High Sierra Topix

Never really 'hiked' before. Older, not in the greatest condition but can walk a few miles. Want to get started - love to fish, would like to take a short hike to a fishing spot around Sequoia or Kings Canyon. Not wilderness savy so won't go alone. Have GPS if that helps. Is there an organization or group in Fresno-Visalia areas that does informally-organized group outings? Or perhaps a few adventurous newbies like myself?

The first that comes to mind is to check out the Sierra Club in your area...I think the Tehipite chapter (http://tehipite.sierraclub.org/) is based in fresno.

Thank you. I will get in touch with someone there. Probably a good place to start, in a group with an experienced hiker.

fishingwishing: A good first hike would be Nellie Lake, about 4 1/2 miles from the Upper billy Creek campground on the north side of Huntington Lake (Hwy 168 out of Fresno.)

Easy trail to follow, decent trout fishing, a good climb but not brutal.

Another option -

Perhaps a two mile walk to the Kings River (where the bridge passes over it) from "Roads End" off hwy 180 in Kings Canyon. Not exactly a wilderness experience but beautiful surroundings and ample amount of similar souls nearby with other suggestions for "next time".

Although, not being a fisherman, I have no clue if there is actually anything in the river to "catch".

PS. Welcome to tha board!

I'm not sure what kind of fishing you are into but you can always contact the Kaweah Flyfishers or ask the people at Buzz's Fly shop in Visalia if they do any group outings.

Check out the Fishing Hole, there are lots of ideas there. Vandeburg and Cora are a couple of relatively short hikes.

Also the lakes near the upper end of Saddlebag have some opportunites for day hike fishing and car camping.

I'm sure others will have lots of other ideas.


mike

oldranger wrote:Also the lakes near the upper end of Saddlebag have some opportunites for day hike fishing and car camping.

I second Saddlebags. I can't think of anywhere else that's so easy to get to with so many options ( and stunningly beautiful). Ride the water taxi accross the lake to the inlet area, then hike into the 20 lakes basin. It's over 10,000 feet, so you'll be huffing and puffing, but just know you'll take lots of breaks on the way in. The hiking trail itself, is very mild. If you decide you don't want to hike, fish at the inlet area. All fishing methods work there (flies, lures, bait). This is my favorite place on earth for car camping.

Where ever you go, Good Luck!

Jerry

Thank you all so very much.... sounds like enough info to get me started. Thanks, again!

There are certainly some good options. Seki itself does not have too many short distance fishing targets, but the surrounding areas do. The best places to get the same scenic character but have short hikes would probably be the east side of the Sierra. The mountains around these places are very impressive and rugged--as rugged as anything in the interior of Seki. There are short hikes out of Onion Valley to places such as Matlock Lake and Slim Lake (lots of small to medium sized brookies running to about 10", a few residual browns in Matlock, I'd guess). The next easy spot north would be the great Bishop area, specifically the Bishop Creek drainage, where you have three take off areas (South L. area, Sabrina L. area, North Lake area). Out of South Lake, a short hike to Long Lake (bit under 3 mi) gives you a range of options from Long Lake (chunky rainbows to about 12", small to medium sized brookies and occasional monster brown), Ruwau (medium sized brookies and big rainbows) and a lot of other lakes that are teeming with small to medium sized brookies. Side trips from the road in the 3-4 mile range can take you to Green Lake (big rainbows) or the Tyee Lakes (lower lakes have small to medium sized brookies, upper lakes have bigger fish). Out of Sabrina, the first lake is a bit further--it is Blue Lake at about 3.5 mi, as I recall. It is full of nice medium sized brookies running to 11". North Lake has several attractive options: Loch Leven (3 mi or a bit less) full of brookies to 10". Piute Lake a bit further: slightly bigger brookies and rainbows to about 12". If you go to Lamarck Lakes (spur trail from trailhead) you can tie into innumerable medium sized brookies and the occasional rainbow. Upper Lamarck Lake is drop dead gorgeous--one of the High Sierra's most beautiful lakes, in my estimation. The next set of trailheads north is at Rock Creek: Little Lakes Valley, the High Sierra's highest and most convenient trailhead. Here there are more lakes than you can count that are less than or equal to 3 miles and minimal elevation gain (less than 400 feet) from the car. Lakes such as Marsh, Heart, Box, and Long all have plenty of small to medium sized brookies, but there are also some epic browns that lurk there; these usually start showing themselves more in the fall. The next spot to the north is the Mammoth area. I really haven't fished the more accessible lakes in this area too much (Arrowhead, Barney et al.), but there are a lot of them and many have done well there. North of this is the Tioga Pass/Saddlebag area mentioned earlier, and still further north are additional opportunities in the Virginia Lakes-Green Lakes area.

On the west side, southern Sierras, my easy hiking choices include the following: Dinkey Lakes Wilderness. First Dinkey is a leisurely 3 mile hike from the car and it is loaded with brookies to 11" as is nearby South Lake. An easy backpack to First Dinkey puts a lot of other lakes within easy day hiking radius. A similar statement can be made about Upper Twin Lake in Kaiser Wilderness, an easy 3 mile hike from Sample Meadow. This lake has brookies and rainbows running to about 12" and there are lot of lakes within easy range of it. Weaver Lake in Jennie Lakes Wilderness is another west side easy-hike option. It is something like 2 miles from the Fox Meadow trailhead and has plenty of brookies running to 12". These west side destinations do not have the level of alpine ruggedness seen on the east side destinations: they look more like the northern Sierra, but the hikes are pleasant and the fishing is good. You also have some nice views of distant more rugged areas in the Sierra from the Upper Twin and Weaver options.

Obviously there are a lot of options for short hikes and good fishing in the southern Sierra. The central and northern Sierra offer a lot of options, too, although the southern Sierra, particularly the east side, has the more rugged alpine scenery.