High Sierra Topix

Hi all,

New to the forum after lurking about for a few weeks. New to backpacking after many years of hiking the Sierras.

I'd like to do a weekend out & back from the Green Creek trailhead to East Lake next weekend, using East Lake as base camp for Saturday, then out on Sunday. I'm hoping that I can leave EARLY from Sacramento area Friday morning and drive to the Bridgeport ranger station to grab a permit.

Looking to solicit some input on
1. Securing the permit - I can't seem to confirm through online research whether there are any quotas in place for this trail; I don't believe there are or should be this early, but don't want to show up and not be able to get one.

2. Conditions - anyone been up there in the past 2 weeks or so? any idea on snow towards Summit Lake, skeeters, etc?

Thanks in advance!

Welcome to HST!
No TR's yet. Here is one from 2011: http://highsierratopix.com/community/vi ... ummit+lake" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Bridgeport Ranger Station # 760-932-7070 8am-4:30pm

Thanks Maverick. I'll make sure to post a TR after the trip.

I am pretty sure there are quotas in this area after Memorial Day. I did a two-nite out and back trip with my son on this route Father's Day weekend 2012 and had no difficulty getting a permit on a Friday afternoon. I don't think this is a high-demand area. We saw only a handful of people the entire weekend. The scenery is very nice, especially from East Lake onward towards Summit Lake, where the views are quite spectacular. We woke up with a bear in our camp site just below East Lake after the first night. All food and trash, toothpaste, etc., was secured in a bear canister away from the campsite. However, when I woke up a rather large bear was messing around with the aluminum coffee cup that I had only consumed water from the night before. The bear bolted when I yelled, "Get out of here." The road to the trailhead is washboard gravel for about seven miles, unless they've recently paved it.

Welcome to the forum. Nice to run into another Sacramento area hiker.

We caught some very nice fish at east lake on supper dupers fishing from the rock out crop. We fished the deep water and slow rolled them deep for 12 to 15 inch trout. Nice lake although it was a little crowd we'd in early July. The hike to summit pass and beyond was great as well.

The Hoover Wilderness Permit Reservation says the quota system for trailheads is from the last Friday in June through September 15. You could call them to verify this in advance.