Need Advice on Backpack Route - Early June !!!!!

[Tonydavid]

Hi...Looking for advice for early season backpack starting first week in June!!!! I have read various threads and need specific recommendations. Concerned about snow, bugs and river crossings. Posted a few months ago and got some responses but was quite confused and don't know where to go. Thought I might get better input now since our trip is just two weeks from now.

Here is our story:
Father (60) experienced backpacker, son (15) has done a few trips...yes we had kids late!
Thinking 4-6 days and 5-7 miles a day.
Enjoy photography...not peak baggers.
Have AWD Subaru Outback or 2WD sedan for trail access.
Don't have snow travel or camping equipment or experience.
Son seems to attract mosquitoes and hates them.
We want to have a good experience and enjoy the wilderness.

I would appreciate specific ideas that I can research further. The only trip in Sierra's we have done recently was Agnew to Tuolumne. It was July and great!
This year we have to go between June 3-13.
Thank YOU!

[AlmostThere]

There will be bugs, yes. A headnet and some DEET or permethrin, or both, are good to have.

You don't need snow experience with late spring, compacted, patchy snow. Maybe some microspikes if there's a lot of it, but if you don't go too high that will be less likely.

I will suggest the Lillian Lakes loop - plenty of information around about that one. Call the North Fork District office of Sierra NF about trailheads and roads, the roads are still in the process of opening. My guess is you will be able to make it up to Norris or Fernandez trailhead via Beasore from Bass Lake. Permits can be left for you in the night drop at Bass Lake.

[mort]

Hi Tonydavid,
It looks like Big Pine Creek is nice right now. Here is a trip report from member nightowl:
http://www.highsierratopix.com/communit ... t=big+pine
Bridges over the big creeks. I'd imagine that there will be few mosquitoes where there is still patchy snow. But there are always mosquitoes by the Lon Chaney cabin.
-mort

[SSSdave]

Below link from the last satellite image without clouds shows areas out of Hetch Hetchy or Cherry Valley to be your best bets. Otherwise just look at all the snow still about higher elevations especially about eastern areas given the last couple weeks of very stormy weather.

https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/?p ... 9598581422

Dismiss any usual advice to stumble about in higher elevation snowy areas and instead embrace these wonderful lower elevations where landscapes have long dried out and warmed up nicely since the last big wet warm AR storm in March, so ought be nicely green and flowery. Could hike into Laurel Lake then Vernon and definitely don't do that loop some will otherwise likely pipe in about. Or hike into Kibbie and then up to Styx Pass to Boundary Lake and Many Island Lake.

http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=38.04596,-119.79933&z=13&t=T

[AlmostThere]

Oh, I remember an early season trip attempting to go up to Kibbie... wandered around in clouds, got snowed on, ran into a hypothermic guy in jeans with his external frame mumbling to himself about finding Kibbie Peak... good times. Went to Eleanor and fished instead.

Kaiser Wilderness is nice right now. No major crossings, patchy snow above 9k. Spoke to a couple of nice folks while we were sawing a tree out of the loop trail who overnighted at Twin Lakes - not too bad out there.

[wildhiker]

With so much stormy and cloudy weather lately obscuring the visible satellite view of the snowpack on the NASA site posted by SSSDave, you might be able to get a better idea of snowpack from this USFS site that uses other satellite data (not visible bandwidth) plus snow sensor data to estimate snow depths:
https://www.fs.fed.us/r5/webmaps/SierraSnowDepth/
In this view, there appears to be much less snowpack in the Tahoe area. The northern part of Desolation Wilderness, accessed from Loon Lake, appears to be basically snow free already. This area is at lower elevations, but very open and granity. You might be able to do a trip up the Rubicon River valley from Loon Lake by June 3 with side trips up into the lake basins to the east and west and even over Mosquito Pass to Lake Aloha. I suspect that the north side of Dicks Pass will still have a lot of snow, which might limit you on the obvious loop from the Rubicon, over Mosquito Pass to Lake Aloha, then on the PCT over Dicks Pass to Velma Lakes, and then back to the Rubicon. You might try it in a clockwise direction so you encounter that snow on Dicks Pass early and can retreat if it is too much and still do out-and-back over Mosquito Pass to Aloha Lake. The Desolation Wilderness Volunteers group posts trail conditions reports here:
http://desowv.org/trail-conditions
They don't seem to have much yet. Another source for trail conditions in the Tahoe area is the Tahoe Rim Association at:
https://tahoerimtrail.org/current-trail-conditions/

-Phil

[Tonydavid]

Thank you for the replies so far! I have been researching them trying to figure out the best option given our criteria.
Appreciate suggestion from:
-AlmostThere's of Lillian Lakes and Kaiser Wilderness
-Mort of Big Pine Creek
-SSSdave of Hetch Hetchy or Cherry Valley (Question on Laurel Lake - is the reason not to attempt loop because of snow?). Thank you for map link and satellite image...although I am not really sure how to read it).
-Wildhikerof northern part of Desolation Wilderness from Loon Lake. Thank you for the snow sensor info (again not experienced to read it and know where I am geographical). Thank you for detailed info on possible route and links that might have info on trail conditions.

As you know researching a trip is kind of hard, especially with limited time. Really appreciate the input. Keep it coming! You guys are the best!

[rgliebe]

If you stay out of the snow, you'll have a tough time avoiding mosquitoes because it warmed up last week and they have been hatching left and right at elevations up to 9K and possibly up to 10K. If it turns really cold at night (to at least 27 degrees) for a few nights before your trip where you are planning to go, they will get thinned out, but otherwise they will continue to increase into July. Staying out of forested areas and places with water while being out in open areas with wind will help keep them down, but make sure you take clothing that is treated for mosquitoes and you have deet and headnets with you. Mosquitoes love me, so I feel for your son.

By the way, I've never encountered snow in June around Hetch Hetchy or Cherry Lake, since they are so low they don't get much snow even in winter, and possibly nothing but a nice dusting this past winter. What I have run into is tons of mosquitoes there, and difficult crossings (of Cherry Creek and Falls Creek). I remember my trip up the river from Cherry Lake to Huckleberry Lake over a decade ago in early June. The only relief we had from mosquitoes was to camp on top of the granite slopes above Cherry Creek where we got lots of wind. We also needed my friend's raft to get across Cherry Creek when the trail crossed it. This year the water levels should be much lower than usual, so crossings should be easier.

The Lillian Lakes area is beautiful, but the forest is pretty thick in that area. If you go another day in, you will get out of the forest as you approach the passes and probably lose the mosquitoes. However, you may find yourself in several inches of snow out there, so if you go there, go prepared with microspikes or crampons.

[Tonydavid]

Thanks Rgliebe for the realism and response. So...any advice. We have 9 days, live in So Cal and can drive anywhere (does not need to be Sierra!). We want beauty, a nice adventure, photo opportunities and reasonable weather (and not to be frantic from bugs).

[CAMERONM]

I would imagine that any lower elevation lake area in the Sierra with little to no snow will be mosquito heaven at the moment- no way around it. I am waiting out the small snow flurries before going in myself.
No mosquitos: find a route in Joshua Tree. Not TOO hot yet. I have only done overnight various places so I can't recommend a multi-day route, you'll have to look around. You might want to cache water, lower your loads. Lower down but similar, Anza Borrego. Once again, I can't give a specific route.