Help with Trip Planning Cottonwoods Lake area 8/21-8/26

[emo53]

Four of us are heading from the east coast into LA and had planned to hike the Rae Lakes loop. However, we are looking for alternatives due to the bridge being out and difficult stream crossings. We are experienced backpackers through not so comfortable with cross country travel unless it is pretty clear and easy. We plan to camp near South Lake for 2 nights to get acclimated and do day hikes and then we have 5 nights for backpacking. We like to camp at lakes and would like a layover day. Mileage 6-10 miles depending on altitude change. We spoke with ranger who recommended Cottonwoods Lakes area. Any thoughts? Is it very crowded? Are there a lot of horses? Could someone recommend a 6 day itinerary? We will have 2 cars so could also do a loop hike there or somewhere else. We are also considering something out of Mineral King. The loop mapped out by Goat looks like something we would like. Appreciate your help and thoughts.

[Hobbes]

If you're heading to LA, then you're going to probably want to hit the east side trail heads. Rae lakes, Mineral king, et al are west side approaches that entail longer drives from SoCal. (These would work better if you said you're were visiting the SF bay area.)

One of the classic short loop hikes in the Sierra Nevada is good old Mt Whitney. Perhaps the two favorite multi-day approaches (as opposed to simply summitting directly) are entering from either south @ Horseshoe meadows or north @ Onion valley.

From Horseshoe, you simply continue on past the Cottonwood lakes and head over New Army pass. After a few miles, you can hook up with the PCT, which will take you right to Whitney. From Onion, you head over Kearsarge pass and hook up with the JMT/PCT, which likewise also takes you directly to Whitney.

With 6 days available, you could take either approach nice and slow, finding plenty of time to acclimate. There are many beautiful lakes and streams from either direction, so there's fishing as well in addition to nice locations in which to camp.

There seems to be a lot of confusion over Whitney primarily due to the lottery process. First and foremost, lottery permits are for direct approaches originating from Whitney portal. If you are **exiting** Mt Whitney, then permits are subject to the same exact 60% reservable, 40% walk-in permits for all other THs.

With two cars available, it's sort of a no-brainer. The distance between Whitney portal and the other two trailheads is something like 25-30 miles. IMO, this should be your #1 option.