Last week I did a six-night trip starting at North Lake, going over Piute Pass and down to Hutchinson Meadow, then up to Lake Merriam. From there, up past Lake La Salle and over Feather Pass into the Bear Lakes Basin. I went past Bear Paw, Ursa (camped there), Big Bear, Little Bear, Vee, then down into Seven Gables Valley and out to the PCT. From there I took the trail to Lou Beverly Lake where I spent the night, then went cross-country to the south end of Marie Lake, following the lake shore back to the PCT. I hiked over Selden Pass, camping at Sallie Keyes (very nice lakes, plenty of people but it didn't seem too crowded, lots of nice areas to camp). I descended down to the South Fork San Joaquin, then up Piute Canyon and back out over Piute Pass.
Trail crews have been extremely busy there, all blowdowns except one along the trail portions of the hike have been cleared. There were at least 100 blowdowns, some quite large, at the beginning of the steep climb up to Loch Levin, there were also a fair number of blowdowns at the north end of the narrow part of Piute Canyon, all cleared. The one blowdown remaining, on the PCT between the Seven Gables and Lou Beverly trails, has a very short well-defined use trail around it already.
The weather seemed hit-and-miss...thunderstorms Tuesday evening and again Saturday when I left, sprinkles Wednesday, some other days there were some fairly dark clouds following certain ridge lines.
Pictures.
Here's some of them...the first two are of Merriam Lake:
Next two are of Lake La Salle:
Ursa Lake (I think I may have to change my 'home' in the profile settings from Vee to Ursa...):
Big Bear:
Lou Beverly. This lake is extremely shallow and reedy, though there are a few spots where rocks reach the water, and the water in the lake is clear and nice for camp use, there's probably plenty of flow from the lakes above through Lou Beverly.
Here's Marie Lake seen from one of the peaklets on the north side, looking towards Selden:
Finally, Sallie Keyes:
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2012 07:12AM by ttilley.