Day 1 - Mosquito Flat to Second Recess
14.9mi, +2790'/-3822'
Our whole first day was a uneventful trail slog from Mosquito Flat to the bottom of Second Recess. I was impressed by the trail engineering along Mono Creek - I don't remember a single unnecessary upwards section over hours of steady descent. The crossing avalanche runouts in the bottom of Second Recess are something to behold, absolute tree carnage and some very impressive still-growing trees, even bent over to a full 90 degrees.
Day 2 - Second Recess to Hilgard Branch
8.2mi, +3206'/-1433'
The second day was a long grind up to Gabbott Pass, though the views back down the canyon get pretty spectacular up there. I continue to be perplexed by Roper's aesthetic sense - he really talks up the area below Lower Mills Creek Lake, but I found it to be pretty but not extraordinary. I did quite enjoy the mini-meadow in the little cleft above Upper Mills Creek Lake.
The Lake Italy basin did live up to all of the s**t that Roper talks about it in the guide. I nicknamed this area (especially the area above Toe Lake) "Austerity Basin", a place where the scenery budget ran out. The junction at the head of the Hilgard Branch canyon, on the other hand, was positively spectacular - beautiful camping on a hillside bench under whitebarks, braided cascades, meadows, waterfalls, and hanging valleys, with the low-angle sun blasting up from the mouth of the canyon onto glistening slabs.
6.9mi, +1903'/-2175'
Day 3 we finally got to some serious rose-smelling - a 24 hour circuit of Bear Lakes Basin. We met Matt, a solo hiker out for 9 days of fishing, at Teddy Bear Lake, and got our answer about the previous group's difficulty with White Bear Pass: Matt had watched them from the lakeside as they descended directly down the fall line, apparently ignorant of the beta. Matt joined up with us for the pass and descent into BLB, and we parted ways again at Ursa Lake (he was going to attempt the direct route to Royce Lakes via the little notch between Feather Peak and Bearpaw).
Bear Lakes Basin absolutely lived up to the hype, but only once we'd gotten off the "blast on through" section that the SHR takes through the upper portion. We explored much of the northern section, hitting all the named lakes, some hilltop vistas, the incredible streams/ponds on the plateau north of Vee Lake, and followed the drainage all the way down to the foot of Peak 12640 and camped at the lake at the 90 degree bend in the canyon. This section was relentlessly gorgeous.
