High Sierra Topix

I am looking for suggestions for a 1st backpacking trip to take my almost 5 year old son on. I am a level 3.5 class 3. My son has easily gone a couple miles on day hikes and I will be carrying everything. I am looking for about a 2-3 mile hike into a nice lake that will produce fish. He doesn't care about size, as long as he is catching something. We will probably just stay 1 night for his first trip. He has been camping since he was 4 months old (Yosemite valley in January with a foot of snow).
I would like some nice scenery and as few people as possible (I know, kind of hard only a couple miles in). I am in Bakersfield, so the closer the better. I am quite familiar with the Kern river area up to the Golden Trout wilderness, but would like something a little higher and new for me. I would like to get him out sometime in the next couple weeks. Would love your ideas parents and feel free to PM me if it is a sensitive area.

Thanks in advance!

Here are a few of my picks for easy-to-reach lakes on the west slope which offer fast action.

-First Dinkey Lake in the Dinkey Lakes Wilderness off of Hwy 168 is an easy 3-mile walk and has tons of brookies that get up to about 11 inches. Fun fact: I once caught a golden trout out of here, and it's also supposed to have browns and rainbows, although I've never caught any. This is a nice lake, although it gets infested with mosquitoes in the early summer because it's in a wet, grassy meadow.

-Weaver Lake in the Jennie Lakes Wilderness off of Hwy 180 is less than two miles of easy walking from the Fox Meadow trailhead and also has lots of eager brookies to about 12 inches or so. Also caught a rainbow here, but I'm not sure how many there are. Pretty lake. Gets crowded in the summer.

I would also suggest checking out the archives of this forum and the Fishing Hole. There are several other threads which focus on hikes that would make good first backpacking/fishing trips for young children.

Matt

I took my boys to Waterhouse Lake in Emigrant Wilderness for one of their first trips. The beauty of Waterhouse it's an easy 2-3 miles downhill to the lake, (the trailhead is on the ridge above). After several days in, their legs are accustomed to hiking and they are ready for the hike out. Give it a try.

You could also try the Grouse Ridge area off Highway 20 on the way to tahoe. Similar landscape---with a trailhead at the top of the ridge, and a ton of lakes that are easy to get to from there...

Thanks for the ideas. I will let you know what we decide on and hopefully post some photos.

I may need to re-post or look in archives but I thought I'd fish for some info on this thread since some of the criteria is similar to mine:

I'm in San Diego and am looking to take my daughters on their first 3-5 day backpacking trip over Spring Break in April this year (2012) with a couple other buddies and their kids of similar ages. I realize that's early in the season so I am hoping I can find a "warm enough" area in lower elevations but still in the mountains/woods. My buddies and I were thinking that perhaps the Sequoia National Forest could work...? We're hoping that it will be warmer in this area and its also nice that the drive wouldn't be as far as Kings or northward.

The kids have all day hiked decent distances before and a few of them have done some 3-4 day backpacking trips. We're thinking of keeping the mileage short though at ~3 miles in to a camp and a small elevation gain (less than 1000 feet sounds right). We'd then do day hikes or maybe do one more hike to another camp spot before needing to turn around. The kids all like to fish and so we're of course hoping for some great trout stream or lake that we can have campfires at.

Anyone got any good advice on some areas or trails in the Sequoia National Forest area for April? (Hopefully this isn't a ridiculous idea :-)

Thanks in advance!

April is still pretty early in the season, even for a low snow year, and especially if you're not an experienced backpacker with the right equipment.

Since you're in SD, I would suggest heading over to Palm Springs. (Yeah, spring break!) The drive through Anza-Borrego is pretty interesting, and if we get a late rain shower, you might see some flowers. Once you're in the PS area, both Idyllwild & Mt San Jacinto (via tram) offer excellent day hiking.

I emphasize day hiking, because temps @ those elevations can still drop below freezing in Spring. Better to have a nice warm room from which to plot the day's activities rather than end up in a situation where everyone is miserable & cold.

If you're really set on the Sierra, just wait until July. You'll have an excellent chance of catching some really nice weather & fish.

Wait until May. Go to the Kern River. Hike up the river at the Johnsondale bridge. The trail is nearlly flat. The are lots of places to camp. The river has trout. Keep you kids out of the river. It's a large powerful river. In May it's warm. It's ideal for kids. The first place I took my son mike was the Kern when he was almost 6yo. We were a little more ambitions, hiking in to above the Forks of the Kern in Oct., but then Mike was one tough little kid.

Thanks guys for the info. Here's my thoughts on the two replies I received so far:

1) Regarding Palm Springs / Anza Borrego / other So Cal areas, I'm pretty familiar with them (e.g., We camp in Anza washes regularly and I day hiked the San Jac cactus-to-clouds in August as a prep hike to the grand canyon rim-to-rim-to-rim day hike that I did in Nov last year) and although I appreciate those suggestions, I'm still hoping for a backpacking trip into some wooded areas.

2) The suggestion on going to the Kern is right up the alley of what I was thinking but I'm hoping to go in April, when its my kids' Spring Break. More specifically, its the first week in April.

I thought that early April was going to be tough and now with you guys' replies, I more convinced that its unlikely. And so therefore, I'm thinking of having a plan and a couple backup plans along the following lines:

Plan A: Kern (or Little Kern?) if the weather happens to be unseasonably warm in the first week of April.

Plan B: Somewhere coastal and at least partially wooded, like Ojai or other Ventura or Santa Barbara areas. I guess its unlikely to get recommendations for that area on the High Sierra forum for these non Sierra areas!

Plan C: Maybe even Arizona or Southern Utah. Again, not a High Sierra topic.

Hopefully one of these plans will work out. But in any case, I already have two trips to the Sierras planned for June (campground camping with the family) and July (a week of backpacking and fishing with my adult friends) and so I'll get my Sierra fix no matter what in 2012. But I'm still hoping (possibly delusionally) that oddly warm weather will magically come to the southern sierras in early April and I'll be able to scoot up there with my kids to some ideal trail and stream.

Thanks again for the posts and for any other ideas for "plan A." The High Sierra Topix forum is such a fantastic thing!

I would worry about high flows on the NF of the Kern that time of year. As mentioned it is too dangerous to swim and useually too high for good fishing. In April fishing season would still be closed on the SF of the Kern but hiking in the Dome Land Wilderness or up river from Kennedy Meadows might make for a better choice.