High Sierra Topix

Just thinking ahead to a trip I want to do in July, heading in on the Belle Canyon trail (SEKI).
Is there much difference in driving difficulty (or available parking) between the Rowell trailhead and the Marvin Pass trailhead ?
Reading various sources, it sounds like the road to either is mostly paved, but one (or both) of them have a stretch of dirt road toward the end. I own a new-ish Subaru but my wife is now attached to it, so her old Camry is now my go-to trailhead car. Thoughts ?

I prefer Rowell, both road condition are similar (no issues), this link might help you in making a decision: https://www.climber.org/DrivingDirectio ... eadow.html

Thanks, @maverick -
I had found that link but only skimmed it, missing this bit about the Marvin Pass trail:
“There is no water and no scenery other than tall trees until you reach Rowell Meadow”.
Good enough reason to start from the Rowell TH.

If you are going in via Belle Canyon or Sugarloaf entrance then Rowell (Sunset Meadow) is the logical entrance. Why go up a few hundred feet higher than needed only to drop down to Rowell to get to Belle Canyon? Really water should not be an issue as it is just a couple of miles to Rowell either way. I never stopped for water hiking from the Sunset Meadow TH before getting to Rowell. FYI if you want great water at Rowell go to the cabin, then head east until you get to arm of the meadow. Continue across that arm until you get to narrow stream channel. follow it to the left until you get to the end. That is the origin and is really cold spring water. That was my water source when I was a Ranger stationed out of Rowell in 82/83. It was also where I put my beer in the afternoon to get it really cold.

oldranger wrote: ↑Fri Feb 19, 2021 9:08 am Why go up a few hundred feet higher than needed only to drop down to Rowell to get to Belle Canyon?

The elevation gain is the same (for an out & back), Rowell starts lower, and is slightly longer (2.4 vs. 2.0). Rowell just leaves you only elevation loss on the return trip, which is pretty nice when you're trail running, but matters less when you're backpacking and your pack weight is down at the end of a trip.

It's so close it probably doesn't matter. The real answer is to go out via Marvin Pass and back via Rowell to save yourself 490 feet of elevation gain

Thank you @oldranger and @c9h13no3 -
I appreciate your input. And that is really cool info about the stream source !

Thank you old ranger for granular details on Rowell vs Marvin including water availability from that spring, which is how I remember the situation during the summer of 1975 when I was in charge of those two trailheads for SEKI District 5, which incidentally was Randy Morgenson's first summer at Roaring River RS when Alden Nash brought him down from Tuolumne Mdws to retrieve stock left there by Ranger McDonald