Honeymoon Lakes (Inyo NF) — which one to honeymoon at?

No advice, just: that is awesome. Congrats, and Bon Voyage!

A couple of years ago we did the Pine Creek one, from there into Humphreys Basin, then back around through Granite Park before going out Pine Creek…you could also go all the way over to Lake Italy that way, but we didn't have time on that trip. It was all beautiful stuff, especially Granite Park and the pass by Mt. Julius Caesar, and the Pine Creek Honeymoon Lake is quite lovely. Nice campsites up above the far end of the lake. I don't know the other two Honeymoon Lakes by Piute Canyon, however. My sense is that the Pine Creek trailhead is less crowded than North Lake.

Hmmm…looking at my map, you could conceivably go to all three lakes in a week. Beyond the first Honeymoon Lake, you can go on trail to Moon Lake (BYO honey?), then xc from Star Lake down into the Humphreys Basin as we did, then down the Piute Canyon trail to the other two Honeymoon lakes. Then out French Canyon, going into Granite Park on your way back or any of numerous other likely looking spots on the way to Pine Creek.

Congratulations, and I'm sure whatever route you pick, you'll have a wonderful honeymoon!

Going up the Pine Creek Trail is a bit steep and sunny, so I would recommend an early start to get up to Honeymoon Lake.

–B.G.–

Thanks for the feedback and felicitations! We are really looking forward to being married, and spending time together in such a special place. I also had the thought that we could hit all of the honeymoon lakes, DK — but I didn't factor in the "BYO honey" part for Moon Lake! I think the honey you mention is my Honey ;)

Granite Park does look pretty awesome — and Pine Creek much less traveled than Piute. Thanks for the campsite suggestions, too. Has anyone ventured into the Bear Lakes Basin? Thinking we could link those in on this trip, it looks really pretty and less-traveled too. My brain is spinning now!

When I look at the map, it ALL looks good to me, so it's always nice to hear from someone who has been there before. In a sense, this will be a bit of a recon mission — we bought a house in Lone Pine, so this is our new backyard :)

Here's the report I did after our trip: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/xdpy/forum_thread/80979/index.html?skip_to_post=689248#689248 That should give you a better idea of our campsite area at Honeymoon. Also, Moon Lake was fairly stark – Elba was prettier as a campsite, IMO.

My recollection is that the Piute Canyon area gets progressively more forested as you go back towards Pine Creek; if I recall correctly, the bowls up above the canyon, where the "other" Honeymoon lakes probably were, looked fairly stark, and maybe not the greatest camping (we stayed at one of the Golden Trout lakes), but we weren't really close enough to tell for sure.

And oops – we started the xc FROM Star Lake, not ending there…

DK, thanks for that link! The Honeymoon Lk campsite looks really nice, I will file it away for our trip :) You also set my mind spinning around picking up a tenkara rod… that fish is gorgeous!

Yes, congratulations!

My wife and I met on a backpacking trip 22 years ago and got married on a beach 10 miles from where we met. We didn't backpack on our honeymoon, but did a lot of day hikes that ended at nice restaurants in Tuscany and Umbria.

Years ago, I knew a woman in MA who had long said if she met someone she thought she wanted to marry, she'd hike the AT with him. Figuring that over the months and months and miles and miles that anything that COULD come up between a couple WOULD come up during the trip. If they got to Maine together, she'd figure she was on to something/someone. It sounds like you two have done a similar sequence.

If you're both UL, then registering at REI doesn't really do it, huh? Enlightened Equipment does offer gift certificates that could be applied towards their Accomplice couple's bag.

If a friend whose legs are stronger than their wallet wants to give you a gift, you could request that they deliver a lasagna, a salad, a bottle of wine, and some Hagen Daz (use dry ice) to a particular campsite on your itinerary. AND THEN LEAVE.

And if you ask David nicely he might pack you in a hot-tub ;)
Dave

I'm going to disagree with most people here, and suggest a visit to Lower Honeymoon Lake near Piute Creek.

Sure there is a lot of traffic on the *main* trail down Piute Creek. However, Lower Honeymoon Lake is on a steep, barely-marked (and by the looks of it, little-used) side-trail that goes up a dramatic canyon. It is not a popular destination, nor easy to reach. I can't imagine it is highly impacted.

I don't know what the climb is like up to Upper Honeymoon.

The hike over Piute Pass is one of the most pleasant of the eastern Sierra. If you don't make it all the way to Lower Honeymoon by your first night – and want to avoid the big crowds at the Golden Trout Lakes – just follow a stream uphill or downhill from wherever it crosses the main trail, and walk over the flat-ish granite 1/10 mile to solitude.

By contrast, the hike up Pine Creek is hot, a real haul. And that Honeymoon Lake, being right along the Pine Creek trail, is going to be the most crowded of the three Honeymoons.

If you're going for a Piute permit, note it is one of the hardest permits to get in the Sierra owing to a low quota. Like other Inyo National Forest trailheads, the permit window open 6 months in advance, at 7 a.m. Permits for Piute may disappear within the hour, depending on the month and the day of the week of your hike. I recently failed to get a Sunday-in-August permit for Piute because I waited till 7:40 a.m. to get online, and all the permits were already gone.

– Elizabeth

"I'm going to disagree with most people here, and suggest a visit to Lower Honeymoon Lake near Piute Creek.

Sure there is a lot of traffic on the *main* trail down Piute Creek. However, Lower Honeymoon Lake is on a steep, barely-marked (and by the looks of it, little-used) side-trail that goes up a dramatic canyon. It is not a popular destination, nor easy to reach. I can't imagine it is highly impacted."

I'm not sure when you were there last, Elizabeth, but Lower Honeymoon Lake has been discovered. I've been there twice, once in 2010 and again in 2012. The first time around, the trail was indeed difficult to locate and Honeymoon Lake was deserted, with little indication of use. The second time, in 2012, the trail was still a bit difficult to locate if you didn't know what to look for, but once located showed signs of considerable traffic. The lake itself, though deserted, showed obvious signs of heavy use, including the usual indications of horse packers. I resolved that would be my last visit. When I was coming up Piute Canyon last year from McGee Lakes, there was a freshly installed sign "Honeymoon Lake" on the main trail with an arrow pointing the way. Looks to me like the horse packing crowd is doing a land office with newlyweds these days. That said, maybe if the OP visited late in the season they might get lucky, but I don't know if I'd bet a special trip on having it to oneself.