Overnighters for rookies?

[Boner in sweatpants]

My wife and I are looking for single night trips in the Sierra Nat. Forest off of Highway 168. We live in Prather and have a three year old that won't be going with use the first couple of times until we are more comfortable with it. Right now we can really only get away one night at a time.

My question is do you have any suggestions on 3 to 8 mile overnight trips in the above area? I've looked at Dinkey Lakes area and we will probably try that but what are some others? How is the Kaiser Wilderness or up by Lake Edison?

[giantbrookie]

There are many attractive overnight backpacking options up the 168 from Prather. Dinkey and Kaiser are certainly high on the list and pretty much all of the hikes are shorter than 8 miles. For a first trip, I'd recommend a one-way hike in distance toward the low end of the range, and most destinations in the Dinkey Lakes and Kaiser can be had for that. The chief destinations, such as Upper Twin Lake in Kaiser (about 3 mi out of Sample Meadow trailhead and 4 mi out of the Potter Pass trailhead) and the core Dinkey Lakes are (say First Dinkey, South Lake, Swede Lake, Mystery lake--ranging from 2-4 mi from the Dinkey Lakes trailhead) can be moderately crowded, but there are little pockets here and there that you can get some privacy around all of the lakes. Both locations are good bases for short day hikes from camp, too. Hikes out of Edison tend to be a bit further to get to nice locations, but there are some short little spur trails off the road there, and the road to Florence that offer good overnighter possibilities with hikes under 4 miles: Corbett Lake is one, the Dutch-Crater-Hidden Lakes area is another. Finally, there are some nice possibilities out of the Wishon region. The easiest of these is probably the Spanish Lakes (in the 5 plus mile range) and Duck Lake (also in that range).

[Strider]

Take Minarets Road all the way around past Clover Meadow, or if you don't mind the condition of the road, take Beashore from Bass Lake, and hike up to Jackass Lake. Spectacular scenery for as short a hike as it is.