Trip Advice: Brainstorming for the Summer

[papercup]

Hi All,

I am beginning to brainstorm for the summer hiking season. I have a few ideas in mind but was wondering if anybody else could toss out suggestions for destinations that I should look into further.

About me: Probably a level 3/4 hiker; beginning to get fairly comfortable with cross country travel, but I'm still fundamentally a weekend warrior. Comfortable with class 3 terrain but prefer my class 3 to come without tons of exposure. Main interest this time out is pure scenery. Prior experience includes a handful of x-c passes, peaks, and basins. I have probably 4-6 days to play with, am open to either east or west side entrances, will probably go relatively late in the summer, and have a minor preference for the south over the north for logistical reasons. I would prefer to avoid setting a shuttle and would prefer to avoid the crowded Kearsarge or Bishop Pass entrances. Willing to do a massive east-side pass if necessary.

Most of my trips have involved fairly large groups, as I have lots of friends who like hiking, and this necessarily slows us down a bit. We usually cover about a dozen miles a day on trail, less if we're off trail. Last summer we did Honeymoon Lake --> Granite Park --> Italy Pass --> Dancing Bear Pass --> Bear Lakes Basin in a day, and some folks were pretty wiped at the end of that. This time around I'm leaving the big group behind and going only with one or two of my most capable friends. Our fitness level will be higher, our packs will be lighter, and our tolerance for pain (boulder fields, bushwacking) will be higher. This should increase our range significantly, although I don't know by exactly how much. I'm ordinarily a somewhat meandering and relaxed hiker; this time I'd like to push myself more. That might mean covering a ton of miles, but it also could mean pushing myself in terms of terrain, routefinding, etc.

I have a few areas that I'd like to visit that I've been tossing around. One thought was to try going over the Tablelands to Deadman Canyon, crossing over Coppermine to Cloud Canyon, and then returning via Lion Lake / Nine Lakes Basin / HST. Another was to try something in the vicinity of Crown or Blackcap Basins-- maybe a loop up Crown, through Blue Canyon, up toward Reinstein, over to Blackcap, and return. Or potentially Blackcap to Martha to Hell for Sure and return. Something along those lines.

There are a few places I'm interested in but am not really considering for this trip. There are some areas -- like the Lakes / Amphitheatre / Dumbell area -- that I want to slow down and take my time in. And the very highest and rockiest areas -- Williamson Bowl, Wallace and Tulainyo, etc -- might be too consistently high-altitude and exposed for a light packs trip.

Anyway, just curious to see if anybody had thoughts about places that sound like they might be fun for this kind of trip. Thanks!

[AlmostThere]

Tablelands and Deadman - did it a few years ago, going again in July. Crown/Blackcap etc, going out there with a saw to clear trails in June. I'll be back in Bench for fishing again soon as well. If you see us stop and say hi... All worth the walking.

[SSSdave]

... Last summer we did Honeymoon Lake --> Granite Park --> Italy Pass --> Dancing Bear Pass --> Bear Lakes Basin in a day, and some folks were pretty wiped at the end of that...

Did others in your group know you were taking them on a 20 mile 6k elevation one day beater?

[papercup]

Wasn't quite that long! We camped at Honeymoon the night before, so that knocks off a reasonable chunk of elevation gain and some miles. And I always send very detailed itinerary descriptions. There's always one person who doesn't bother reading them, though...

[SSSdave]

Wasn't quite that long! We camped at Honeymoon the night before, so that knocks off a reasonable chunk of elevation gain and some miles. And I always send very detailed itinerary descriptions. There's always one person who doesn't bother reading them, though...

Well then just to Honeymoon is the most common first night's stop. So not all the way to Bear Lakes Basin "in a day" thus not a beater.

[Wandering Daisy]

Any way to get into Dumbbell Lakes will require some pretty advanced cross-country travel. More talus and exposure than what you did at Bear Lakes. Very sketchy if the snow cornice is on the pass south of Amphitheater Lake. Easy to get off-route on Dumbbell Pass. There are some good trip reports here of that area. Do a search and read these.

[zacjust32]

I did parts of your desired trip last year. Through the Tablelands down Deadman, up Cloud and over Copper Mine Pass. TR can be found here: Deadman-Cloud Canyon