Trip Report: Pine Creek to Bear Basin-Granite Park

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Harlen
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Re: Pine Creek to Bear Basin-Granite Park Trip Report

Post by Harlen »

Giantbrookie wrote:
Nice report and quite a surprise about the size of fish you caught within the Pine Creek basin. My relatively small number of casts in those lakes did not return anything large
John,
Photo tricks and downright lies- sorry. I thought lying about one's fish was a time-honored tradition.
I assumed the fishery-trolls would wade in and blast me for catching such wee fish-
it was defense through offense.
Last edited by Harlen on Tue Aug 20, 2019 10:14 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Harlen
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Re: Pine Creek to Bear Basin-Granite Park Trip Report

Post by Harlen »

Jmcnamara5 wrote:
Can you provide an update on crossing Pine Creek? I read a few other reports that said it can be dicey...Thanks!
The main crossing between the lower Pine Lakes was easy without boots, at 11 AM on the way in, and on the way out in the afternoon we just kept the boots on, so it was dead easy again- closer to our knees than thighs. The crossing above the upper Pine Lake was easy without boots, but we left them on, went upstream of the trail maybe 100' where the creek spreads out, and found a series of challenging leaping and log-balancing acts. Bearzy is an amazing leaper, it was us that had the problem staying dry.
Last edited by Harlen on Wed Jul 17, 2019 10:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Pine Creek to Bear Basin-Granite Park Trip Report

Post by Jmcnamara5 »

Thanks for the update!! Heading up today!
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Re: Pine Creek to Bear Basin-Granite Park Trip Report

Post by giantbrookie »

Harlen wrote: Tue Jul 16, 2019 11:32 pm John,
Photo tricks and downright lies- sorry. I thought it was a time-honored tradition.
I assumed the fishery-trolls would wade in and blast me for catching such wee fish-
it was defense through offense, Ian.
No worries. Kinda figured you were kidding based on the proportions of the fish and the track record of those lakes but you never know. Btw the place I fished off the ice last weekend (which was still mostly frozen) was frozen as late as about Aug 3 in 2017. Wow. The late thaw is really messing up our season.
Since my fishing (etc.) website is still down, you can be distracted by geology stuff at: http://www.fresnostate.edu/csm/ees/facu ... ayshi.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Pine Creek to Bear Basin-Granite Park Trip Report

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Ah HA! THOSE were the dog prints we saw down French Canyon and in Bear Basin! We must've just missed each other! We weren't sure of the status of the traverse involving Dancing Bear to Italy Pass, so we changed our plans near the end of the trip, turning around at Big Bear Lake. I took a pic of the dog prints in Bear Lake Basin because I thought they might be coyote, and wondered what the heck it was doing up there in those conditions #-o
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Harlen
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Re: Pine Creek to Bear Basin-Granite Park Trip Report

Post by Harlen »

Giantbrookie wrote:
Kinda figured you were kidding based on the proportions of the fish and the track record of those lakes but you never know.
100_2307.jpg
So, if this was in fact a 16" pan, that would be a "Brookie" worthy of your name, and you might have raced up Pine Creek to try to catch one yourself John! Curses! Wouldn't I have been in trouble then?
I suppose "honesty is the best policy," even in fish stories. Okay then, see the true size of those fish below¹- abuse me if you like.
*plus, the pan is less than 6" in diameter.

¹Note that the 2 fish in my hand seen below are the smaller ones, the Giant Brookie in the pan above came later.
100_2296.jpg
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Last edited by Harlen on Tue Jul 23, 2019 12:02 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Harlen
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Re: Pine Creek to Bear Basin-Granite Park Trip Report

Post by Harlen »

notis writes:
Ah HA! THOSE were the dog prints we saw down French Canyon and in Bear Basin!
Yup, here's Bearzy, caught in the act of leaving tracks. Hope you had a great trip.
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Re: Pine Creek to Bear Basin-Granite Park Trip Report

Post by robertseeburger »

Great trip report!.. good to see photos of this area early on. I guess as expected, most everything frozen..Like the shot of Vee Lake and Seven Gables.
I suspect the snow made things worse, but perhaps it made it easier going over the pass between Bear Creek and Granite Basin? The large steep talus has intimidated me a little to do this pass.
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Re: Pine Creek to Bear Basin-Granite Park Trip Report

Post by cgundersen »

Hi Harlen,
Congrats on a great trip and thanks for the super report. My better half and I were still so exhausted from our early season trip 2 years ago that we simply could not face the kind of sun cups (!!!!!!!!!!) you described (and showed), so we postponed for autumn. Now, it's mid-July and with no trip under my belt, I'm feeling antsy. But, I do have a pal coming out next month to tackle something up around Lyell as long as the fire situation holds. I'm guessing there will still be plenty of snow even well into August. And, flowers and bugs, too?
Cameron

PS. Regarding Robert's comment: from the routes you've taken Robert, I doubt you'd find Granite-Bear too challenging. Yes, it's a little loose toward the top as one ascends from the East, but nothing worse than you've done before and it's a delightful gravel descent on the other side (once the snow melts).
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Harlen
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Re: Pine Creek to Bear Basin-Granite Park Trip Report

Post by Harlen »

*Errata

When I came clean in my Trip Report above, I wrote:
I suppose "honesty is the best policy," even in fish stories. Okay then, see the true size of those fish below- abuse me if you like.
*... the pan is less than 6" in diameter.
I just measured it, and the diameter is in fact 6.75" - so those fish of mine were a lot bigger than we thought!
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