Italy, Pine Creek, Seldon passes lollipop 08/13/22 - 08/14/22

The week before this was wild and busy at work and I needed to get away to forget about things on the weekend in order to reset and get ready for another wild one the following week... So off I was to check out permit availability for Sierra National Forest (almost everything, as usual) and check out loops which would be do-able in a day and a half. 

The loop I planned was completing some connections between trails I had done previously in the area. I hadn't done Italy pass -> Piute canyon section, or from Florence creek trail back to lake Italy trail over Seldon Pass. For this loop I did not make use of the bear creek cutoff trail like the loop really should because I still have horrible memories of it from my huge bonk coming back from Julius Caesar a few years back. 

I left the bay area at around 6 in the morning and was at the trailhead a little after 1030 with a stop to pickup the permit. After eating some breakfast I was on the trail at 11! It was so satisfying to grab my fully packed bag straight out of the back of the car! 

Bear Ridge trail... Every time I do it I enjoy it less. I think it has gotten more horse traffic over the years.

Looking up the valley from the PCT

Bear Creek

Hilgard Meadows

Beautiful granite valley on the way to Lake Italy

Lake Italy. Bear Creek Spire in the back.

I made pretty solid time through the day. Was ~2:15 to the Lake Italy trail junction, and 3:45 to lake Italy. Things massively slowed down after that as the trail is quite rough from Lake Italy and most of the way through Granite Park. I ate my very late lunch at Italy Pass. 

From Italy Pass looking into Granite Park

Granite park was... spectacular

Dropping down to the next bench

Much the same view as the last one, still amazing

It's like someone keeps this as a garden?! It's so perfect.

Honeymoon Lake

French Canyon

Sunset from Camp (and my inreach...)

At about 6:30pm (36km distance) I reached where I decided would be a good spot camp for the night. There was a nice sheltered spot with plenty of room at the junction of the Little Lake trail and French Canyon trail. I got my tent setup fast and ate dinner as the alpenglow disappeared from the mountains. 

I was up with the sun the next morning and moving not long after the sun was starting to make its way down from the peaks. I had a lot of distance to cover for both this trip, as well as driving so I needed the early start.

Starting out the day in French Canyon

At the junction of the Merriam Lake trail

Piute Canyon

Another Dome in Piute Canyon

The quiet section of the PCT (most hikers end up at Muir Trail Ranch?)

Some Meadows on the climb up to Seldon Pass

Sallie Keys Lake

And again from above

The day generally went quite smoothly up to near the top of the big climb to Seldon Pass... but I was not taking in enough water and I could feel it. I stopped and ate lunch a bit before the pass and forced myself to drink two bottles to get back on track. The problem was my filter bottle had seen a LOT of use over the years and the filtration had really slowed down, meaning it took longer to drink, and took more effort... so I was avoiding drinking. Solved this problem for the future when I got home and bought a fresh filter...

View north from Seldon Pass

(more or less the same photo again...) Marie Lake is quite the scene

Looking back at Mt Hooper and unnamed one in the centre

I was back at the car a little before 4pm after a 52km day. I was driving off not long afterwards and safely made it home! I felt very refreshed and like I had enjoyed more hours in the weekend than could have possibly existed :)