High Sierra Topix

As a winter project, I have been re-processing old photos and writing up what I can remember so I can reminisce in my rocking chair when I get REALLY old! Since we are in the trip report doldrums, here is an old trip from 2001.

Pine Creek Loop: August 25-Sept 03, 2001
Royce, Seven Gables, Bear Basin, Mills Creek, Granite Park

The plan was a 10-day mixed climbing/backpacking trip. We took complete gear for 5th class climbs, including helmets and ice axes which we used on two passes. At this point in our climbing we were using double ropes for alpine climbing to reduce rope drag and allow full length rappels. Our packs were heavy! Carrying heavy, bulky packs over two difficult passes made more work than needed. We would decide which climbs to do when we got there. Our camera was first-generation digital; unfortunately the battery life did not last the trip.

2001 had been a good climbing season for us having done several multi-pitch 5th class climbs, including North Arete of Bear Creek Spire, Royal Arches, Fairview Dome, West Ridge of Mt Conness, and Thunderbolt from the east. This final trip, combining a long backpack loop with technical climbing just did not work. Long miles sapped us for next day climbs; heavy climb gear weighed us down backpacking. Nevertheless, we were happy with the two climbs we accomplished, one a first ascent as far as we know. The report below is based on memory of events over 20 years ago, dates of photos taken, when available, and an archived a map of the route.

Day1. 8/25/01: Pine Creek TH to Golden Lake (5.4 miles, 7 hours, 3970 feet gain)

We drove down the day before and camped at the Pine Creek Trailhead. With an early start and a slow steady pace, the big elevation gain was not that bad. The late season crossing of Pine Creek was easy. It was a hard day because of heavy packs but we easily made it to Golden Lake.


Day2. 8/26/01: Golden Lake to Royce Lake 11656 (2 miles, 3 hours +2 hours climb attempt, 865 feet gain)

The goal was to climb Pt 12565 from Royce Pass and move to Royce Lake 11656 as a base to climb Merriam Peak the next day. Hauling our heavy packs up to the pass was slow and tedious. After reaching the pass by 10:30, we made a feeble attempt at Pt 12565 and retreated. Perhaps it was rationalization or lack of energy that made us feel the climb was too hard and we would not have time to finish. We continued to Lake 11656.

After setting up and resting, we scoped out the approach to the northwest ridge and it looked feasible. As far as we knew this would be a new route. There is a more technical route on the on the north face, but it was above our ability. The northwest ridge would be more alpine, weaving back and forth on a knife-edge rib. Royce-Merriam Saddle still had some snow so we would need our ice axes for the descent. Since we did not bring crampons we did another hike towards the saddle to kick steps in the snow while it was softer in the afternoon, hoping they would still be usable the next day. Back in camp we had plenty of time for a leisurely dinner. Weather was perfect and sunset lovely.



Day3. 8/27/01 Climb NW Ridge Merriam Peak (2 miles, about 8 hours, 1400 feet gain/loss)

After scrambling up the lower angle approach we roped up once on the actual ridge. The climbing was a mix of class-4 and easy class-5 and very exposed. The route was enjoyable and interesting as we intricately tip-toed around little spires and blocks. After crossing over to the southeast side of the northwest ridge, we stopped for an early lunch where we could see Mt Humphreys in the distance.

We reached the summit at about 2:30 and peered down a gully onto Royce Lake 11656. Our route on the Northwest Ridge; it looked impressive! The descent to Royce-Merriam Pass was a moderately steep but I do not recall anything particularly difficult. The upper 80 feet descending from Royce-Merriam Saddle was more difficult with class-2 scrambling. We stepped onto the snow using steps we made the previous day. This was much faster than the talus to the side. Back at camp we enjoyed a nice meal and sunset.

Day4. 8/28/01: Royce Lake 11656 to Seven Gables Lakes (4.4 miles, about 8 hours, 1630 gain/2400 loss)

It was a two pass day with the goal of camping at Seven Gables Lakes. Royce-Merriam pass was in the shadows when we started and we were happy to find our old steps still useable. The short top class-2 talus was difficult with our big bulky packs. The drop to the Merriam Lake drainage was delightful, passing a long lake and walking on slabs and grassy stringers. We took a long rest at the upper lake at 11,190 feet elevation.

We wanted to base camp at Seven Gables Lakes because it was the best for climbing Seven Gables, our primary goal. We had several route choices; Feather Pass or an unnamed notch to the south via V-Lake to Seven Gables Lakes, or the more difficult Ruskie or Stough passes that dropped directly to Seven Gables drainage. We initially planned on Stough Pass, but our present location did not seem to offer the best approach; it seemed more a pass to use from Merriam Lake. The guidebook had little details on any pass so eye-ball route finding would be our guide. Not sure why, but we chose Ruskie Pass.

We ascended the obvious gully that was sort of like a dihedral to a small lake where we scouted a bit to see if we could traverse to Stough Pass, but it did not look good. We continued up towards Ruskie Pass. I half recollect a small cliff blocking descent from the saddle, but the map does not agree show any cliff. We thought a chimney to the north lead to the pass. This took us to another small saddle where we dropped westward on a steep grassy slope. Side-hilling on the grassy slopes was hard on ankles. We finally reached Seven Gables Lakes. I am not sure the lake shown below is Lake10947. The photo take below is after we set up and had dinner.



Day5. 8/29/01: Day hikes loop to Big Bear Lake (6.7 miles, about 7 hours, 1560 gain/loss)

We slept poorly and by morning punted on Seven Gables, instead day-hiked to Bear Basin. We scrambled up to V-Lake, around the north shoreline, cut over to Den Lake, turned southeast to Claw Lake and up the drainage to Den Lake. A small pass to the northeast dropped us into the upper reaches of Bear Basin. We had not seen a single person in four days, and amazingly, we ran into a couple that Dave knew very well; small world! The fellow had rigged up an ingenious little canopy attached to the top of his pack. He said it was both sun and rain cover and was testing out this prototype. We wished them luck as they headed out over Feather Pass.

We continued down the drainage, stopping to enjoy Bearpaw Lake and Ursa Lake where we noted established campsites in sandy benches. A few years later we camped at one of these. Then we dropped to Big Bear Lake. All three of these lakes were lovely and the weather remained perfect. To return, we followed the Little Bear Lake drainage. First, we stopped for a leisurely lunch at Little Bear Lake. At 2:45 PM we left Little Bear Lake and travel became challenging! We were in a maze of little cliffs. We started towards V-Lake and then decide to turn and go down the valley between V-Lake and Little Bear Creek to avoid repeating miles. It definitely was not an easy route down to the East Fork of Bear Creek and back to camp.

Day6. 8/30/01: Climb Seven Gables (4.6 miles, about 9 hours, 2640 feet gain/loss)

We were well rested and ready to climb Seven Gables Peak. We obviously were not skilled enough to climb difficult northeast face routes. We chose the class-3 South Slope, taking rope and minimal gear just in case.

From camp, we climbed onto the prominent ridge that trends south-southeast from the northernmost ponds of the Seven Gables Lake to Seven Gables Pass and dropped to a small lake on the southwest side. We generally followed the South Slope route intersecting the southeast ridge at about 12,500 feet where we then scrambled up the ridge and back-and-forth around some blocks. I am not sure we were on the standard route, but I do not recall using the rope except for the final summit block. The view was great! Clouds were building to the north when we started down. The descent was not described in any guidebook; we took what looked good on the map to loop rather than return the way we came. After dropping down the northwest ridge to a prominant saddle, we turned right (northeast) and followed a drainage and onto a prominent ridge/ramp that dropped to the confluence of the creek from Little Bear Lake with the East Fork of Bear Creek. It was a mile back up the creek to our camp.




Day7. 8/31/01: Seven Gables to Lake Italy (9.4 miles, about 8 hours, 1960 feet gain/1780 loss)

Now that we were totally off-kilter with our plan, we scrapped the idea of any more technical climbing. Having never been to the upper Mills Creek, it became our next goal. Not wanting to repeat miles, we ruled out Dancing Bear Pass or Brown Bear Pass as options. Although much longer in miles, dropping to the PCT and going up Hilgard Branch was all new country to both of us.

The East Fork of Bear Creek is not easy, being a mix of brush, talus and small cliffs. The water was low enough to cross the creek to detour difficulties. We may have missed the best path, but getting up out of the creek drainage to the use-trail was a bit of a rock climb. There was a great view of the unnamed peak north of Seven Gables when we reached the top of a small rock buttress just after we climbed up to the use-trail. The trail disappeared in places on the next mile to the junction with the PCT. Fortunately we came out to the trail after the difficult Bear Creek crossing. The well maintained PCT allowed easy fast travel, if not the most spectacular.

The trail up Hilgard Branch was a much more scenic but a bit less maintained. A storm threatened when we reached the meadow at 9600 feet. We almost camped here it was so beautiful but that would not be far enough if we wanted to go to upper Mills Creek. The peaks on either side of the trail were impressive as we continued up to Lake Italy, but there were no more lush meadows. We reached Lake Italy about 4PM and found a sandy established campsite about a quarter mile along the south shore. Clouds had disappeared and we enjoyed some sunshine but the air was quite cold.

Day8. 9/01/01: Lake Italy to Upper Mills Creel Lk + dh (5 miles, 6 hours, 1450 feet gain/1470 loss)

We were not keen on going back to the Lake Italy outlet so continued up the trail to where it turned to go up to Italy Pass. We hid all of our climbing gear in the rocks. We had underestimated the difficulty of getting around the large talus at the east end; it was a climb in itself! On subsequent trips I knew better and chose the north shore to get to Gabbot Pass. The climb from Toe Lake to the pass is quite easy. On the top we met people with several little dogs they were carrying through talus and patchy snow. They gave us some tips on getting down the pass and we followed their footprints.

We set up camp at the smaller lake downstream of Upper Mills Creek Lake and day-hiked to Lower Mills Creek Lake. Once down to the lower lake we wished we had camped there. We were totally impressed and vowed to get back to this area, which we did in 2010 doing Roper’s High Route. The last photo we took before the camera battery died was sunset from our camp. Some of the photos below may actually be from Lower Mills Creek Lake.




Day9. 9/02/01: Upper Mills Creek to Granite Park (5.6 miles, about 7 hours, 2375 feet gain/1950 feet loss)

We simply retraced steps back to our stashed gear, including through the talus on the east shore. At least we knew the best route this time. Once we loaded our packs with climbing gear we headed up the trail to Jumble Lake. The trail condition got worse as we went up and became difficult to follow. We were very diligent to scout for the trail when we lost it in the talus above Jumble Lake. The last 400 feet to Italy Pass were easy; the reason to find the trail now was to assure we started down the other side on the proper trail.

The trail dropping to Granite Park was a little bit easier to find, but by no means well maintained. As the scenery became more spectacular every moment I wished the camera still worked. We camped at the classic location in Granite Park at the stream crossing at 11,550. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening and there were no mosquitoes. The photos below taken in 2014 and 2017 show what we wished we could photograph!



Day10. 9/03/01: Granite Park to Pine Creek Trailhead (7.2 miles, 4 hours, 265 feet gain/4385 loss)

The walk out was beautiful as we knew it would be. The views on the trail down to Honeymoon Lake were new to us and the creek below the trail looked very inviting. Walking down the creek and fishing would be another trip, some day. Although the remaining walk out was uneventful, the downhill took its toll on knees

Thanks for posting this report about an earlier trip. Sounds like a great adventure. Your memory is excellent - I don't think I could write up a 20 year old trip with that much detail! And your photos are excellent, as usual.
-Phil

Thanks for your excellent report ! I had to read it three times or so to absorb your entire route. I want so badly to visit this area; I had a Pine Creek permit reserved this August, but had to cancel when a case of Covid knocked me out of commission. Seeing your photos certainly puts a Bear Lakes trip (minus your peak climbing !) up to the top of my 2023 planning.

Great climbing in beautiful places. Then you tacked on a fine backpacking trip too! Any fishing down on this trip Daisy?
One question, where is that big meadow up Hilgard Creek? Thanks for putting this back together.

No fishing in this trip. In 2001 we were just ramping down on our technical climbing and were bouncing back and forth between climbing goals and backpack goals. Considering fishing was a few years ahead this time. I remember the trip pretty well and it is hard to believe it was 21 years ago. Like I said in the report, our attempts at combining class-5 climbs with long mile backpack loops did not work out great. After about 2 years of this we simply did separate trips for climbs or backpacks. For the trip above, we could have done with one rope and a few cams. I also think we could have done without the ice axes too.

I am not sure which Hilgard Branch meadow is shown on the photos. There appears to be two on the map. I thought it was the second, but I will have to think about that and compare the photos to the map again. I thought the Hilgard Branch was really pretty although some people have said it was boring.

Another nice trip re-report, 21 years old! I wince to think of full backpacks and climbing gear too.

I thought the Hilgard Branch was really pretty although some people have said it was boring.

In June my brother & I went up Bear Creek from the Kaiser Pass road to Italy Pass. I think the whole of Bear Creek and the Hilgard Branch are especially nice areas. I think your picture is the same meadow as this one.
This is on the trail due south of Mt Hilgard, about 10,400 ft.
-m

WD, in 2001 I was still taking slides with Fujichrome. I've also considered putting together some trail reports from trips I made in the 1990s and very early 2000s before I converted, but I am lazy and have not scanned my slides. Were you using a digital camera for these shots or did you convert these images from film for our benefit?