Big Pine Lakes 6/27-6/29 2011

jmac · Post by **jmac** » Thu Jul 07, 2011 2:39 am

Hooray! My first TR.
Warning. My easy-going trip may not be as exciting as some of the mountaineering/canyoneering trips on here, which are absolutely awesome! Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy.

A friend and I headed up to Big Pine Lakes on June 27th for a 3 day/2 night mini-adventure. I have to admit, this wasn't my first choice. We wanted hit up Garnet and Thousand Island Lake from Red's Meadow, but the road didn't open until the 30th. We ended up having a lot of fun, though. This was our first backpacking trip of 2011, so we were more than ready to get out and enjoy ourselves in the wilderness.
We were not sure exactly what the conditions would be like with the huge snow pack in the sierras this year, but we were prepared for a lot of snow. To our surprise most of the snow had melted from the trail and it ended up being a pretty easy trip. The trail was completely clear to Third Lake and once we got to the Fourth/Fifth Lake area there was only small patches on the trail. The trail to Sixth and Seventh Lakes still had a bit of deep wet snow in spots with some postholing to deal with, but nothing too bad. Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh lakes were still partially frozen over, but melting very fast. The trail up to Sam Mack and the Glacier were still completely snowed in.
We ended up camping at Summit Lake and explored the area from there. We found a really cool spot to camp near the water with a great view of The Palisades.
The weather was OK for the most part. Tuesday night into Wednesday morning was interesting with very high winds and a mix of snow and freezing rain all night, which melted as the sun came up. At one point I thought I was going to be blown away with my tent. It was awesome!
It was a pretty casual and relaxing trip. A perfect kickoff to summer!

The view from Lone Pine before we picked up our permits.

Near the trailhead.

Welcome to the wilderness!

Temple Crag

Second Lake

A room with a view!

Checking out the view above Third Lake

Some B&W fun.

I have more pictures of this trip posted on my blog if anyone is interested. I didn't want to overload the TR with all the shots. Check 'em out at http://trailsandwhatnot.blogspot.com/

Thanks and enjoy!

yobtaf · Post by **yobtaf** » Thu Jul 07, 2011 6:08 am

Thanks for sharing, and nice photos in your blog. 8)

Marty · Post by **Marty** » Thu Jul 07, 2011 7:30 am

I love that area. Looks like an awesome trip. Sweet camp spot!

Burchey · Post by **Burchey** » Thu Jul 07, 2011 8:02 am

Wow, you're killing me man. I'm supposed to be there right now, we were heading up North Palisade on a long weekend, but the weather looked like hell - didn't want to be up there in thunderstorms. Might get the ole butt zapped by a cloud.

I hope it's as beautiful in late september - going to try and head up then before much new snow drops. Thanks for the report.

MattCav · Post by **MattCav** » Thu Jul 07, 2011 10:36 am

Thanks for the TR! Amazing shots. We went up there a few months back but left because they were supposed to get 8' of snow over 2 nights and...well... that would more than bury our little Honda Civic. :-) I definitely need to get up that way again!

jmac · Post by **jmac** » Thu Jul 07, 2011 11:01 am

Thanks guys! It was a blast.
We actually left early because of weather on our trip, too. It turned pretty ugly on the day we planned to head up to the Glacier, and with thunderstorms in the forecast we decided not to go up. Glad we only got a dusting and not 8ft. with the beginning of the storm.

Oh well, that just gives me a reason to head back up. Fall looks like it would be amazing up there, especially with all the Aspen's along the first section of the trail.

BTW. I left a stack of Eispiraten stickers in the bear box at the trailhead for people to enjoy! Hopefully they don't get plastered all over the bear box and bathroom.

lilbitmo · Post by **lilbitmo** » Thu Jul 07, 2011 11:04 am

Very, very, very nice - any day in the Sierra's is a good day

Thanks for sharing that. Just keep the TR coming, it puts a smile on our faces when we are working at our desks

RichardK · Post by **RichardK** » Thu Jul 07, 2011 11:19 am

The Big Pine lakes basin is a world class beauty spot. Thanks for posting.

jmac · Post by **jmac** » Fri Jul 08, 2011 2:02 pm

My friend just emailed me these from our trip.
Mamma bear and her cub.

davantalus · Post by **davantalus** » Fri Jul 08, 2011 3:07 pm

Great pictures! The bears are cute... did they bother you at all?

Post by **Uncle Rico** » Sat Jul 09, 2011 9:14 am

I'm diggin' the iPhone pic of Lone Pine Peak and Whitney jmac. Very retro.

-Rico

jmac · Post by **jmac** » Sat Jul 09, 2011 7:32 pm

davantalus wrote: ↑Great pictures! The bears are cute... did they bother you at all?

Na. They didn't bother us at all. They were pretty far from us across a deep canyon. Momma noticed us and just shrugged us off and continued eating her meal. It was awesome to see. I have seen a quite a few bears, but this is the first time I have seen a mom with her cub. I'll have to admit I was a little nervous at first. I'm pretty sure she could have reached us fairly quick if she wanted to. The cub was really cute, jumping around and playing with some of the plants. I'm really glad I got to see this.

jmac · Post by **jmac** » Sat Jul 09, 2011 7:44 pm

Uncle Rico wrote: ↑I'm diggin' the iPhone pic of Lone Pine Peak and Whitney jmac. Very retro.

-Rico

Hey, thanks! I was surprised how nice that came out coming from the iPhone. I used the instagram(app) on it. I really liked the contrast of all the different colors as they changed from the foreground to background, and the tilt-shift was a neat touch. I want to go back up soon and spend a day or two taking pictures in the valley. I'd like to recreate that photo with my DSLR so I can actually get it printed.