May / June Sierra Backpacks

[gardn128]

Hello all, new to the board. My wife and I have our list of backpacking trips for July through September at higher altitudes, but was wondering what some of you might recommend for good trips over Memorial Day and mid June? We are looking for something over 2-3 days where either we can hike out and setup camp and do some day hikes from there, or a more pure backpack over the 3 days. Definitely looking to avoid snow or ice travel, and nothing too extreme, more in the advanced beginner to moderate stage.

Thanks.

[kpeter]

It will largely depend upon this year's snowpack and the severity of the spring run off which can make some streams impassable.

My Memorial Day trips have all been to NW Yosemite or Emigrant since both are at relatively low elevation compared with the high Sierra. In Emigrant the nature of the trip varies depending on the stream levels. In NW Yosemite, entering at Shingle Springs there are a number of interesting destinations that miss all stream crossings. Here are a few trip reports:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=18289&p=135848&hili ... le#p135848

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14590

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14590&p=108711&hilit=vernon#p108711

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7795

[oldranger]

In my experience in about 5 out of every 6 years access to Sunset Meadow TH is open by the first week in June. That gives you access to Seville, Lost, and Ranger Lakes. But going into those lakes you may have to deal with snow as there is a 1200 ft elevation gain between the TH and Belle Canyon entrance. the good news is that the more snow the fewer mosquitos. When the snow is gone the mosquitos are ferocious for the next 6 weeks at least.

[Wandering Daisy]

For 3 day trips it may depend on where you are located. I am in the Sacramento area so Yosemite is my go-to early season backpack. If you are in SCa then it would be too long a drive for a short trip.

Depending on when Tioga pass opens, Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne is stunning. You do not have to do the entire loop from Tuolumne Meadows to White Wolf. All the big waterfalls are from Tuolumne Meadows to Cathedral Creek. You can then turn around and return. There is so much to see that I never felt it boring to go back up the trail. As of last year, they Pate Valley bridge was closed so I doubt you could go all the way to White Wolf anyway. There may be some snow up near Tuolumne Meadows, but the trail is used enough that there should be a beaten path.

A walk up the Merced River from Happy Isles is also a great water show. There would be little snow but some wet portions where you would have to wade in a foot of water or so, such as Echo Valley. If Glacier Point Road is open, you can return to Glacier Point where there is a bus that goes back to the valley, or walk down Four Mile Trail. Or reverse- park at Glacier Point, take Panorama Trail to the top of Nevada Falls, then up the Merced, and down to Happy Isles.

I have done the North Rim Traverse from Snow Creek TH to Yosemite Falls TH as early as April (did need snowshoes) and again later when snow was not an issue. Also did it early season when snow gone.

Pohono Trail is another good one.

I have also done trips from Hetch Hetchy- to Rancheria creek and then up the trail on Rancheria Mountain and drop to Piute Creek. Piute Creek is usually not crossable early season.

And, in May, Yosemite Valley itself is actually the most scenic. A good way to camp in the valley is to do an overnight trip and then you get to use the backpacker's campground the night before and night after your permitted backcountry night.

Green Lakes on Hoover Wilderness (near Bridgport) is also a good early season trip. You can day-hike up to East Lake and West Lake.

In a low snow year, all the lakes on the east side of Bishop Pass make a great trip.

I have done the hike up to Hamilton Lake late June-early July several years.

So much of what you can do early season depends on when the access roads open. And that varies a lot year to year. And you have to pay attention to rivers to cross. I only go on routes that have bridges across major streams. For me, wading a major stream is more of a stopper than snow.

[SSSdave]

The key to do it yourself early season backpacking in the Sierra Nevada is to become familiar with where lower elevations and southern sun exposures show on topographic maps and not being afraid to venture beyond trails. To explore, buy maps or use the several online map sources plus Google Earth. Numbers of early season backpackers tend to be those fixated on hiking into snowy areas, probably because they are not winter snow enthusiasts thus snow is novel to them. And numbers of others only look for lake destinations just as they do during the High Sierra summers. But that is misguided, very limiting, because there are few lakes at those lower elevations and most will be in high demand. However there is much more down at those lower elevations below snow of potential interest, especially if one enjoys vegetation and animal natural sciences as that is when such areas are at their annual peak with wildflowers, greenery, scurrying critters, and ephemeral running water streams. Note one will also need to be able to pleasantly cope with some level of mosquitoes by taking proper clothing and gear. And that doesn't necessarily mean a lack of views of impressive peaks especially from lower sagebrush slopes along the Eastern Sierra if one can think out of the box. One can car camp off remote roads in the Mono Lake basin and then day hike:

http://www.davidsenesac.com/2018_Trip_C ... 018-4.html

Or down south between Aberdeen and Big Pine backpackpack short distances beyond the 4WD roads into some fabulous recent volcanic geologies with the still snowy towering Sierra Crest peaks for a background. In ealy to mid May those areas have wildlflowers and pleasant temperatures, unlike mid summer when they are hot dusty dry and brown.

http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=36.97944,-118.26260&z=15&t=U

In the Northern Sierra, the Bowman Road brings one to a granitoid glacially scoured region with numbers of natural lakes at lower elevations while in the central Sierra that would be the noted southern Emigrant and Hetch Hetchy areas. Otherwise outside river corridors without views, most of what is of interest to backpackers starts well above the typical 6k to 7.5k late May snow line elevations.