Help Me Finalize Our HST 9-day Itinerary (Early Aug)

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HappyHiker11
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Re: Help Me Finalize Our HST 9-day Itinerary (Early Aug)

Post by HappyHiker11 »

audiorecordist wrote:We may be about the same level of experience and I can honestly say that I would not hike from Buck Creek all the way to Precipice in one day. I am sure it is doable for experienced peole who are in fantastic cardio shape. But trust me, the hike up to Precipice is a challenge. I went from Buck to Hamilton, then Hamilton to Big Arroyo. Each segment took about half a day.
I will definitely consider the tip. Hamilton Lakes is my Nite-2 fall back site. Once we make Hamilton, if weather looks uncomfortable to be up near PrecP or the Gap, then we'll stay down lower. But it really is a goal of mine to camp up in that area. And if Buck-Hamilton takes about 1/2 a day. Then I'm hoping an extended lunch at Hamilton might allow us to push up to PrecP Lk. But we can definitely evaluate how the group is feeling and what the whether is looking like for the night.

I do realize this is an exposed section that can be HOT in the afternoon as well. So current temps and such during our lunch break will play a big part in how we're feeling I'm sure. But with the wet winter, it didn't seem like water would be an issue in this section.
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Re: Help Me Finalize Our HST 9-day Itinerary (Early Aug)

Post by franklin411 »

I would check every day, and more often as the date approaches, to see if any sites have opened at Lodgepole. You're only looking for 1 available site for one night out of something like 200 sites there. I'd say your odds are decent of picking up a spot, and I'd even say they're pretty good if you're not looking for a spot on Friday or Saturday night.

YMMV, but I covered Crescent Meadow to Hamilton Lake in a little over 6 hours without straining myself when I was there a few years back. It's basically flat trail and you don't get much variety until you get to Hamilton/Valhalla. You're talking about 16 miles of the same canyon view or the monotony of a forest path. Probably I'm in the minority, but I liked the way I did it: Get to Hamilton the first day, which meant I could leave Hamilton at the luxuriously-late hour of 8 AM and still be able to climb the switchbacks to Kaweah Gap in the morning shade.
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Re: Help Me Finalize Our HST 9-day Itinerary (Early Aug)

Post by nunatak »

FWIW, I guided this trail for many summers with groups of typically very little experience/fitness. Our itinerary for eight days ran like this and only had a few sections that really challenged folks:
Bearpaw - Hamilton - Big Arroyo - KHS - Wallace - Guitar - Outpost - Portal.

Of hundreds of guests, I remember maybe 3 that did not summit Whitney.

My advice is to not plan too rigidly. With a basic fitness level and motivation your timeframe allow for a chill trip with plenty of flexibility. I did not read whether you're bringing bear canisters, but without them there are few options for camping off the beaten path.
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Re: Help Me Finalize Our HST 9-day Itinerary (Early Aug)

Post by AlmostThere »

HappyHiker11 wrote:
- 2 - I do not have over-night backpacking experience. But I have been day hiking and camping all over the mountains & deserts in the southern 1/2 of California since I moved here. And recently with my son in the Osprey pack as a training partner! The Mist & Upper Yosemite Falls trails with him were an experience this year in early June! So I do have significant hiking and camping experience and can read maps & generally understand navigation while still needing better practical experience and practice.
- 3rd in the group - is probably most similar to me. Lacking in longer-distant over-nighters and experience, but comfortable out on the trail and camping in general.
Going back to the beginning...

You should get the gear together and do a two day backpacking trip before you take on a longer one. I know you have significant outdoor experience. You still need to do a shakedown trip. It will increase the chances of success on the longer trip.

Don't get caught saying "it only weighs ___" -- a pack full of one pound items still weighs too much if you have too many items.
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Re: Help Me Finalize Our HST 9-day Itinerary (Early Aug)

Post by SSSdave »

Precipice Lake... one of the most over rated lakes in the Sierra Nevada. A barren landscape lake decades ago AA took a fine B&W expsoure of a north facing cliff face water reflection with interesting patterns. A better than average aesthetic lake but on most days no more than ho hum. A lake that most of any day is in shadows, usually breezy with waves because of exposure at a canyon ridge saddle. A lake at best one needs to take an exposure at late morning when sun on the shady cliff water drips finally occurs and be really lucky it is calm. People think the greenish-blue color is special but the same colors can be seen at other high elevation, sterile, deep near shore lakes if one knows what time of day to do so.

A lake other B&W photographers decades ago concluded it must be some kind of amazingly aesthetic lake and others since have hyped it up as it is on a popular trail. Most value to backpackers amounts to bragging that they went by or camped there, and in this era that means took a selfie and then added some hyperbole text on Facebook.
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Re: Help Me Finalize Our HST 9-day Itinerary (Early Aug)

Post by HappyHiker11 »

franklin411 wrote:I would check every day, and more often as the date approaches, to see if any sites have opened at Lodgepole...
- I'll continue to keep any eye on it as it would make the morning departure a lot smoother. Maybe I can get a walk-up site when we get there (mid-week) and just have them change my reservation over if walk-ups are available at Lodgepole. I've stayed at Dorst Creek before and enjoyed it. I've never stayed at Lodgepole. I was a little bummed having to move the reservation out there. But I was happy to still get a spot up in the park where I wasn't delaying even longer to get going. So at least we can do the Muir Grove warm-up hike on our Day-0 before the trail.

But if I do manage to move it over to Lodgepole, I'm sure Tokopah Falls would work as a warm up out of there. And I'd LOVE to be that much closer to the TH the next day. 1 extra shuttle we don't need.
franklin411 wrote:YMMV, but I covered Crescent Meadow to Hamilton Lake in a little over 6 hours without straining myself when I was there a few years back. It's basically flat trail and you don't get much variety until you get to Hamilton/Valhalla. You're talking about 16 miles of the same canyon view or the monotony of a forest path. Probably I'm in the minority, but I liked the way I did it: Get to Hamilton the first day, which meant I could leave Hamilton at the luxuriously-late hour of 8 AM and still be able to climb the switchbacks to Kaweah Gap in the morning shade.
- Good to know that it is possible to make some good time along that section. I had originally thought to stay just beyond BP near Lone Pine creek if we made good time. But as I mentioned, 2 of the 3 of us have never been to the park at all. So they really want to walk out past the Gen Sherm on the way out. So even if we're at Lodgepole, we'll start there and add the 3 or so miles onto the front before hitting the HST at CM. So by the time we shuttle around and get to the TH, I'm guessing we'll be starting out on the HST mid morning under our heaviest load.

So we'll see what pace we can keep on that day-1. At least we'll have all been at about 6,700 ft for close to 24 hours when we start out with full packs. But I thought with adding the extra miles through the Giant Forest, anywhere from Buck to Lone Pine could work out nicely. I would of course like to push to LP Creek since it puts us at a much shorter stroll and climb to Hamilton & the gap the next day. Maybe we can catch some morning shade if we make it to LP. But that's one we'll have to just play by ear, be adjustable, and see what's available and where we end up. :righton:
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Re: Help Me Finalize Our HST 9-day Itinerary (Early Aug)

Post by HappyHiker11 »

nunatak wrote:FWIW, I guided this trail for many summers with groups of typically very little experience/fitness. Our itinerary for eight days ran like this and only had a few sections that really challenged folks:
Bearpaw - Hamilton - Big Arroyo - KHS - Wallace - Guitar - Outpost - Portal.

My advice is to not plan too rigidly. With a basic fitness level and motivation your timeframe allow for a chill trip with plenty of flexibility. I did not read whether you're bringing bear canisters, but without them there are few options for camping off the beaten path.
- Great! Thanks for the info. It sounds like we planned right to extend it from 6 to 9 days then in order to try and enjoy the flexibility and pace of on my 1st long(er) distance trail. That's really why I was looking into maybe climbing another peak along the route or explore an area since I think we will end up with an afternoon or morning maybe a little free on a few shorter mileage days.

- Fitness wise, I'm really not to concerned over all. We are all active individuals as it is and we've been been training and trying to improve our conditioning for the trip. So I think that will help us to stay flexible and adjust the plan to suit once we get on the trail as you all recommend.

- All 3 will be carrying Bear Vaults. So staying near lockers is no concern at all and in some ways being purposely avoided.
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Re: Help Me Finalize Our HST 9-day Itinerary (Early Aug)

Post by HappyHiker11 »

AlmostThere wrote:Going back to the beginning...

You should get the gear together and do a two day backpacking trip before you take on a longer one. I know you have significant outdoor experience. You still need to do a shakedown trip. It will increase the chances of success on the longer trip.

Don't get caught saying "it only weighs ___" -- a pack full of one pound items still weighs too much if you have too many items.
I'm definitely on top of this one. I've got 99% of the gear in, organized, and tested. Most things that I had were tested & checked out for 10 days in Yosemite this spring or on the other desert/beach camp trips I've done earlier this year. I'm currently waiting on a new stove system to come in to test before we go. The stove should be in this week and I'm hoping to get out on a local over-nighter at least before leaving. But in general, the stove & pack/un-packing the gear in the bag are the things I need to familiarize myself with the most to feel comfortable.

And trust me... with the weight of 9 days of food, a bear vault, + my camera gear I am definitely keeping an eye on my pack weight. I've got an excel doc with it all laid out so I can fine tune it. But man... 9 days of food in a BV plus a L or 2 of h20 cranks up the lbs quick! :eek: :crybaby: :lol:
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Re: Help Me Finalize Our HST 9-day Itinerary (Early Aug)

Post by rlown »

Care to share that spreadsheet? they can be uploaded in the post window (upload attachment.)
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Re: Help Me Finalize Our HST 9-day Itinerary (Early Aug)

Post by HappyHiker11 »

SSSdave wrote:Precipice Lake... one of the most over rated lakes in the Sierra Nevada. A barren landscape lake decades ago AA took a fine B&W expsoure of a north facing cliff face water reflection with interesting patterns. A better than average aesthetic lake but on most days no more than ho hum. A lake that most of any day is in shadows, usually breezy with waves because of exposure at a canyon ridge saddle. A lake at best one needs to take an exposure at late morning when sun on the shady cliff water drips finally occurs and be really lucky it is calm. People think the greenish-blue color is special but the same colors can be seen at other high elevation, sterile, deep near shore lakes if one knows what time of day to do so.

A lake other B&W photographers decades ago concluded it must be some kind of amazingly aesthetic lake and others since have hyped it up as it is on a popular trail. Most value to backpackers amounts to bragging that they went by or camped there, and in this era that means took a selfie and then added some hyperbole text on Facebook.
That could be, but it'll be the highest elevation lake I've visited at that point and it's along the route, so I'm in. :nod: And I'm sure it'll be a nice teaser of the scenery and exploration to come.

I get what you mean about the colors. Yes, I thought it was "special" because of that at one point... until you think about it like you pointed out. The more pictures I looked at of the high country lakes, the more I saw the same hues.

No matter though. I bet it's still a nice place to watch the sun set and then wake up and watch the sun-rise on your birthday! And if I manage to snag a nifty photo or two for my memory banks, then great! But I promise you, it will not be a selfie w/ text on FB :\

And besides, there's lots more to view and photograph from that vantage point then just the lake :wink:

Really, staying here is more of a goal to facilitate an easier birthday morning for me the next day \:D/ I think I'd rather start off my b-day with a nice stroll through the gap and down then a couple 1,000 feet up for the first few miles. And after Kaweah Gap is when the trip gets really fun and interesting to me. Deciding where to go, what to explore, and what is feasible from there to Crabtree & up...
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