High Sierra Topix

Hello,
There have been so many posts about Bear Lakes Basin, that I would love to visit that area. I have never been there. I am pretty good with xc route finding but am a still not very confident on loose scree and very rough talus. I keep pushing so that I can get better at xc navigation and dealing with rough footing to have more freedom to go to less crowded, more beautiful places.
I am thinking of going in at the Bear Dam TH and hiking as far as I can, hopefully past twin falls, (I will be driving in that day so I am not sure how far I will be able to get.) The next day I would go to Vee Lake. The third day I would layover and go from Vee to Bear Lake Basin and hike around, exploring the basin, camping at Vee that night. 4th and 5th days I would pack out.
Here are my questions please:
1) How is the road to Bear Dam? Can I drive all the way to the TH with a high clearance 4wd or is it so bad I will have to park A few miles from the TH and walk on the road?
2) How is the route from Vee to Bear Lake Basin? I will only have a day pack so I could manage some, very easy class 2. Is the navigation pretty straightforward in both directions, coming and going? I would like to avoid anything extremely steep, too loose to be safe or with huge gaps between boulders making giant leaps necessary. I know extremely steep is subjective, so let me say, I want to avoid something so steep and loose that you backslide on most strides. Bouldering and hopping from rock to rock on reasonably secure footing is fun, the backslide on super steep, loose footing is scary for me.
THANK YOU SO MUCH HST COMMUNITY!

I can't comment on the condition of the Bear Diversion Dam road because I haven't been on it since 1988, but I can comment on dayhiking from Vee. I always considered Vee part of Bear Basin and I think most folks do. From Vee off trail hiking is very easy to get to neighboring lakes. Most of the walking about in Bear Basin is walking over gentle slabs (not steep ones) and turf, so it is really pleasant walking. Looking at the topo map as well as visually scoping the terrain will help you avoid small cliffs. One can do a nice loop that heads northward from the north shore of Vee Lake to the chain that includes Little Bear, Big Bear, Ursa, and Bearpaw, and then descend to Den and Claw and back to the south shore of Vee for a mellow tour of the basin. The walking around Vee itself is mostly on a turfy fringe.

I drove up to the diversion dam in a Subaru Forester a month ago. The road was in a little worse shape than it was the previous time I drove it five years ago but it is still passable. The recent thunderstorms might have washed away some more of the gravel but unless it suffered major damage you will have no problem with a high-clearance 4WD.

I completely agree with giantbrookie about the hiking above Vee Lake. The cross country is easy and a lot of fun. There are a wide variety of possible routes all over the basin. You would have to go out of your way to find any bothersome talus.

Sounds delightful! Thank you so much! I forgot to ask, how is the trail from the main Bear Canyon trail up to Vee Lake? Is it a trail or also xc?

The trail fades out a mile or two up the east fork. There are one or two tricky places right after the trail disappears where you'll need to figure out whether to climb a bit above the north side of the creek or stay next to the creek. There is more discussion here that includes a map that shows the approximate route I've taken in the past.

Thanks so much @druid
So it sounds like class 2 is unavoidable? I can do it with a day pack but I am not certain with a full backpack. How difficult is the talus? It looks like < 2 miles off trail, but how much of that is really hard? Now I am wondering if it is past my skill level and strength.

What I remember is a few hundred yards of stable low-angle talus around 10400' or so that did not require any use of hands. There were a handful of other places along the way where I do recall using my hands for balance, such as right at the Vee Lake outlet. But I wouldn't personally call any of the route hard class 2, in fact most of it is just class 1 walking. The people mentioned in the thread I linked that said they ended up in class 3 or in a mile of talus were either exaggerating or were seriously off route.

I'm sure there are quite a few other forum members that have done this route so perhaps someone else will be able to give you some more specific advice.

@SSSdave and @druid thank you so much for the great information. I read the post carefully while looking at the map so that I could understand exactly what you were describing. It sounds to me like it is beyond my skill level with a full pack. It will require a lot of hunting around, backtracking and exploring to find a route that avoids class 2. I might camp down on Bear Creek and try to scout a route on my layover day for a future backpack.
Otherwise, I might go on to Lou Beverly and xc to Three island on my layover day.
Any though that you can share regarding Lou Beverly camping or the hike to Three Island?
Thanks!

I don't remember much about Beverly, as I just passed by it when I was up there a few years ago. Sandpiper Lake is pretty exposed, but I remember there being flat durable surfaces where you can set up a tent and it is beautiful in a stark open way.