3 day trip ideas

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tory8411
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3 day trip ideas

Post by tory8411 »

Hello All,
I wanted to pick from your great expertise again. I had a trip planned for this Fri thru Sun but people and mileage requests changed last minute. Here's the parameters, we're based out of Fresno, we have to leave early Fri (no Thurs overnight), mileage between 23 and 30. As of right now, I changed our trip to the Cottonwood Lakes loop over New Army Pass. Any other ideas?
Tory
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Post by cgundersen »

Hi Tory,
Since Giantbrookie is in Fresno, too, he always has great ideas for short excursions. If you really want to cut down the drive time, and spend a bit of time off trail, the loop from Wolverton or Crescent Meadow (in Sequoia) to Moose Lake and back over the Tablelands to Pear Lake and back out is within your mileage (but you do need to be comfortable with offtrail rambling on the Tablelands). Easier and all on trail is to go from Lodgepole over Silliman pass and you can either make it a loop (JO Pass) or come back out the same way you went in. Still, for a short loop on the Eastside, you'll not do a lot better than Cottonwood-New Army.
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Post by DJG »

Since you are beginning in Fresno you've got some choices on your side of the hill. There's some good 3 day opportunities in Lake Thomas Edison and Florence Lake area. Another bonus is that the trails in this area start at a relatively lower elevation which can minimize the need to get acclimated.

The trail into the Indian Lakes basin could work for you, or get a layover day instead at the upper Graveyard Lakes.

Good luck and have fun!
Dan
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Post by giantbrookie »

Tory, I'm trying to recall what the priorities of your original trip were. Fishing (if so, any particular species preferences)?, Peak bagging? Scenery? Solitude? Off trail adventure?

Needless to say there are many choice 3 day shots you can take out of here (Fresno); there are a lot of options within that 23-30 mi criteria. Additional questions are: how much elevation day per day would be acceptable and what amount of off trail backpacking? I suppose my top 2 choices might fall under the "exclusion criteria" as noted in that thread on the fishing forum, but there are still almost too many options to count.
Since my fishing (etc.) website is still down, you can be distracted by geology stuff at: http://www.fresnostate.edu/csm/ees/facu ... ayshi.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Post by tory8411 »

Hey GB,
Thanks for all the responses. I'm actually not taking the rod this trip. I was told I can't fish the first few lakes and I'm not sure how energetic the guys I'm going with will be to explore the basin and continue on. So, I decided to focus on my orienteering skills this trip. Scenery and solitude are always the highest motivators.
Elevation isn't a big concern, but I do have a newbie with me on this trip and I want him to have a taste. Thanks for the help.
T
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Post by giantbrookie »

I take it when you say "I can't fish the first few lakes" you were referring to if you go the Cottonwood option. However, if you go somewhere else...

One 3 day loop that sort of flies under the radar is to go from the Tioga Road, then up dry Cathedral falls to Lower Cathedral Lake, briefly join the trail, go over Cathedral Pass then leave the trail for Echo Lake and then Matthes Lake, which would make gorgeous camping spot on your first night. Other than the brief stretch from Lower Cathedral to Cathedral Pass, where they'll be a few people (especially at Lower Cathedral) you won't see anyone and the cross country slab walk from Tioga Road to Lower Cathedral Lake is stunning. On day 2 you can work around another set of corners to the drainage that holds Nelson and Reymann Lakes and camp there. From there you have several options on day 3. The simplest, but not necessarily the most interesting is to head over the top and rejoin trailed and people country at Elizabeth Lake, then hitch a ride west to your car or walk along the road. There are many more exotic options, though, the most exotic (in my book) which would be to do a combination of ridges and saddles from near Reymann, eventually pass north of the Cockcomb, then over a little hump to Budd Lake, thence through the gap south of Cathedral Peak to rejoin your entry route at Cathedral Lake (the one tricky spot would be the saddle north of the Cockcomb--that would take some finesse and good route finding to avoid class 3). Anyhow the kickoff point is way closer to Fresno than Cottonwood. This is a trip where the majority the hiking is off trail. Most of the off trail is not too difficult (unless one does the most exotic day 3 option).

One that requires even less driving from Fresno would be to go out of the Crown Valley trailhead near Wishon. Head for Spanish Lakes, but instead of camping there (there may be people there) you could push on to the Twin Lake perched above the Spanish Lakes. That last little bit of off trail will assure you of having the place to yourself (although the Spanish Lakes hardly get hit hard). On day 2 you could climb to the top of Spanish Mtn. which overlooks the very deepest part of Kings Canyon--it is easy and the view is stupendous. You could either keep your camp in the same place or shift it to Upper Geraldine or something. This isn't a loop so you'd come out the same way. This isn't nearly as exotic as the first option because of it isn't so much an off trail backpack but it gives you the opportunity to get a great view from a viewpoint that isn't often visited (Spanish Mtn).
Since my fishing (etc.) website is still down, you can be distracted by geology stuff at: http://www.fresnostate.edu/csm/ees/facu ... ayshi.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Thanks GB

Post by tory8411 »

GB,
Thanks for the great idea. The Tioga trip sounds great and I plan on going over that with the guys tonight. Your second idea I've pretty much been on already. In fact, I think I posted a hidden spot for lunkar rainbows out of that area on a thread one or two years ago. It's around the corner from upper geraldine (shhhh). Very small pond. That's a beautiful area and I think you can make a semi loop out of the rancheria th. I'll let you know what we decided to do.
T
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