Please critique/advise June 13-25 route

[AlmostThere]

Tuolumne mdws elevation says 8600. I really want to get out in the Sierra and this might be my only window this summer. Any better suggestions?

September after the HSC's close.. That's when I'm going.. Haven't been for awhile.. Tuolumne lodge to Evelyn (screw Vogelsang) and then over to Townsley and up to Hanging Basket.. Sometimes the soul needs to be replenished...

You're being optimistic about the HSCs.... They'll be open for three or four weeks, not even sure that would make it worth their while to open.

[rlown]

As implied, I don't go to the HSC.. I cut off straight to Evelyn up the hill from the West. Never set foot into an HSC as a paying customer. Actually that is Evelyn in my avatar.. It was a great trip..

[tekisui0]

Unfortunately, Sept is my busiest month of the year with work... Like I said, this might well be my only window this summer. I like snow in general. After reading Wandering Daisy's trip report of the N Yosemite Boundry Lks, they look great to me - EXCEPT that it sounds like there are no fish. I guess I could do two 5ish day trips, but was really hoping for something longer. Any advice is much appreciated...

[paul]

I can't speak to the fishing. But as to the snow and creek crossing picture, the thing to keep in mind about the northern Yosemite boundary and Emigrant area is that is gets typically the deepest snowpack of the the whole range. Looking at the May 1 numbers, Horse Meadows at 8400 feet had 13 feet of snow on the ground. At 52% density. In other words, that is over 6 1/2 feet of water laying there. Huckleberry lake at 7800 feet - 12 feet of snow. That is going to take a while to melt off and drain out. So a trip through there is going to be mostly on snow . Not so bad if you are prepared for it, it's mostly easy terrain (better have plenty of sunscreen though). But it's the creek crossings I would be wary of. Everything is going to be running extremely high, probably well into July. I'd rather take a trip that went higher up closer to the crest with fewer creeks to cross, since you're going to be on snow almost anywhere you go in June unless you can stay way low.

[Cross Country]

I went on BP/fishing trips in late June, 25 consecutive years. There were years (almost all of the 25) with considerable less snow than this year. There were a few years when the only option I had was to go fishing out of Hetch Hechy to Laurel Lake. There was still a creek crossing I couldn't have made without a log jam. Laurel is fairly large and not to deep. This allows it to thaw sooner than the others and make it fishable. It might even be possible to get to Edith Lake, but would require walking on deep snow and cups at 8K feet. The real problem for fishing at Edith would be the water temperature.

[AlmostThere]

Trail crew friends have gotten their stock trailers up to Jerky Trailhead.

Golden Trout should have plenty of water, and... well, golden trout.
http://stevenojai.tripod.com/gtrout.htm

The snowline is running about 7500-8000 feet pretty consistently from Yosemite south.

Here is the Sierra east of Moro Rock today:

IMG_2411.JPG

[tekisui0]

Hmmm....
The first route I had in mind was a bit longer, through Golden Trout and SEKI. I thought because of all the crossings (and lack of lakes for fishing) in GT and the elevation of most of central SEKI that the Kibbie route I plotted was a good bet as it avoids most crossings and is mostly 7-9k. I'm certainly still considering it but would like to catch some fish and that doesnt sound likely there. Should I rethink the GT/SEKI area? I had also looked at a Dinkey lakes to Blackcap Basin route, but there's the elevation and greater snowfall. Does this sound like a better bet? There was a post by Giantbrookie that swayed me towards the Kibbie route and away from Dinkey - but I have found a good bit of conflicting info out there.

Thoughts? I realize no one has a crystal ball but living out of state I only get up to the Sierra once or twice a year. Just trying to figure out the best bet for enjoying my favorite mountains.

Thanks for any input!

[AlmostThere]

Dinkey/Blackcap assumes you can get to those trailheads. You can't. Not yet. The road to Courtright is closed til July, rangers estimate. Other Dinkey trailheads are on dirt roads that the four wheel club will saw the trees out of when the snow melts -- still under snow.

Golden Trout has at least more territory under 9000 feet.
Have a look at: https://www.fs.fed.us/r5/webmaps/SierraSnowDepth/
Drag the map up until you can see the area north of Slate Mountain --all the pale blue is 1 - 9 inches of snow, compared to many inches of the dark purples and pinks... a fair bit of that is likely already gone and will be gone by June 13.

Heck, I'd be tempted to drive up to Lloyd Meadows and just hike up the Kern river til it's time to turn around, if the weather's cool enough.