I had had a stressful couple of days. After finishing our climb of Mount Gilbert on Sunday, we returned to Mammoth and checked into a new AirBnB. From almost the moment we got there, the group next door was being loud. It was a family with 3 or 4 kids and a dog and they were up and playing constantly. We thought it might abate after the first evening, but at 6 the next morning they were up again playing Indiana Jones. It was not a reasonable setup for remotely working, which Shannon was trying to do and I was planning to do next week. So after a half-hearted attempt to do a hike on Monday, I went back and sorted it out with the host. We negotiated a deal where we’d check out on Tuesday and move to a new place in exchange for some of our money back. The host was very apologetic and understanding and we had a fix for the problem, so we were happy.

All of this during a week I had taken off for hiking too! On Monday night, after having sorted all of this out, I sat down to figure out some reasonable objective for the next day. I could get up early, but needed to be back before too late to move over to our new place. After some deliberation I settled on Royce Peak and Merriam Peak, a pair of SPS peaks just west of the Sierra Crest in the Pine Creek area. I had visited this area two years ago on a backpacking trip, but hadn’t climbed any of the mountains. It would be a longer outing, 20-ish miles with a good amount of cross country, but I knew I could get up and down the Pine Creek Trail quickly. And I also knew I didn’t have to climb both peaks.

So, I set my alarm for 4 the next morning and was out the door around 5. At 6 I pulled into the Pine Creek Trailhead, taking care not to disturb some backpackers who were sleeping in the parking lot. I quickly set out through the stables and up the old mining road.

The Pine Creek Mine and Peak 11,532 above in the early morning sun. I made quick time of the 2,000 foot climb to the lowest Pine Lake and was glad to reach the higher elevations before the sun rose in the canyon. It can get very hot in the lower reaches of this climb.

Peak 12240+ over Pine Lake. It was a beautiful clear, warm morning. I continued up and up, branching left towards Pine Creek Pass near Honeymoon Lake.

Open forest and the beautiful striped mountain that’s north of Pine Creek. Despite several attempts, I haven’t been able to find the name of this peak, if it has one.

Nearing Pine Creek Pass. I passed a couple of groups of backpackers but was early enough that it wasn’t particularly busy.

Mount Humphreys from Pine Creek Pass. The view from the pass wasn’t particularly impressive, but it was nice to see some of the peaks across French Canyon.

From Pine Creek Pass I left the trail, headed for the Royce Lakes. I expected most of the rest of the route to be slow going over talus, but was pleasantly surprised to find mostly open grassy benches. The travel was barely any more difficult than on the trail and I kept moving quickly.

Merriam Peak from above Lake 11658. Once I got a view of the lake I decided to go around its south and west shore to the Royce-Merriam Saddle. Where the northeast slope of Merriam Peak ran into the lake I encountered some talus that continued up to the saddle.

The impressive North Buttress of Merriam Peak. This is a popular alpine rock climb offering 5-7 pitches of 5.10-5.11 climbing in a spectacular setting.

Royce-Merriam saddle. Secor says an ice ax is required to reach this pass, but that recommendation is clearly dated. I was able to reach it easily with just my hiking shoes. I found the climber’s right side of this bowl a bit more friendly. Before long I was atop the pass between the two peaks.

The southeast ridge of Royce Peak. Just 1,000’ of boulders up to the summit!

Merriam Peak and the North Buttress from the slopes of Royce Peak.

To the west this beautiful lake sat in a basin just in front of some of the impressive, remote peaks north of French Canyon.

Mount Humphreys and some of the lakes south of French Canyon to the south.

Royce Peak from near the summit. In the final 100 or 200 feet to the summit the grade eased and I traversed over to the summit rocks on the north side of a faint plateau. Just before 11 I was on the summit enjoying the view, having taken about four and a half hours to get here. Not bad, I thought.

There was an awesome view south of the Glacier Divide and some of the higher peaks of the Evolution Group from the summit.

To the north, Bear Creek Spire, Mount Abbot, and Mount Gabb dominated the skyline behind Mount Julius Caesar. This is an impressive area with lots of granite and little else. After a short stay and a snack I headed south off the summit, thinking that with the good weather and not-so-tired legs I’d be able to easily climb Merriam Peak as well. The descent off of the summit was straightforward.

The North Buttress of Merriam Peak again.

And the nice little lake to the west again. Merriam Peak proved to be slightly more challenging, especially climber’s left, closer to the ridge. There was some fun class 3 climbing here and there, and I came across signs that a herd of Bighorn Sheep had come through recently. It was only about 750’ to the summit and it didn’t take too long before I was on easier slopes near the top.

Royce Peak to the north from Merriam Peak. It took me a few tries to find the true summit of Merriam Peak. There were a bunch of rocks off to the west that looked like they were the highest, but after scrambling around on them for 5 minutes and finding nothing, I tried another possibility northeast of a large gap in the rocks. Here I found the summit register and sat down for a well-deserved rest.

The impressive looking Seven Gables from Merriam Peak.

Looking north towards Bear Creek Spire.

To the south, there was an even better view of Mount Humphreys, the Palisades behind, and the lakes across French Canyon.

Pilot Knob, the Glacier Divide, and Mount Darwin and Mount Goddard.

The summit register was adorned with this very fun sticker.

And several Peter Croft entries from his trips up the various routes on the North Buttress.

I sat for a little while, enjoying the views, a snack, and some water. It was pretty warm, but crystal clear and beautiful. I started heading down and made an attempt to descend the peak to the south where there’s a class 3 route back towards Pine Creek Pass. However, I was stymied almost immediately by a 10 foot cliff on the other side of the notch I tried to cross through. Thinking that traversing 100 feet or so to the southwest seemed impossibly hard, I just headed down the way I came.

The long lake to the west, Merriam Lake, and Seven Gables from the slopes of Merriam Peak. After not too long I was back at the saddle and heading for the Royce Lakes.

The impressive North Buttress from below. I stopped to refill my water and wash my feet at Lake 11658 before heading around it to the north. I think this way may have been a bit easier than the way I ascended.

From this angle, Merriam Peak looked particularly impressive. It’s easy to see why it was at one time called Isosceles Peak. Around here I ran into a solo backpacker wandering around. We talked for a bit and he told me he planned to camp in the area and take some star photos in the night. He explained all of this stuff he had studied up on about how at 2:30AM the moon would set and the milky way would be at just the right angle over Merriam Peak. It sounded like he knew his stuff and I’m sure he got some incredible shots.

Mount Humphreys across the head of French Canyon. I was grateful for the very easy travel through the Royce Lakes Basin. Before long I reached Pine Creek Pass and headed down, passing a few more backpackers on the way.

The unnamed striped mountain again in full daylight. It was Tuesday and this trail isn’t too popular (because of the hot 2,000’ climb right out of the gate), so it wasn’t too busy and I made steady progress down to Pine Lake where I took one final relaxing rest at the creek crossing before heading for the hot slope below.

Near the top of the initial climb I ran into a family of four backpackers. I tried to negotiate a way past, but dad wanted to chat, so I obliged. They were headed across French Canyon and down Piute Pass over four or five days, so a bit more of an explorer’s pace. After some more back-and-forth, he started on a story about how he had backpacked up here many years ago and gotten caught in a snowstorm. It was becoming clear this was going to be a longer conversation than I intended, until the daughter accidentally spilled her water bottle while transferring water from one vessel to another. I took the interruption as an opportunity to continue on my way.

Farther down, I had to pass a slow moving mule train. Fortunately they were very considerate and it was an uneventful affair on the wide, old mining road.

Peak 11532 from the old mining road. It was getting pretty hot and I was glad to have a sunshirt.

The old Pine Creek Mine. I read something on the internet about how the mine was in operation 20 or so years ago, but then the price of Tungsten plummeted and they had to abandon the operation, but they left most of the equipment just in case Tungsten gets more expensive again. There’s a lot of cool history on <a href=”https://www.mtnmouse.com/california/sng11_pine_creek_mine_story_blog.html”>this homegrown website.</a>

The final stretch through the forest to the stables was a bit longer than I remembered but I eventually did reach my car after just under eleven hours of hiking. Not too bad for 22 miles with more than 7,000’ of climbing and two SPS peaks! These two peaks were much easier than I expected, but still very enjoyable climbs. This is definitely a pretty approachable outing for fit hikers.

I headed down the canyon and back north for Mammoth. When I got back, we packed up our things and moved a few blocks to our new, much quieter AirBnB. I enjoyed a cold beer on the porch and plotted the next day’s adventure.