remains a delightful area and we banged around there for several days before making our way back to “civilization”.
Time to let the photos tell the rest of the story……..