High Sierra Topix

Can someone provide the above info from the South Lake Trailhead to the JMT?

Thanks.

Distance:12.6 miles
Time: This varies from person to person. It took me around 7 hrs from South Lake
to about 2 miles south of the LeConte Ranger Station last year.
Mind you this is after getting up at 3 am and driving to Bishop from SF bay Area to
pick up my permit and then hitting the trail, my pack is full, and I have to get my
mountain legs and lungs to catch up to speed, which takes 2-3 days in some cases.

Hi Doug,
There are likely to be folks with more-accurate measures, but my recollection is that it's about 6-7 miles from the trailhead to Bishop Pass and roughly the equivalent distance from there down to the JMT. Probably, 13-14 miles total. The South Lake entry is one of the easier ones on the East side, because it starts high and the total elevation gain to the Pass is a little over 2000 feet. Thus, if you're like some folks on this site, you'd reach the Pass before lunch. But, even if you are mortal (or heavily loaded), it's not unreasonable to plan to get over to Dusy Basin the first night (you will hit decent campsites within the first mile or two over the pass). From there, it's a long jam down to the JMT in Le Conte canyon, but the scenery is great and large sections of the trail (especially, on the North side) were fixed by a trail crew a couple years ago, so it's easy going.
Cameron

I agree with maverick on time getting there, I had lunch at the lowest lake in the Dusy Basin and went on to Little Pete Meadow for the night. I average around two miles an hour, terrain doesn't matter much unless I am going xc, then that takes its toll.

A few years ago I took a group of 6 hikers, most new to the Sierra, to Dusy Lakes. We started sometime around 9AM at South Lake and last one got into the basin and the lakes by 4PM. The faster ones were there by 2PM. We were not doing a fast scramble, there was some snow at the top - a hundred yards or so - which slowed a few down a bit. We lazed around at Long Lake for lunch.

Its a couple more hours to the PCT from the basin. You are lower than your car by then, so it is a fairly long down hill.

I suspect you could do it in a long day assuming you are fit. Certainly before lunch on the second day.