Pine Creek

We began the trip on a trail which quickly turned into an old road bed.  This had to take a lot of work to build as the trail climbed through some big talus.  The road bed led to some old mine claims which were no longer active.  Across the valley was an active tungsten mine.

Climbing up the old road bed, looking back into the Owen's Valley.  The peaks on the eastern crest of the Sierra Nevada rise nearly 10,000 feet above the valley.

Ruins from an old mine.

Climbing up the Pine Creek drainage toward Granite Basin and Italy Pass.

Waterfall.

Looking down the valley we climbed up into the Owens Valley.

Looking up the Pine Creek drainage toward Granite Park.

Pine Creek drainage.

Indian paintbrush.  Unfortunately, I had the settings on my camera set wrong so a few photos have the same shiny spots that this flower photo does.

Granite Park

Lots of golden trout in the lakes.

Evening colors in Granite Park.

The moon coming out over Granite Park.

The morning of Day 2 in Granite Park.  Today we climbed over Italy Pass and Dancing Bear Pass.  We climbed Mt. Julius Caesar on the way.

Mt Julius Caesar left of center, right of Italy Pass.

Looking back on Granite Park where we climbing from in the morning.

On Italy Pass, Seven Gables is the peak on the right on the far horizon.  Dancing Bear Pass is just below it on the closer ridge.

Italy Pass.  Jumble Lake just to the right of Dad.  Seven Gables on the horizon to the left, Dancing Bear Pass which will would cross shortly below it.

Granite Park.  Mt Humphreys is the peak on the horizon a little left of center.

Climbing up Mt Julius Caesar.

Bear Spires from the top of Mt Julius Caesar.

Mt Tom on the left, Mt Humphreys right of center, Royce Lakes far right.

Walnut-like nut near the top of Mt Julius Caesar.

Mt Julius Caesar from Italy Pass

Mt Julius Caesar in the background.  We are near Dancing Bear Pass.

Crossing Dancing Bear Pass.

Mt Julius Caesar directly behind Mom.

White Bear Lake just after Dancing Bear Pass

Descending Dancing Bear Pass

Black Bear Lake

Feather Peak and Feather Pass to the right.  We climbed to Feather Pass

Climbing up to Feather Pass

On top of Feather Pass looking back at the Bear Lakes basin

The far side of Feather Pass.  Merriam Lake is just out of sight behind the near ridge on the right.  We would camp there a few days later.

Feather Peak

Bear Lakes

Feather Peak in the background

Shooting Stars

A frog in the middle of the photo

Frog

Descending toward V Lake

Out descent to V Lake was not the most efficient.  We headed down along Little Bear Lakes.  It would have been advantageous to be on the south/left side of the lakes.  We were on the right side.  We got by the first lake without problem.  The second lake the shoreline was blocked with cliffs.  So we descended a drainage next to the lakes.  This drainage ended up having some brush and some rocky sections.  Once the drainage met with the Bear Lakes drainage, we climbed back up to the lower end of the lake and were back on track.

V Lake.  This lake was very big.

A marmot above V Lake

Seven Gables

The same marmot as earlier.  We saw very little wildlife this trip.  That has been typical for us in remote areas.  We did see a coyote, a bald eagle, and a snowshoe hare near Pine Creek pass the last night we camped.  We also saw one deer near Hutchinson Meadows.

A pika

A tiny clam shell Dad found in V Lake

Climbing up to Ruskie Pass which is very near Merriam Pass.

On the way up to Ruskie Pass

Ruskie Pass

Mt Humphrey's on the horizon

Descending Ruskie Pass

Climbing up the ridge toward Royce Peak

Looking down from Royce Peak ridge

La Salle Lake in the morning.  We could see steam rising off the lake because the water temperature was quite a bit warmer than the air temperature.

Merriam Lake.  We caught an old trail after the lake and made out way down to the main trail in the bottom of the canyon.

On the main trail heading toward Hutchinson Meadows

Honeymoon Lake.  We could see this lake a couple days ago.  I believe it was from the top of Julius Caesar.

Honeymoon Lake

Upper Honeymoon Lake.  The climb up to the lake looked pretty rocky but ended up being a little easier than we initially anticipated.  We got some small flakes of snow at the lake, but once we got back below tree line, the snow seemed to stop.

Climbing toward Desolation Lake

Turning around.  Our map was not ideal, so we weren't sure how long it was to Desolation Lake.  We were supposed to have reached a junction already and were not sure when we would.  Once the snow started falling, we decided to turn around and find a campsite at lower elevation.  We knew of a few spots we passed earlier.  We ended up walking the last half hour in the dark.

Clear blue skies the next morning.  Just after we pitched the tent in the snow, the clouds lifted and we could see the stars.

The trail was about 3 feet deep

Climbing up toward Pine Creek Pass.  We changed our route after the snow came in to ensure that we would be able to get out if we needed to.  By going back to Hutchinson Meadows, we would miss Desolation Lake, but would be able to get out of the mountains entirely on trails.

Long waterfall just left of center

Snow on the peaks.

French Lake with Four Gables Peak on the horizon.

Hiking toward L Lake

L Lake

French Lake looking west

Snow on the mountains

Fishing at French Lake

French Lake in the morning

French Canyon.  This morning we hiked to Pine Creek Pass, then dropped our back before hiking around the Royce Lakes Basin.

Pine Creek drainage

Lower Royce Lake

Humphreys Peak

With more snow in the forecast, we headed out over Pine Creek pass and finished the trip a day early.  We spent the next night in Bishop, CA and there was fresh snow on the peaks the next morning.  We would have had more snow if we spent another night.

Pine Creek Basin