Trip advice/critique - Pine Creek Trailhead Loop

[Mocs123]

I have heard the west side of White Bear Pass is a "bear" but if I went over Dancing Bear Pass to Italy Pass it looks like it would be avoided, correct? The east side looks fairly straight forward.


I know a few people that have done Snow-Tongue Pass and two said they would not do it again, that it was very unstable near the top. I am hoping that Alpine Col will be less harrowing even though it has a long talus accent/decent.

I haven't done any off trail passes in the Sierra and am trying to use Wind River Range Passes to compare. The two most "technical" passes I have done in WRR are Knapscak Col (a supposed class 2/3), which I have done both directions (E to W in 2012 and W to E in 2018) and Illinois Pass (a supposed class 2/3) from S to N in 2014 and N to S in 2016) and quite a few other talus filled passes and lake basins in WRR including Alpine Pass, Douglas Pass, Sentry Pass, Bonniville-Raid Col, Texas Pass, Alpine Lakes Basin, Knifepoint Glacier, etc. I wouldn't say I am the best on talus (or fast) but I do have experience on it.

[Wandering Daisy]

You will do fine with your off-trail experience.

Yes, you do avoid the "bear" side of White Bear Pass if you go over Dancing Bear Pass. You would just miss Brown Bear Lake and Italy Lake. But, in my opinion, if that time saved would allow you to spend more time in Bear Basin or do a side trip into Royce Lakes, you would gain a lot.

The talus in the Sierra tends to be a bit more unstable than that in the Wind Rivers. But in the Sierra, you generally have shorter storms so would not generally get caught in several days of bad weather, which is something that could stop you from getting to Darwin Bench. But you still have a lot of good options even if you had to dropped the loop through Darwin-Evolution. Your route is good in that it leaves you with lots of choices. The permits in the Sierra only care about entry date and trailhead and the first night even though you give a tentative route plan. You can basically go anywhere you want, as long as you stay out of specific restricted zones such as the Whitney Zone.

[Flamingo]

@Mocs123 Your route sounds delightful, and your CalTopo plot suggests you've planned for bad weather alternates, which is great! I hope you write a trip report after it's over. I've traveled through most of those places, and I think---based on your experience---that you'll be fine. I suspect crossing Alpine Col will be the "crux" of your route.

I love the Pine Creek Trailhead, but my one piece of advice is that ascending this trail in August can be hot, hot, hot, especially with a full pack. The last time I ascended the Pine Creek trail I avoided the heat by starting at 3:30 pm, after the sun was below the Sierra Crest, and I was able to climb mostly in shade the entire way.

[bobby49]

Yes, I remember the Pine Creek Trail as being steep and hot and sunny.

I've started beating those problems by starting at 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. The early morning cold air balances against my uphill heat.

[lauralai627]

@lauralai627 - I wouldn't have thought Muriel Lake would have been that crowded, but I guess it's really not that far from a trailhead or the trail. Is there camping around Vee Lake? From input here I may be playing around with my planned campsites some.

I can't recall if there was good camping around Vee Lake -- we just went down for the day to swim and fish. We camped nearby at Big Bear Lake, which has a lot of good camping spots. I thought I had put together a trip report but it looks like I didn't! There are a bunch of existing similar trip reports on HST. Here is the thread I posted asking for advice on camping spots that you might find useful: http://highsierratopix.com/community/vi ... =1&t=14846

The route we took was a loop out of Pine Creek TH with our first night in granite park, up and over Italy Pass (bagging Julius Caesar), over Dancing Bear pass, which is fairly easy, down to Big Bear Lake for two nights, over Feather Pass and down to Merriam for an afternoon, then back to the unnamed lake before the Royce-Merriam saddle. The next day we bagged Royce and headed down to Royce Lakes for a night before heading over the saddle towards Honeymoon Lake and out at Pine Creek. That was one of our favorite trips to date. You'll have a great time wherever you go!

Here's my favorite photo from that trip - White Bear Lake

[SSSdave]

For pass information members need to visit our excellent Cross Country Passes sub-forum, then review posts. Note go to page bottom and sort by "Subject" lest finding anything by the default last post is tedious. Will encourage more members to add to these pages with actual images or route info versus vague text descriptions.

I have an old post for White Bear Pass that shows on topo the exact route to take to avoid direct decent class 3 rock or snow. Also added important info for Carol Col.