High Sierra Topix

Hi all,

I'm in the early stages of planning a trip to the parks in early/mid June next year. It will be me, a buddy, and possibly my brother. I just wanted to get a thread started on the subject to share what I've got planned so far and to also get some advice from some of the veterans to the area.

So far I've got these two identified as an options. It would either be all red and hit both of the parks, or start red and lollipop through yellow in Jennie Lakes Wilderness. Both of these routes would clock in at about 28 miles when you factor in all of the little jots off the main trails that lead to small lakes. All red definitely has the more severe elevation change though.

Any other suggestions out there? We're looking for the following...

• 3 nights
  Moderate to difficult
  Seclusion
  Fishing
  Campfires (at least a night or two)

^^^Sorry. Im a noob and haven't figured out how to place my pics where I want them.

A few bullet points:

- June is kinda the in-between time for snow, especially early in the month. You'll probably be fine, but a heavy year could trigger the usual snow travel safety considerations (snow bridges collapsing, sliding really fast when you fall on a steep slope, yadda yadda). Moving your trip later in the year, or going a bit lower in elevation would remove these concerns.
- The Weaver lake area can get pretty busy since it's such a short distance from the trail head, and none of it is overly secluded.
- I wouldn't characterize the route you've chosen as overly difficult. 9-10 miles per day is pretty standard.

Thanks. It's not ideal but we can move the trip back. Do you think the last week of June would be alright or should I push this thing off to July?
What are my chances of actually getting the permits?

And I know I submit for the permits on March 1st but when do I hear back from the park?

I'll keep my eyes peeled for additional options and will post here in the near future

Would I be ok sticking with the yellow lollipop in early June? Jennie Lakes. Lower elevation. It appears to be relatively flat.

And how is the fishing in these lakes and the others off trail?

Would recommend the trip in red, lakes are beautiful, especially Lost Lake, fishing is good, but you should go to Seville Lake, and then crosscountry to Sheep Camp Lakes, to get the best fishing , and then on to Lost Lakes.
Depending on the snow pack, which is way to early to predict for anyone, this may be better done late June or early July.

Oh hell yeah. That looks nice!!! I suppose by the time I get my permits in I'll have a good idea on how bad the snow will be.

Once I get my permit application submitted, how long does it take to hear back from the park?

I would do red loop but start at rowell meadow TH (sunset meadow). Cuts down handle of lollipop by quite a bit and 1,000 feet less vertical. In most years early june would work fine. In big snow years you would do some post holing as late as 4th of july over Silliman Pass. If you can wait until april to make final decision as to your dates you could make a pretty solid choice. Knowing the area well if I had to choose now I would select a start date of around June 20. But beware June in this area can be mosquito hell.

The old Lollipop Loop versus the Flag Loop debate...Personally I'd go for the Lollipop. All those lakes on the backside of the Silliman Crest are really lovely, and pretty tolerable for swimming. I feel like people have a tendency to skip Beville Lake, but it's a really gorgeous lake with an island in the middle, and there should be a nice waterfall trickling into it in June. There's no trail to the Sheep Camp Lakes, but they're both pretty easily accessible, and make for a good introduction to cross-country hiking in the Sierra. The Jennie Lakes portion of trail doesn't have too much to offer. Jennie Lake is great, but Weaver's shallow, crowded, and trashed. The stretch of trail from Lodgepole to Twin Lakes is okay, but things don't really start cooking until you get over Silliman Pass. This is the most strenuous part of the route, but by Sierra standards it's pretty tame. The switchbacks from Twin to the pass are the hardest part.

For a three night trip, I'd advise camping at Ranger, then Seville, and branching off the Lollipop to camp at Jennie on the last night. It's a ten mile day of 3,000+ elevation gain on the first day to get to Ranger, but it's a vastly superior lake to Twin. Regarding seclusion, it's pretty hit or miss in that neck of the woods. If you're there in the middle of the week, there's a decent chance you'll have those lakes all to yourself, but they can get crowded on weekends. And just a heads up, that whole area is very marshy, and the mosquitoes can be quite a handful in early summer. But overall it's a great route!

Thanks. How long before I hear back from the park on my permits? I plan to submit on March 1st