Heading up the steep switchbacks from the Tungsten mine at the Pine Creek Pass trailhead. This is also the trailhead for Italy Pass

The normal snow year meant a lot of water at high elevations, but most of it had a fairly easy way through.

At Upper Pine Lake a few shooting stars were out along the many creeks flowing into the lake, but at higher elevations it was still probably going to be mid-late july before the wildflowers really popped.

Sunset at Upper Pine Lake, about 5 miles in from the trailhead. The mosquitoes were the worst I had ever seen this year.

Panoramic image of Upper Pine Lake at sunset in the High Sierra.

There was a lengthy water crossing leaving Upper Pine Lake, it was impassible in the afternoon, but in the morning the water level had dropped by about 4 inches.

Looking back from Pine Creek Pass at the trail and drainage up from the trailhead.

There are two small lakes on Pine Creek Pass itself. The pass is one of the widest I have encountered, with at least a 1/4 mile flat section at the top before a gradual decent on the other side.

Clockwise from left: After crossing Pine Creek Pass, we cut cross country to French Lake. 2: Cresting the basin ridge holding french lake and starting down. 3-4: We had a fairly low-mileage crew this year, and after two days of up, there was a lot of relaxing along the flat shores of 11250 foot French Lake

I climbed up about 250 vertical feet from the far end of French Lake to check out the sunset on the 4 Gables above Little French Lake. Little French Lake would not make much of an overnight spot, but the views were nice.

As I started down from little French Lake, the sunset really kicked up only over the 4 Gables, so I spent some time working the rock formations and stream for a decent composition.

Pine Creek Pass backpacking trip 2016

French Lake really only had one possible campsite, a large flat grassy area on the SE side, but the lake and surrounding area were nice, great for swimming and was the first of two consecutive days that we did not see another person.

I got up before sunrise to shoot some pictures. No wildflowers were out at this elevation yet, but I used one of the numerous snowmelt streams to help with compositions. This is pre-sunrise on Merriam, Royce and Feather peaks, a popular destination for climbers.

Sunrise reflections on Merriam and Royce peaks in the High Sierra.

The fish were not biting so much at French Lake, but that was soon to change as the other lakes we visited had swarms of fish it seemed you could catch with your hands in the small streams.

We did a short day for day 3, exploring some of the small, high lakes nearby, then heading cross-country less than 2 miles to L Lake.

Coming into L Lake. This lake was our favorite spot. Once again we saw no people but we are quite sure we saw a wolf, as well as large canine prints and scat. We convinced ourselves that was impossible, even though 2 of our crew got a real close-up look, but when we got back and did a little research, turns out there are numerous, but sporadic sightings of a wolf in this area.

The many snow-melt streams between Steelhead Lake and L lake were great for photography, waterfalls, swimming and fishing. And we could tell that in another two weeks, there would be a riot of wildflowers along these streams making them even better

We explored the many lakes around L Lake during the day, and after seeing hundreds of decent sized fish in and around the outflow of Steelhead lake, some of the crew decided to fish there at sunset, they caught 6 fish I believe, but released most of them back.

A black and white shot just after the sun passed behind Royce Peak.

A black and white shot just after the sun passed behind Royce Peak.

The stream flowing out of Steelhead lake with the last light on the other side of the Four Gables peak.

Without the wildflowers blooming, I really liked the leading lines of these small mountain streams at sunset.

After the sun went down the wide granite benches above L Lake made for great card playing and star watching.

The wind shut off overnight and around 2am I was able to get some nice Milky Way shots with no moon and still pull a little reflection off L Lake.

The wind shut off overnight and around 2am I was able to get some nice Milky Way shots with no moon and still pull a little reflection off L Lake.

Lacking wildflowers and with Royce and Merriam being the only peaks getting first light from our vantage point, I went back up to my little streams at sunrise.

Pine Creek Pass backpacking trip 2016

Back to the granite to soak up the first sun rays and drink some coffee after a particularly cold night

Heading back toward Pine Creek Pass from L Lake, we did encounter some nice Western Swamp Laurel in the low, wet areas.

Once over the pass we decided to stay at Honeymoon Lake. This was a fun lake, with some good swimming and jumping rocks and 3 waterfalls pouring into it. It was also the most crowded of the lakes we visited, but we decided to head away from the Italy Pass trail, which runs along the S. side of the lake and where most people were camped, and take off our shoes to make this large water crossing, and were rewarded for our efforts by the best campsites on the lake, 4 large flat areas with a flat granite bench looking back down into Pine Lake below, or across at the largest waterfall.

Given that this trip happened during a period of basically no moon, I had my sights set on trying a Milky Way panorama, but did get any decent compositions until this final night, when the Milky Way arced perfectly over the peaklet behind Upper Pine Lake.

First light from Honeymoon Lake hitting in the direction of Italy Pass. The saddle visible is not Italy pass, but a perfectly doable cross-country route if you wanted to come straight across from Royce Lake on the other side.