High Sierra Topix

Your 2nd point is a good one ranger, my desire is just to camp in good places - I can do big miles if I really have to for a great campsite. I'd totally push downhill until darn near sunset to get to the right place!

Lake South America to Lake Reflection and East Lake is less crowded and more scenic IMO. I really like the view at East Lake. Here is my camp photo a couple of years ago.

Getting from Lake South America to Reflection Lake involves some serious off-trail travel. Just be sure you have the experience to do it and conditions are favorable. North sides of passes could be very dangerous if still holding snow.

A ranger suggested camping at Avalance Pass and it was excellent. From the pass itself, which is pretty much flat, we walked straight north a couple hundred yards until we had views down into Kings Canyon. We had to pack in water, but it was a wonderful place to stop after a longish day from Colby Lake.

I saw this post a while back and was planning on doing it over Memorial Day this year, but given the snow, has anyone done a route like this early in the season? My plan was to do most of this loop, but continue to the HST/PCT and then head north instead of heading north towards Lake South America. In 2022 I did the north half of the Big SEKI loop over Memorial Day and felt fine with microspikes while heading south over Mather + Pinchot, but I'm curious how Kearsage, Colby, and Forrester might be early season.

2022 was a low snow year, this is not, so conditions will be quite different, a lot more snow.

You can glean some information about Forrester Pass from old PCT Journals since they are often the first over Forrester Pass. 2019 was a high snow year, I think. Of course, last year was an epic snow year. This year is looking a lot like 2008.