Conflicting information on best way to get from Golden Trout Lakes to Dragon Lake. Gould or Dragon Pass?
Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2020 11:10 am
Hey there, I'm planning a ~30 mile loop through Rae Lakes/60 Lakes Basin/Gardiner Basin. My preliminary idea can be seen here (https://caltopo.com/m/20HG). Let me know what you think. I'm thinking 4 or 5 nights. Anyway, I wanna do quite a bit of XC on this route so I'm looking at going to Rae Lakes on the first night via the Golden Trout Lake area, over Dragon/Gould Pass, down to Dragon Lake, and then on to Rae Lakes. It's only about 5.5 miles, vs about 11.5 if I went the Kearsarge/Glen Pass route, and includes the XC adventure I want. However, I'm seeing conflicting information on what the best way to get from the Golden Trout Lake area to Dragon Lake is.
The High Sierra Topix map shows a route from Golden Trout Lake (see the attached green map pic) up to what I believe is called Gould Pass, but it's weird (http://www.highsierratopix.com/high-sie ... =2&zoom=14)... That green line looks like it ascends to a ridge, descends the other side, then ascends to what I believe is called "Dragon Pass". Also, the "Gould Pass" point on this map doesn't look like a "pass" at all. It looks like a peak, and the green line doesn't jive with it, so I'm confused by this route, where the location of Gould Pass actually is, and how to get there.
I'm seeing on the Dragon Peak Peakbagger and other sites a different route that ascends from the lake north of Golden Trout Lake (11401 feet on CalTopo but called Lake 11360 on attached pic) west to the same point (Dragon Pass?) as the other route. There's GPXs galore that show the "Dragon Pass" route and I've attached an image I found that shows the ascent and descent towards Dragon Lake.
Then there's also "North Dragon Pass" seen here (http://www.highsierratopix.com/high-sie ... =2&zoom=14).
So, my question is, what's the best way to get from the Golden Lake Trout area to Dragon Lake? Anyone have experience with an XC route that connects these two? Does anyone have a GPX that shows a complete route to Dragon Lake via their XC route?
Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks.
EDIT: Or is it just easier to go Kearsarge/Glen Pass to Rae Lakes on Day 1, even if it is longer?
The High Sierra Topix map shows a route from Golden Trout Lake (see the attached green map pic) up to what I believe is called Gould Pass, but it's weird (http://www.highsierratopix.com/high-sie ... =2&zoom=14)... That green line looks like it ascends to a ridge, descends the other side, then ascends to what I believe is called "Dragon Pass". Also, the "Gould Pass" point on this map doesn't look like a "pass" at all. It looks like a peak, and the green line doesn't jive with it, so I'm confused by this route, where the location of Gould Pass actually is, and how to get there.
I'm seeing on the Dragon Peak Peakbagger and other sites a different route that ascends from the lake north of Golden Trout Lake (11401 feet on CalTopo but called Lake 11360 on attached pic) west to the same point (Dragon Pass?) as the other route. There's GPXs galore that show the "Dragon Pass" route and I've attached an image I found that shows the ascent and descent towards Dragon Lake.
Then there's also "North Dragon Pass" seen here (http://www.highsierratopix.com/high-sie ... =2&zoom=14).
So, my question is, what's the best way to get from the Golden Lake Trout area to Dragon Lake? Anyone have experience with an XC route that connects these two? Does anyone have a GPX that shows a complete route to Dragon Lake via their XC route?
Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks.
EDIT: Or is it just easier to go Kearsarge/Glen Pass to Rae Lakes on Day 1, even if it is longer?