Most remote location in the sierra?

[East Side Hiker]

Seems many believe in the Goddard topo (the 15' one), as I do, for beauty and remoteness. I will be sad when mine falls into dust, because it will fall into dust and it can't be replaced. The memories of the trips it's been on make me happy. The Goddard is the best.

I remember one to McClure Mdw, during the drought, from Courtwright, x-country over hill and dale, and when coming back we had no water for a day, and we happily drank from a stock pond right next to the cows.

[limpingcrab]

Well, if anyone is still interested, franky (from the Supertopo forum) used mapping software to calculate the exact furthest point you can get from the road in the Sierra. It also turns out to the the furthest you can get from the road in all of CA and most of the other states.

He came up with two locations that are almost a tie and he did not feel comfortable confirming a winner because the road layer of his map was from a free public dataset and may not be infallible.

THE WINNER!
Just west of Tunemah Peak, -118.70208 36.995476, at 21124 meters from the nearest road.

tunemah.jpg

CLOSE RUNNER UP!
In the bowl below Milestone Mountain, -118.478895 36.61802, at 21071 meters from the nearest road.

milestone.jpg

So, who's been at or near these spots?

[oldranger]

There's lots of places in the Sierra I haven't been but I've been within a quarter mile of both of those red marks. Crossed over from Milestone basin thru Milestone Bowl enroute to Colby Pass trail in the 80s as part of a "patrol" that I took from Roaring River up Cloud Canyon then up Table Creek then down to the Upper reaches of the Kern, a couple of days at the Tyndal Patrol Cabin meeting up with some infamous SEKI Rangers then to Milestone Basin, Milestone Bowl, Colby Pass and back to Roaring River. Not bad for 7 days of work!

Visited the little lake north of the red dot in 2011 on my sun cups from hell trip where I targeted Tunemah Lake only to find it almost completely frozen with no fishable water. Did manage to catch 2 16+" brookies out of a supposedly fish less lake on that trip though.

Mike

[limpingcrab]

I've gotta ask, care to post or send me a private message as to the whereabouts of 16+" brookies!?!?!

[RoguePhotonic]

I never saw a single fish in Tunemah Lake. I assume now it has none.

[oldranger]

LC- that info is classified! Fished the lake 3x. Skunked 1st and 3rd. My theory is that since it is no longer planted that occasionally fish manage to make it down from an upstream lake and the lake is subject to winter kill so the fish population is is extremely small and possibly intermittent. Consequently there is an abundant food supply for the occasional fish that makes it to the lake and survives the winter.

Rogue--Tunemah has had a fish population for years, there are several posts in the forum that document that fact. Not seeing doesn't necessarily mean no fish.

Mike

[Hobbes]

So, who's been at or near these spots?

Location #1 was initially the 2016 HST meet-up location at the lake by the same name. The proposed exit route was east down the pass by the same name to Goddard creek.

Location #2 is just north of the 2015 HST meet-up location down below Gallats lake & the Kern-Kaweah river.

Mav ain't messing around when he's looking for suitably remote & challenging locations for the meet-ups.

[sekihiker]

So, who's been at or near these spots?

Been within a mile or less of both locations.
Yes, they feel remote.
Even though some are regularly visited and not necessarily far from trails, I rate the following trips I have taken have the most remote feel.
http://www.sierrahiker.com/EnchantedGorge/index.html
http://www.sierrahiker.com/ConfusionLake/index.html
http://www.sierrahiker.com/ArrowPeak-Mu ... index.html
http://www.sierrahiker.com/FingerPeakLoop/index.html
http://www.sierrahiker.com/HighRouteSouth/index.html
http://www.sierrahiker.com/DumbbellLakes/index.html
http://www.sierrahiker.com/KaweahBasin/index.html

[Wandering Daisy]

Is that distance as the eagle flies, or actual distance you have to walk to get there? Nobody actually straight-lines to a spot in the Sierra.

I have been to the two little lakes just north of the spot (Tunemah Lake map) It was the middle of a round-about trip I did so have no idea of how many days it would take if you just wanted to get there. That spot is actually not hard to get to if you come in from Blackcap Basin. Long, maybe, but not hard. Dumbbell Lakes is harder to get to, but shorter distance.

The most remote spot as far as "feel" for me was the North Fork of Bull Lake Creek in Wyoming Wind Rivers. There is no easy way in or out and I was pinned down in a two day August snow storm, soaked, running out of food, solo, and grizzly bears are in the area too! It is 25 miles from any public access trailhead and over at least one if not two passes, some with glaciers to cross. On the east, is the Wind River Indian Reservation, with no public access. I felt almost as remote at the confluence of Goddard and Disappearing Creek. Probably even harder to get to, but you are not pinned down by high passes that you cannot get out in bad weather.

[limpingcrab]

Is that distance as the eagle flies, or actual distance you have to walk to get there? Nobody actually straight-lines to a spot in the Sierra.

The two points on the maps were as the eagle flies, it's a simpler way to measure than actual walking distance or effort. Lots of discussion on that back when this thread was started. I think it's about 25 miles on foot by the easiest route but only about 13 miles on a straight line. Maybe I'll just go there and walk a straight line