R04 TR: Bear Basin HST Meetup, to Lake Italy via White Bear Pass 7/23 - 7/29/2024
Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2024 2:06 pm
The High Sierra Topix Meeting of 2024 came in with a bang. Most of us were thundered on, and those who came in from the eastside got the bolts of lightning too.
Wandering Daisy said she sometimes only got to the count of 1 second between lightning and thunder. Lizzie and I met Maverick on the way up the East Fork of Bear Creek. He had set up his tent to get out of the streaming rain and hail, plus thunder for the first of 3 times that day. That was on a Wednesday, but Thor'sday would've been more appropriate. We teamed up for better or worse, managing to wend our way up wrong creeks and dubious shortcuts, mostly mine. But we three also performed very well together -- sharing loads, leveling camps, and performing climbing feats that we couldn't have done alone. For instance, we climbed across the eastern side of the first of the Seven Gables Lakes, the one beneath the tight canyon that leads to Vee Lake.
I had come out to gather water during a lull, after we had set up our tents again to wait out the weather.
The storm light made these flowers glow!
We finally arrived at the HST Meeting site by the light of our headlamps around 11 PM! Yet all three of us were in good spirits, and laughing at our foibles. Maverick has a sunny outlook, and could make even an avalanche burial fun. We had made at least a few good decisions, such as adding warm dry clothes at the right time, and getting out of the worst weather, and into our tents. The next morning, we wondered if we three would be it, but soon an impressive group of others began to arrive. Sturdy Richlong and his dog Bo had preceded us, and were camped on the north side of the lake, and we met him first in the morning clearing. We can't say enough about how easy it was to meet one after another kindred spirits from within our HST family. Wandering Daisy became Nancy, Flamingo is Victor, Tomba- Tomas, Grampy and Rockyroad -- Mike and Michael, who had teamed up on an eastern approach. And then the durable schmalz / Brian showed up, having made it all the way in a day from the Pine Creek trailhead. Wandering Daisy wandered in late Thursday, having come in solo, and camped alone above the south side of Vee Lake. Last to arrive-- at O'dark thirty, were the couple BardoPond and his partner. They became our newest friends-- Alessandro and Rebecca, with whom we shared the next 3 days. Being originally from Genoa Italy, Alessandro was keen to visit the Lake Italy region, and that had been in our plans too. We four hiked over White Bear Pass and camped at a beautiful site by Brown Bear Lake. Then our second night's camp was situated by the amazing Bear Creek. Lizzie and I enjoyed their company immensely!
What a cool trip it was, and we hope to read and see pictures of how everyone else's journeys went. Kudos and thanks go to Eric, et. al, for putting this HST space together, and to Maverick/Peter for extending that space into remote mountain country for these face to face Meetups. Lizzie and I are already looking forward to the next one.
Here's how our trip went:
We started out at the Bear Creek Diversion Dam. Beautiful creek-- brutal access road for our 2wd old van.
Lower Bear Creek is a rare color of jadey green.
We had some mushrooms, and good mushroom growing weather on the way in.
It dawned clear on Thursday the 25th, then....
Thor got back into it.
It rained a bit more for us.
Wandering Daisy said she sometimes only got to the count of 1 second between lightning and thunder. Lizzie and I met Maverick on the way up the East Fork of Bear Creek. He had set up his tent to get out of the streaming rain and hail, plus thunder for the first of 3 times that day. That was on a Wednesday, but Thor'sday would've been more appropriate. We teamed up for better or worse, managing to wend our way up wrong creeks and dubious shortcuts, mostly mine. But we three also performed very well together -- sharing loads, leveling camps, and performing climbing feats that we couldn't have done alone. For instance, we climbed across the eastern side of the first of the Seven Gables Lakes, the one beneath the tight canyon that leads to Vee Lake.
We finally arrived at the HST Meeting site by the light of our headlamps around 11 PM! Yet all three of us were in good spirits, and laughing at our foibles. Maverick has a sunny outlook, and could make even an avalanche burial fun. We had made at least a few good decisions, such as adding warm dry clothes at the right time, and getting out of the worst weather, and into our tents. The next morning, we wondered if we three would be it, but soon an impressive group of others began to arrive. Sturdy Richlong and his dog Bo had preceded us, and were camped on the north side of the lake, and we met him first in the morning clearing. We can't say enough about how easy it was to meet one after another kindred spirits from within our HST family. Wandering Daisy became Nancy, Flamingo is Victor, Tomba- Tomas, Grampy and Rockyroad -- Mike and Michael, who had teamed up on an eastern approach. And then the durable schmalz / Brian showed up, having made it all the way in a day from the Pine Creek trailhead. Wandering Daisy wandered in late Thursday, having come in solo, and camped alone above the south side of Vee Lake. Last to arrive-- at O'dark thirty, were the couple BardoPond and his partner. They became our newest friends-- Alessandro and Rebecca, with whom we shared the next 3 days. Being originally from Genoa Italy, Alessandro was keen to visit the Lake Italy region, and that had been in our plans too. We four hiked over White Bear Pass and camped at a beautiful site by Brown Bear Lake. Then our second night's camp was situated by the amazing Bear Creek. Lizzie and I enjoyed their company immensely!
What a cool trip it was, and we hope to read and see pictures of how everyone else's journeys went. Kudos and thanks go to Eric, et. al, for putting this HST space together, and to Maverick/Peter for extending that space into remote mountain country for these face to face Meetups. Lizzie and I are already looking forward to the next one.
Here's how our trip went:
