High Sierra Topix

Hey guys,

I’ve been a member here awhile but have been lurking here for a year or so and I figured its time to start asking questions, contributing, and posting some Trip Reports as I plan on hiking/camping a lot more.
I'm from the LA area and live here permanently now but I went to school in Colorado and have been hiking and camping the past couple years, going backcountry a couple times.
I have a window of time the third weekend in June(3-4 days), so I thought I might ask the board which trip they would do if they had the time.

-Level 3
-Class I and II terrain
-Comfortable doing 8-11 miles a day
-Looking to return to the same trailhead I start at
-Main focus would be fishing, exploring, fishing, and scenery

With that being said I’ve been looking at going into:

1. Humphrey’s basin via Piute Pass and fishing Tomahawk and Mesa or exploring around here and maybe getting over to Chevaux, Paris, Alsace, and Elba.

2. Upper Kern near Rattlesnake and Funston Meadow

3. Or explore some of the Pioneer Basin.

I figured if anyone had some useful info about these places it would be here. Not looking for any secret spots just maybe some advice on what area provides the best fishing and would be up for doing some exploring.

Appreciate the help,

Nick

If you have 3 or 4 days and you are going to spend time fishing then the Kern trip is probably too far for the daily mileage you mention. Of the remaining two, Humphreys Basin has the better fishing, IMO. Send me a PM and if you promise to hump my backpack up Shepherd Pass for the meetup I'll tell you my "secret" HB fishing spot for monster fish.

(By the way, Rattlesnake Creek is upper Kern with respect to LA or rafting, but when backpacking in the "high Sierra", I think the upper Kern starts at about Wallace Creek. But that's just my subjective opinion.)

Hi Nick,
I'd second the previous comments (well, I'm not looking for a Sherpa), but if you want further heads up on the scenery, fishing, etc, there are gobs of HST trail reports that will give more detail. For instance, SSSDave did a great TR on Pioneer from last autumn, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Either way, you cannot go wrong (oh, one other thing that occasionally is a factor is that it's a slightly shorter drive to Piute vs Mono Pass trailhead).
cg

Hi Nick,

Welcome to HST! Use the search feature at the top of the "Fishing Hole" section
to get access to numerous TR's of the areas your requesting information about.
Some quick search examples:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8801&hilit=upper+kern#p64537" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4364&p=26166&hilit= ... sin#p26150" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8183&hilit=humphreys+basin#p59321" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Considering what your after I'd probably go to Humphrey's out of your choices. It's a huge basin with a ton of lakes to explore. Lots of good fishing if you get off to some of the side lakes. I don't think this could be said about Pioneer Basin.

The Kern around Funston Meadow any time except really early season and late season is going to be very hot and will not have the high alpine scenery since your down in the canyon.

Thanks for all the info so far guys was leaning towards Humphrey's Basin as I heard the fishing was good off trail. Will look into all the TR's with some more detail

Nick