Question about Pear Lake to Moose Lake in the current conditions.

[avizzini]

The plan for this weekend was to spend a night at Pear lake in SEKI, leave Saturday and return Sunday. I've snowshoed to Pear lake before but never beyond it and was considering going to the saddle above Moose Lake early morning Sunday prior to leaving since it's only a mile or two from Pear lake.

Judging by some recent satellite images it's still mostly snow covered. I was only planning on bringing snowshoes, is there any part of getting to Moose Lake that'd warrant an ice axe and or crampons? I didn't really want to bother bringing them along. It didn't appear so, looking at the topo maps but, I've not been up on the tablelands before.

Beyond avoiding the ponds/lakes at the bottom of the bowl, that will probably be thawing out, are there any other things to be aware of/avoid this time of year with the tablelands? Or is it a pretty straightforward/easy journey?

[Trailguru]

I was at Moose lake last year. The route from Pear lake to Moose lake isn't super steep but given your route you would be fine without crampons. The descent from that saddle directly down to Moose lake is what we took back in 2011 and it was steep and tough on dry conditions so I can only imagine it with ice. Granted 2011 was the summer after that super winter and Moose lake had mini icebergs even in August. You can easily get to lake level if you keep following the contour NE and end up around 3'o clock from the end of that red line you drew as the terrain gradually losses elevation

Moose lake is such a gem. The view from the west shore towards the Kaweahs is one of the finest views

[avizzini]

Good to know, getting down to Moose Lake itself isn't a priority, it'll probably just be frozen and snow covered, I mostly wanted the view of the Great Western Divide and the Kaweahs.

[Lenier]

I was considering this as well, but I was on Alta last Monday and there's just so much partially melted snow that I think it's sort of dangerous right now. I fell through two places chest deep on my way up Alta, and it's not like I don't know what to watch out for to avoid this!

[tim]

We did a winter trip to Pear Lake ski hut about 10 years ago and climbed into the basin above with snowshoes. Of the two routes shown in red, the northern dogleg one was much more viable - I’ve done the straighter route above the lake in fall but it’s much steeper and I think would be more difficult in snowshoes. Once in the basin it’s not steep but I agree there may be places you could fall through into ponds if the snow is melting, as the whole area is quite undulating.

Photos here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10843 (winter trip)
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7169 (fall trip)

[avizzini]

We did a winter trip to Pear Lake ski hut about 10 years ago and climbed into the basin above with snowshoes. Of the two routes shown in red, the northern dogleg one was much more viable - I’ve done the straighter route above the lake in fall but it’s much steeper and I think would be more difficult in snowshoes. Once in the basin it’s not steep but I agree there may be places you could fall through into ponds if the snow is melting, as the whole area is quite undulating.

Photos here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10843 (winter trip)
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7169 (fall trip)

Those photos make me want to return when the snow is deeper. Fall appears nice as well but the visibility is often worse.

I did make it to Pear Lake, snow was pretty good the entire way, even mid-day there was no post-holing, brought snowshoes, didn't need them. The lakes and snow got solid overnight. With the full moon it would have been pretty easy to get an early start and return before things got warm and messy (which happened a few hours after sunrise).

Conditions seemed alright to get to Moose Lake but, I forgot to top off my fuel bottle prior to leaving and only had enough to boil water for Pear Lake and back... I was expecting far more snow and less accessible water at Pear Lake, the white gas stove was an overkill for this trip... and I should have brought my filter. There was plenty of running water everywhere.

Otherwise it was a nice weekend with mild weather. I'll probably return later this summer or fall to get Moose Lake, maybe make a longer trip and see more of the Tablelands.

Only bad part were the marmots everywhere, they're fun to watch when you're day hiking but when your sleeping next to them, they are relentless and bold, a real nuisance up there...