Sierra Nevada backpacking: Lake Italy Trail, Italy Pass, Granite Park – John Muir Wilderness

Sierra Nevada backpacking: Lake Italy Trail, Italy Pass, Granite Park – John Muir Wilderness

Eastern Sierra backpacking, Sierra Nevada: Hiking the Lake Italy Trail from Lake Italy to Granite Park via Italy Pass. Exit route to the Pine Creek Trailhead on the Pine Creek Pass Trail.

John Muir Wilderness – Inyo National Forest. Bishop, California.
Eastern Sierra, Sierra Nevada.

Trailhead: Pine Creek Trailhead, Bishop

August 2024

Itinerary:
This video covers the second part of the fifth day and the final day of a seven day backpacking trip from the Pine Creek Trailhead which included the Pine Creek Pass Trail, Pine Lakes, Honeymoon Lake, Chalfant lakes, Granite Park, Italy Pass, ascent to Mt. Julius Ceasar, Dancing Bear Pass, Bear Basin lakes, Vee Lake, White Bear Pass, Hilgard Branch, Lake Italy, Gabbot Pass, Royce Pass, Royce lakes, Granite Park Pass, return to the Pine Creek Trailhead from Granite Park.

Day 5: Lake Italy Trail from Lake Italy to Italy Pass. Italy Pass Trail to Granite Park Camp.

Day 7: From the Granite Park Camp, Italy Pass Trail to the junction with Pine Creek Pass Trail. Continuation on the Pine Creek Pass Trail to the Pine Creek Trailhead.

The Lake Italy trail from Lake Italy to Italy Pass is a use trail that is well defined and in good shape for the most part. It disappears in some short sections along Lake Italy and on the climb up to Italy Pass where the hiker needs to traverse some talus fields. Similarly, the first part of the descent from Italy Pass on the Italy Pass Trail entails some short sections of cross country navigation through talus. All cross-country sections of this part of the trip were easy in regards of navigation and terrain traversed. With that being said, certainly this itinerary is not for everyone: solid hiking experience, good navigation and route finding skills and great conditioning are a must to complete it without difficulty. Also, it is advisable to support the hike with a GPS enabled hiking phone App or a GPS navigation device providing off-line maps (Or a paper map and compass if you want to go old school).

Trip Section Stats:
Approx. 6 mi, approx. 1200 ft elevation gain.

AllTrails Map:
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/afternoon-backpack-trip-at-lake-italy-via-pine-creek-a1afc58

Notes about the map: the map is indicative of the trip itinerary although mileage and moving time cannot be considered as reference as I often deviated from the route for filming and photography; also the moving time on the map includes all stops and beaks during the day as I stop recording only once camp was setup for each day.

Hike Notes:
The afternoon hike from Lake Italy to the Granite Park Camp through the Italy Pass was very enjoyable and not difficult. It traverses top Sierra’s landscape all above the tree line with great alpine lakes and surrounding mountains. The Lake Italy Trail goes by Jumble Lake which is beautiful and rugged as it is nested in a bowl surrounded by large boulder fields. I was familiar with the section from Italy Pass down to the Granite Park camp as I hiked it a few days earlier but, as always in the mountains, hiking a trail in the opposite direction provides different views and interesting perspectives. Lake Italy from above on the Lake Italy Trail was also a beautiful sight. The Granite Park camp location was spectacular. I spent two nights there and for both the Golden Hours were absolutely amazing in the evening and morning as well. On day six I hiked the cross-country round trip to the Royce Lakes via Royce Pass going up, and Granite Park Pass coming down (See related video: https://youtu.be/fSL5l77N6pk). The final day of trip was an easy uneventful morning hike down to the Pine Creek Trailhead. Overall, this was a truly fantastic backpacking trip in the Eastern Sierras. One for the memories.

Music:
Memory Waves by Yonder Dale
Licensed by Epidemic Sound.

#lakeitaly #backpacking #sierranevada #hiking #johnmuirwilderness #inyonationalforest #italypass #granitepark

CHAPTERS:
00:00 – Intro
01:17 – Trip Highlights
04:12 – Lake Italy Trail to Italy Pass
07:05 – Italy Pass to Granite Park Camp
10:50 – Granite Park to the Pine Creek Trailhead