"light" cross country exploring ideas

[Wandering Daisy]

"Rushing creeks" are a bit hard to come by in September. Whether the terrain is class 1-2 or more is not the only consideration for off-trail travel. The other big issues are your navigation skills, micro-route finding skills, tolerance for brush and agility on talus (rock-hopping).

Northern Yosemite and Emigrant Wilderness creeks get pretty low to drying up in late season, especially if it is a low snow year. Although all class 1-2, the Boundary Lake area and Big Lake area have some tricky navigation. Personally I would not do these in September because they are much more beautiful earlier in the season. Dusy Basin is great but for a 7-8 day trip, you may want to do more, such as going into Barrett Basin. Minarets are great and probably ideal for what you want to see, but they will be quite crowded, especially around Labor Day. Humphreys Basin is scenic in all seasons and has lots of room to roam. If you camp off the main trails you can avoid a lot of people.

If you already hike long days and do not mind large elevation gains, the upper Kern via Shepherd Pass is worthy of an 8-day trip with a mix of open easy to navigate off-trail travel, some use-trails and some well established trails. The headwater cirques, such as Wrights Lake, Wallace-Wales Lakes, Milestone Basin, several stunning unnamed cirques north of Milestone offer very rewarding exploration. For an 8-day trip you would have to select 2 or 3 to see. It really takes 10 days or more to see all. The main features are quite spread out so you have to be willing to do some serious trail walking between the west and east side of the Kern. Humphreys or Dusy are better if you prefer a more relaxed trip and shorter distances.

Another somewhat hard to get to destination is Bear Basin; but once you get there you can easily spend 3-4 days exploring.

[mckee80]

I suggest the Red Mountain Basin. For trip report, see:
http://www.sierrahiker.com/RedMountainBasin/index.html

Thank you! I didn't even know about this area. Looks really cool.

[mckee80]

"Rushing creeks" are a bit hard to come by in September. Whether the terrain is class 1-2 or more is not the only consideration for off-trail travel. The other big issues are your navigation skills, micro-route finding skills, tolerance for brush and agility on talus (rock-hopping).

Northern Yosemite and Emigrant Wilderness creeks get pretty low to drying up in late season, especially if it is a low snow year. Although all class 1-2, the Boundary Lake area and Big Lake area have some tricky navigation. Personally I would not do these in September because they are much more beautiful earlier in the season. Dusy Basin is great but for a 7-8 day trip, you may want to do more, such as going into Barrett Basin. Minarets are great and probably ideal for what you want to see, but they will be quite crowded, especially around Labor Day. Humphreys Basin is scenic in all seasons and has lots of room to roam. If you camp off the main trails you can avoid a lot of people.

If you already hike long days and do not mind large elevation gains, the upper Kern via Shepherd Pass is worthy of an 8-day trip with a mix of open easy to navigate off-trail travel, some use-trails and some well established trails. The headwater cirques, such as Wrights Lake, Wallace-Wales Lakes, Milestone Basin, several stunning unnamed cirques north of Milestone offer very rewarding exploration. For an 8-day trip you would have to select 2 or 3 to see. It really takes 10 days or more to see all. The main features are quite spread out so you have to be willing to do some serious trail walking between the west and east side of the Kern. Humphreys or Dusy are better if you prefer a more relaxed trip and shorter distances.

Another somewhat hard to get to destination is Bear Basin; but once you get there you can easily spend 3-4 days exploring.

Thanks! Lot of cool ideas. It'll keep me busy over the winter with maps. I'm still trying to figure out where I am as far as navigation and route finding, etc, so I'm looking to take a step in that direction without getting myself in trouble. I remember lots of cool water everywhere on the way to Ediza Lake and west of Thousand Island in Sept 2017, but that is relative and it was a big snow year.