Planning for the High Sierra Trail
Posted: Fri May 30, 2014 2:54 pm
Hi everyone! I'm taking a group on the High Sierra Trail in August and I'm working on planning the optimal route for us. I've done a lot (a LOT!!) of searching and trip report reading and I would love your feedback on my planned itinerary, but first, some more details about the group:
-I'm a Level 3 comfortable with Class 2 terrain, off-trail passes, and cross country navigation. I'm taking a group of six (including myself). Two are Level 3 and the rest are Level 2.
-I'm organizing the trip, so I get to style it to my taste (yay!). I love big mountain scenery, alpine lakes, sunsets / sunrises / alpenglow, and campsites with a view. I am really bored in long forested sections. I don't fish. I like to get up early, watch / photograph the sunrise, and move pretty quickly to the next spot, set up camp, and spend some time scrambling around seeing what I can see.
-I realize this is a very popular trail, but I'm hoping to select some camps that minimize crowds, so I've chosen Precipice and a layover / exploration day in the Nine Lakes Basin. We will be carrying bear canisters rather than relying on bear boxes for this reason.
-We already have the permit for entering "High Sierra Trail" (which I'm assuming is Crescent Meadow) on 8/6 and exiting Whitney Portal on 8/13.
Camp 0 - Lodgepole for acclimation / permit acquisition the day before we start.
Camp 1 - Buck Creek or Bearpaw or Lone Pine Creek (?)
Camp 2 - Precipice
Camp 3 - Nine Lakes Basin
Camp 4 - Kern Hot Spring
Camp 5 - Wallace Creek
Camp 6 - Tarn above Guitar Lake
Camp 7 - Outpost Camp
My main questions are:
1. I had originally planned to camp at Buck Creek or Bearpaw, but then I saw a couple TRs that mention camping at Lone Pine Creek with views (my jam!!). Is it really possible to camp near Lone Pine Creek? Is there water access or should I plan for a dry camp? If it's possible, I'd *love* to camp there for the sunset views on the Hamilton Domes.
2. Exploring the Nine Lakes Basin seems like a good way to give my less experienced backpackers a little taste of off-trail. Any favorite spots around there that we shouldn't miss? Is it ok to camp at one of the lower lakes and day hike up, or will we really regret missing some awe inspiring sunset / sunrise at the upper lakes?
3. The push from Kern Hot Spring to Wallace Creek seems pretty long, especially the climb out of Junction Meadow in the afternoon. Is it worth pushing to Wallace Creek that day? I heard that Junction Meadow is just a bummer of a campsite, but I'm not sure if Wallace Creek is better?
4. I'm still debating how exactly to do the transportation. We are coming from Oakland and I am considering taking Amtrak to Visalia and then taking the bus to Sequoia, and hopefully bribing one of my friends to come get us from Whitney Portal. This would mean we won't have a car in Sequoia when we start, so we'd have to rely on the shuttles to get from Lodgepole to Crescent Meadow, which would mean we probably wouldn't be hiking until 10am. Seems suboptimal for trying to make it all the way to Lone Pine Creek that day. Thoughts? Should we just suck it up and do a car shuttle?
Thanks in advance for all the great advice you're going to give me
-I'm a Level 3 comfortable with Class 2 terrain, off-trail passes, and cross country navigation. I'm taking a group of six (including myself). Two are Level 3 and the rest are Level 2.
-I'm organizing the trip, so I get to style it to my taste (yay!). I love big mountain scenery, alpine lakes, sunsets / sunrises / alpenglow, and campsites with a view. I am really bored in long forested sections. I don't fish. I like to get up early, watch / photograph the sunrise, and move pretty quickly to the next spot, set up camp, and spend some time scrambling around seeing what I can see.
-I realize this is a very popular trail, but I'm hoping to select some camps that minimize crowds, so I've chosen Precipice and a layover / exploration day in the Nine Lakes Basin. We will be carrying bear canisters rather than relying on bear boxes for this reason.
-We already have the permit for entering "High Sierra Trail" (which I'm assuming is Crescent Meadow) on 8/6 and exiting Whitney Portal on 8/13.
Camp 0 - Lodgepole for acclimation / permit acquisition the day before we start.
Camp 1 - Buck Creek or Bearpaw or Lone Pine Creek (?)
Camp 2 - Precipice
Camp 3 - Nine Lakes Basin
Camp 4 - Kern Hot Spring
Camp 5 - Wallace Creek
Camp 6 - Tarn above Guitar Lake
Camp 7 - Outpost Camp
My main questions are:
1. I had originally planned to camp at Buck Creek or Bearpaw, but then I saw a couple TRs that mention camping at Lone Pine Creek with views (my jam!!). Is it really possible to camp near Lone Pine Creek? Is there water access or should I plan for a dry camp? If it's possible, I'd *love* to camp there for the sunset views on the Hamilton Domes.
2. Exploring the Nine Lakes Basin seems like a good way to give my less experienced backpackers a little taste of off-trail. Any favorite spots around there that we shouldn't miss? Is it ok to camp at one of the lower lakes and day hike up, or will we really regret missing some awe inspiring sunset / sunrise at the upper lakes?
3. The push from Kern Hot Spring to Wallace Creek seems pretty long, especially the climb out of Junction Meadow in the afternoon. Is it worth pushing to Wallace Creek that day? I heard that Junction Meadow is just a bummer of a campsite, but I'm not sure if Wallace Creek is better?
4. I'm still debating how exactly to do the transportation. We are coming from Oakland and I am considering taking Amtrak to Visalia and then taking the bus to Sequoia, and hopefully bribing one of my friends to come get us from Whitney Portal. This would mean we won't have a car in Sequoia when we start, so we'd have to rely on the shuttles to get from Lodgepole to Crescent Meadow, which would mean we probably wouldn't be hiking until 10am. Seems suboptimal for trying to make it all the way to Lone Pine Creek that day. Thoughts? Should we just suck it up and do a car shuttle?
Thanks in advance for all the great advice you're going to give me