What a Weekend!
I don't have a real "trip report" to lay out, but wanted to update hikers on the Pass.
The Rangers were still recommending snow gear when we left Saturday morning, but we never touched the spikes. The hike to the top from the trailhead took us right at 3.5 hours. There is more snow on the east face than the west face, BY FAR. The trail was under snow just past Flower Lake, and we took a foot path up to the trail on our ascent, and located a higher "main trail" route in the snow face on our descent. The snow is rapidly melting, so be cautious.
The only other tricky area up was the chute to the Pass. Some were heading in a straight line up (we did this on the ascent) and then attempted to follow the hidden switchbacks on the descent.
Once you reach the Pass, it's clear hiking. No lakes are iced over on the west face. We hit Charlotte Lake via the high trail in three hours (passing no hikers from the Pass to camp). We should have been quicker, but the trail is under water just past the Rae Lakes/Charlotte Lake sign (the area where the trails make a triangle). This was our first time to Charlotte Lake, and thus we couldn't quite figure out the huge drainage basin where the trails had been washed out. We would see the trail to Rae Lakes and to the JMT...but not sure where the trail branched DOWN to the Lake. We arrived after a little adventure!
The Lake was gorgeous. Our campsite, breathtaking. We saw no other hikers in camp. We had brought a tent for snow, but didn't even use the fly, only zipping up the sides to keep the mosquitoes out. The night was gorgeous, right around 50 degrees. The only disturbance was when hikers arriving just after midnight dispersed to find a site, talking in normal tones, walking straight through our site, which was about 50 feet off trail, uphill. Thank you for the courtesy! (No bear activity to be seen)
The hike out we took the south JMT trail down to Bullfrog Lake, around to Kearsarge Lakes, and up the Pass. It was cool, gorgeous, and we passed 2 total hikers. The trail is littered in debris from the snow, and you need to keep a keen eye out for footprints in snow and mud. There were times we were "following" off trail for a couple hundred feet before the trail re-emerged from under the brush. I do recommend this trail, and am glad we choose to do both. It was tough at the end, with the sun overhead, but we took a longer trail and made it to the top faster. We booked it down and overall, we knocked about an hour off Day #1 time. WE WERE BEAT!
I have to say, I loved this hike, and plan to hit Whitney from this side in the future. My friend and I had to agree, in full packs, this trip in to Charlotte Lake (we ended up doing about 19 miles with all of our roaming) gives a Whitney one-day summit a run for her money. And the view? Just like the first time I stood at Trail Crest in July snow.
Good luck!
A few quick photos:
http://mcbb-headscarolinatailscalifornia...ake-july-9.html