Suggestions for 3 day backpacking loop - August

[aml182]

Hello! I am planning a backpacking trip for myself and 3 friends in mid-August. We are coming from New England and looking forward to exploring Sequoia and/ or Kings Canyon! I have been reading through these threads and would be interested in any additional suggestions I may have missed.

Some background info:
What level of backpacking experience do you have?
Level 2- Some backpacking trips, using trails (Glacier and White Mts.)

What terrain are you comfortable with?
- Class 1 terrain/trail hiking

What is your main interest?
- Lakes
- Big Mountain scenery

How many days/nights is your trip, not including travel to trailhead?
- ideally 3 days/ 2 nights, but 4 days could also work

How many miles did you want to do a day, any layovers?
- around 8-11 mi, but unsure about elevation

Have you hiked at elevation before? Any prior issues with Altitude Sickness?
- No experience hiking higher than ~9k feet

Do you have a route logistics preference: loop, out and back, point to point (which may require 2 vehicles or hitchhiking)?
- Loop preferred, or out and back

Is there a particular area in the Sierra that your most interested in (Yosemite, SEKI western sierra start or eastern start ect.)?
- SEKI
- Probably western start, but haven't booked flight yet
- Would like to get permit ahead of time, which is why I had been looking at Mineral King. We are flexible on dates in August, but there are 4 of us.


Ideas so far:
- Franklin Lakes (Mineral King): looks great, but wondering if there are other loop options to consider?
- Glacier Pass, Sawtooth Pass + Big Five Lakes Loop (Mineral King): this one looks really nice, but I'm wondering if this 4 day trip seems too ambitious if we don't have experience with altitude sickness and one person in the group has limited backpacking experience (but is fit)?

Thank you in advance for any suggestions!

[rlown]

20 lakes basin out of Saddlebag Lake. You can set your own trip for your timeline, fly into reno and drive down. It's mostly flat trailwise unless you want to go up Conness or drop over to Mcabe. Ferry should be running across the lake then, but the hike is fine as well.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/inyo/re ... 2&actid=51

For a kick, you could head up to Muriel lk out of North lake. That is 11,380 at the Piute pass. Worth every second. Kind of your call, as you're the leader.
It gives you access to all of Humphreys basin. Worth every second.

http://www.hikingwalking.com/destinatio ... piute_pass

Welcome to HST!!

[sambieni]

Not SEKI, but you can always go out of Mammoth Lakes and start around Devil Postpile / Agnew Meadows to do loop to Ediza Lake / 1000 Islands Lake / and back. Its about 30-33 miles or so depending on how you do it. Amazing scenery. Elevation is high, but a night or two before setting out will help. Its always easy to get back to trailhead in under a day as well if you need.
Your experience is not too different from where I was a year ago - I had done Whites, Glacier and some other trips - and this was my first backpack into the Sierras. A solid entry point. Lots of other nearby activities too/day hikes.
You could even consider point-to-point from trailhead into Tuolomne Meadows in Yosmite and take YARTS bus back (or car shuttle) to Mammoth Lakes

Permits are gonna be tough to get though now in advance for this trip. Will likely need to do walkup.

[AlmostThere]

Mineral King is the last place to go if you don't want gains of 5000+ feet in the first day. Unless you go out over Timber Gap - but then that loop will crawl up Black Rock if you stay on trail and do a loop. That's a grueling pull in open sun for someone who's not accustomed to elevation on a second day out.

I'll suggest a permit for Twin Lakes out of Lodgepole, around via Roaring River through Deadman Canyon to the HST and out via Crescent Meadow. A little high, a lot of low and plenty of water, and the trail sort of peters out on the north side of Elizabeth Pass, but it's there. Catch a shuttle back to Lodgepole.

[wildhiker]

My wife and I did a nice three day loop a few years ago in the northwest Sequoia Park area, but starting on the Sequoia National Forest side to the northwest on the Big Meadows road. We started at the Rowell Meadow trailhead and hiked through a corner of the Jennie Lakes Wilderness over into Belle Canyon in Kings Canyon Park and then up to Lost Lake, which has amazing views of cliffy peaks. There were no big climbs on this day or altitudes above about 9,000 feet, and we didn't even get started until about 2 pm! Second day, we hiked over to Ranger Lake (by the way, the trail has been relocated to be more direct between Lost Lake and Ranger Lake - it no longer drops down and back up again as shown on the topo), over to look at Beville Lake (pretty view), then a good 1000 foot climb up a well-graded trail to Silliman Pass. Stop for a rest at the top of the big cliff band above Ranger Lake for the view - the pass is viewless. Silliman Pass is the high point at almost 10,200 feet. We hiked down to Twin Lakes and took a rest, then continued down the trail to the junction with the JO Pass trail. Now we had another 1000 foot climb up to JO Pass, and then took the spur trail over to camp at Jennie Lake. Jennie Lake was quite crowded, including a couple of big noisy groups. I think we were there on Saturday night. On the third day, we returned to JO Pass from Jennie Lake and then headed north back down to the Rowell Meadow trailhead in just a few hours. This loop had a good mixture of high granite peaks, long-distance views, forests, lakes, and meadows. You could take longer and make each day easier by stopping the first night at Seville Lake (up Belle Canyon), 2nd night at Twin Lakes, and 3rd night at Jennie Lake.

No permit is needed for the Jennie Lakes Wilderness, but you do need a permit to camp in Kings Canyon or Sequoia Parks. We just picked up a day-of walk-up permit at the ranger station in Grant Grove. If you are not starting on a weekend, you can probably get a walk-up permit.

-Phil

[aml182]

Thank you all for the ideas, I really appreciate it! I'll look into them all tonight and get back to you.

[SSSdave]

Agree with AT that your noted Mineral King loop is too ambitious for a first trip at high elevations with large vertical climbs. Stressing members of a group of unfamiliars out with a strenuous itinerary is apt to turn them off in the future.

Generally you will get more value for your time (and 4 days is rather short) versus west side trailheads,if after flying into LA and renting a car, you drive north up high speed US395 to Eastern Sierra trailheads where it is much shorter to timberline areas that have all the peaks and lakes the High Sierra is famous for. Although there are many good destinations from trailheads further north on US395, in order to keep you drive manageable, will suggest the southern Owens trailheads Cottonwood Lakes and Onion Valley. Both are very scenic, good fishing, with considerable options for day hiking.

Cottonwood is all gradual hiking with not much vertical to a one day destination basin with several large lakes beside craggy crest areas one can move camps around to at short distances.

http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=36.46289,-118.16860&z=15&t=T

Onion Valley has steeper trails, more vertical, with less distance. You can make it easier and not push altitude issues by just backpacking up to the first set of lakes on the eastern side of the pass and will suggest Matlock Lake to camp. Then day 2 go over to Kearsarge Pass to Kearsarge Lakes with a layover the next day 3 before easily hiking out on the fourth morning.

http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=36.76478,-118.35653&z=15&t=T

David
http://www.davidsenesac.com/2017_Trip_C ... les-0.html

[Wandering Daisy]

I am curious why such a short trip for such a long and costly flight? Is this part of a longer trip?

I agree that east side, southern part of the Sierra is the most efficient as well as more spectacular if you only have 3 days. As for flying into LA or Reno, the time to drive to the area between Lone Pine and Bishop will depend largely on traffic. There is little traffic from Reno. Be careful of timing if flying into LA.

August may have smoke from forest fires. It is good to have a backup route. Rarely does smoke mar every location along 395. Smoke does settle into Owens Valley. I have gone in Onion Meadow when Ownes Valley was horrible and once on the trail I got above the smoke.

Other areas with good 3-day opportunities, along 395, are Sabrina Basin (scenic but somewhat crowded), Dusy Basin (need to go off trail a bit to get to the lakes), and Glacier Lodge road/ First to Seventh Lake.

For the permit issues, if at all possible, try to do your 3-day trip mid-week when permits are a lot easier to get. If the quota is "full" for reservations, you still may be able to get a walk-in permit mid-week.

SEKI from the west has some spectacular hikes, but three days is really short to fully enjoy it. An in-and-out up Bubbs Creek to Lake Reflection is scenic, but permits hard to get. An in-and-out to Hamilton Lake is also good, but a lot of miles before you get to the good stuff. People do the Rae Lakes loop in 3-4 days, but permits are hard to get, espeically for a group of four. The "trail" shown on the map from Mineral King to Columbine Lake is not a trail- it has been destroyed by rockfall and is really an off-trail route.

[Tom_H]

I would echo WD's questions about such a long flight and such a short trip. Are you already going to a business meeting or family reunion is So Cal? The second most scenic place on the entire Pacific Crest Trail is the view of Lake Aloha/Pyramid Peak/Crystal Range. This is just 3-4 hours in from the trailhead at Upper Echo Lake (if you take the water taxi and cut off 3 miles). There is a Lollipop route (couple miles in, loop, repeat original miles at exit) that you can do in only 2 days. If you can arrange transportation, going in at Echo, passing lakes Aloha, Heather, Susie, Gilmore, then climbing Mt. Tallac (which puts you 3k+ ft. directly above Lake Tahoe and gives you a bird's eye view of the entire 72 mi. perimeter) and coming out at Glen Alpine Springs is a perfect 3 day trip. And you can spend a little time at Tahoe, which rivals Yosemite and SEKI as one of the Sierra crown jewels.

[maverick]

Agnew Meadows to do loop to Ediza Lake / 1000 Islands Lake

For 2-3 nights, this place is the best bang for the buck, relatively easy access compared to the others areas, with some of the best views & lakes in the Sierra Nevada.