Current Conditions for Humphreys Basin

West side of White Bear Pass

East side of White Bear Pass

West side Feather Pass

LaSalle Lake

West side Puppet Pass (won’t let me post – cant get under 1MB

East side Puppet Pass

Thank you!  Very helpful.  I agree with you that a snowfield can make for an easier route over a talus base.  We went over Gabbot Pass last year, which had a remnant snow field from 2017.  It was much easier to go through there on the snow than the talus hop required where the snow had melted.

I am hearing it is still pretty buggy up there.  Did you find that to be the case?

Also, did you cross Bear Creek?  (I am guessing that you did if you came in over Puite Pass and you went up the steep side of White Bear Pass).  If so, what was that like?

The bugs weren’t as bad as some people made them out to be.  We had treated our clothes with Permethrin and I brought both DEET and a headnet but didn’t use either.  Obviously the meadows had bugs (Evolution meadow, Big Pete Meadow, etc), and one camp the mosquitoes were fairly bad along Hilgrad Creek on our way up from the JMT to White Bear Pass, but not too bad.  There was a breeze and they didn’t show up in force until after we had eaten and gotten in our shelters.  I’d wear mosquito proof clothing and sleep in a net tent for sure.   No mosquitoes to speak of in Humphrey’s basin proper, just a few here and there.  No mosquitoes in Bear Lakes Basin that I remember.  The mosquitoes were mostly at less than 10K feet, though that may change with the melt.

Bear Creek was a knee deep wade, nothing sketchy.  Hilgrad Creek was a rock hop (it was braided where we crossed).  We crossed Evolution Creek at the alternate crossing in Evolution Meadow, as we heard the main crossing was deep and swift.  The alternate crossing was an easy knee deep crossing, and when we passed the main crossing, it didn’t look that sketchy.  I’ll post a picture of Bear Creek’s crossing below.

Thank you.  Much appreciated.  I now see I missed your post about going in from South Lake.  The proprietor of the pack station at North Lake is telling me that he is seeing people who have come over Lamarck Col, which sounds promising.  I have been packing in the Eastern Sierra every summer since 1986.  If I can return your courtesy with future trip ideas, please let me know.

STAN

Thanks Stanley, I may take you up on that.   At the top of Piute Pass I talked to a hiker who had gone in over Lamarck Col and did a loop coming out Piute.  I also passed an INYO NF Ranger near Piute Lake that said he was going over Lamarck Col and into Darwin’s Bench