Lowest-altitude trailhead that will pop us into the granite?

[oleander]

I should mention that they will have a 4WD, high-clearance jeep.

So that could broaden their options into the rougher trailhead access points.

[The hermit]

Reminds me of my canoe trip days, looking for scenic lakes that you can drive to. My resource was the book "canoeing the California highlands". Many of the areas mentioned so far are in there. I didn't hike that far and managed to find solitude. pct south from blue lakes rd.near sunset lakes. The east side of lassen park (lava not granite).grouse ridge area. Even the ventana wilderness has granite peaks, not too many lakes though:)

[TehipiteTom]

I don't know what conditions are like after several bad fire seasons, but Cherry Lake trailhead used to get you into some quite low-elevation granite pretty quickly--either heading into Cherry Creek canyon, or to Kibbie Lake and over to Flora and the Bartlett Creek drainage.