High Sierra Trail - Hamilton Lakes Out & Back - Campsites

[Fairbanks142]

Thanks to all of the responses so far. Great info! Our most likely plan will be to start very early and make it to Lone Pine Creek for the first night. If we get there and it's occupied, well....we'll figure something out! Any additional info and suggestions, posted here or shared in a private message, will be much appreciated.

[creekfeet]

Just don't camp at Bearpaw. That's a truly awful campground. I'd recommend Buck Creek. The main campsite is right on the trail, but if you cross the bridge and go up the east side of the creek a bit there's a really nice trail crew campsite. Lots of nice pools and scenic spots on Buck Creek too.

[franklin411]

Regarding crowds...I wouldn't expect most sites to be terribly busy on a Sun-Mon-Tue after Labor Day. IIRC, I arrived at Lodgepole on a Wednesday night, and it was 3/4 empty. I started the HST the next morning and camped at Hamilton the next two nights, and there were probably 6-10 people at most camped out there. I hiked out on Saturday and tried to camp at Lodgepole, but that and every other open campground was full, so I got a hotel room in Fresno and spent the night there. I came back for one more day on Sunday night, and Lodgepole was 90% empty.

So for me, the lesson was: Fri/Sat nights are most likely to be busy due to people trying to escape the Central Valley heat. Any other night after Labor Day is likely to be wide open.

[Ska-T]

I'd recommend Buck Creek. The main campsite is right on the trail, but if you cross the bridge and go up the east side of the creek a bit there's a really nice trail crew campsite.

Ssssshh! That's one of my secret spots. The last year I was there (2000) it even had a bear box.

[maverick]

The last year I was there (2000) it even had a bear box.

Still there.