Route Recommendation Lamarck Lakes or PP to Huntington Lake

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jorrflv
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Route Recommendation Lamarck Lakes or PP to Huntington Lake

Post by jorrflv »

Next summer my older son will be at scout camp on Huntington Lake. During that week I thought I could track across the sierra's and meet him there. My thought is my wife can drop me off at Lamarick Lakes/Piute Pass Trail head and I would take 7 days to wonder over to Huntington Lake. Any route Suggestions?

I am particularly struggling with the section between Florence Lake and Huntington Lake as there is a drivable road there, but I don't want to walk on the road.

Jon
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Re: Route Recommendation Lamarck Lakes or PP to Huntington L

Post by AlmostThere »

What you will end up doing is climbing the trail from Florence into the Dinkey Wilderness trail system, making your way to Coyote Lake, and then taking the trails north to Weldon Camp and then on to Badger Flat trailhead on Kaiser Pass Road. Then you will take a brief dog leg to the Potter Pass trail, working up toward Twin Lakes (this is in Kaiser Wilderness), which may be a good place for a night's stay before you climb from George Lake on the "untrailed" route to the Kaiser Peak trail, and then you have an option of hitting the peak before reversing course and descending past College Rock to the trailhead at the pack station, which is just a short road walk from Lakeshore. Depending on which boy scout camp he will be at determines the rest of the route. All of them are across the lake from Lakeshore.

Another possibility might be navigating to the Dusy Ershim, arguably a road but one that requires some serious OHV gear to drive, and walking it to Kaiser Pass, then cross country to Idaho Lake before going on into Twin Lakes area and out of that wilderness.

The trails in that section have not been maintained in a long time, and may get attention in the next couple of years (I belong to the trail maintenance crew working Dinkey) but there is a ton of work to do out there and it may be a while.
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Re: Route Recommendation Lamarck Lakes or PP to Huntington L

Post by jorrflv »

here is where I was thinking...

Do i Have to go all the way down to Courtright reservoir?

https://www.gaiagps.com/public/PpYvL1qVt4jb2CzxVAYg5kMb
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Re: Route Recommendation Lamarck Lakes or PP to Huntington L

Post by jorrflv »

Would it be easier to take JMT to Lake Thomas and then cut back SW to Huntington?
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Re: Route Recommendation Lamarck Lakes or PP to Huntington L

Post by AlmostThere »

The problem you're going to have is that some of the area you're trying to navigate through will require some cross country hiking, if you don't want to take long detours like the one to Courtright. I see why you think that -- the Dusy Ershim runs right through. Not a lot of hiking trails that direction.

There is a trail that climbs from the populated (northwest) end of Florence, to the meadows and lakes between Florence and the Dusy Ershim. Or there was. I would expect it to be fairly decent until it gets to the lake, where it probably vanishes because most people hike to destinations, not all the way to the dead end. I haven't been out that way in a long time.

You could skip Florence, navigate the trails to Courtright instead and then from there to Cliff Lake, Rock Lake, First Dinkey, and on to Coyote -- that might be the best solution yet. Avoid the less-traveled area in between Florence and Dinkey. That route would have a lot more scenery. Instead of going north coming off Piute, you go south on the JMT, then depart the JMT to go up Goddard Canyon, then climb Hell for Sure Pass and drop through the lake basin on down to Courtright. Walk around the lake to the Cliff trailhead and hike out through Dinkey. That's a lot of bang for the buck and 1000% less populated than the JMT.

The country between Edison and Huntington is riddled with forest service roads, car campers, and generally lower elevation for big portions of the trails.
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Re: Route Recommendation Lamarck Lakes or PP to Huntington L

Post by Snowtrout »

Cool route. I would agree with AlmostThere that heading up Goddard canyon and taking the Hell for Sure pass into the Red Mountain basin would take you right into Courtright and probably save you a few miles of traveling, unless you really needed to go to Florence for a re-supply. From Courtright, head towards Cliff lake and follow the trails to Coyote. After that you can follow hiking trails that head to Badger Flat or follow ohv trails to Chinese Peak and walk down through the ski area to either of the two camps.
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Re: Route Recommendation Lamarck Lakes or PP to Huntington L

Post by maverick »

Hi Jon,

Please read and supply information so people can suggest routes within your experience levels:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4205 :)
Professional Sierra Landscape Photographer

I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.

Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member: http://reconn.org
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Re: Route Recommendation Lamarck Lakes or PP to Huntington L

Post by jorrflv »

Thanks Maverick,

What level of backpacking experience do you have?
Level 3- Numerous backpacking trips, some x-country travel

What terrain are you comfortable/uncomfortable with?
- Class 1 terrain/trail hiking - My Son
- Class 2 terrain/pass/x-country - Me

What is your main interest?
- Mostly to experience new areas... all of it is beautiful
- Lakes
- Forests
- Big Mountain scenery
- Fishing (A bonus not a goal)

How many days/nights is your trip, not including travel to trailhead?
7 days.

How many miles did you want to do a day, any layovers?
Looking at this trip I am guessing we would need to average 10-15 miles/Day I think it is about a 60-75 miler depending on the route.

Do you have a route logistics preference: loop, out and back, point to point (which may require 2 vehicles or hitchhiking)?
My wife will drop us off and my Son's Troop can give us a ride home. I figured we would take advantage of having easy transportation to do a point to point East-West Hike.
In this case we want to go from Lamarck Lakes to the South Side of Huntington Lake. (Camp Kern, BSA camp)

Is there a particular area in the Sierra that your most interested in (Yosemite, SEKI western sierra start or eastern start ect.)?
Not really

Will you be hiking with a dog?
No
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Re: Route Recommendation Lamarck Lakes or PP to Huntington L

Post by AlmostThere »

Another option -- instead of being dropped off on the east side, be dropped off at Edison or Florence, whichever would give you the daily mileage you desire, and hike south on the JMT from there to Goddard, etc.
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Re: Route Recommendation Lamarck Lakes or PP to Huntington L

Post by jorrflv »

Another option -- instead of being dropped off on the east side, be dropped off at Edison or Florence, whichever would give you the daily mileage you desire, and hike south on the JMT from there to Goddard, etc.
Since we are from Las Vegas, the wife would not like the increased drive time... 5 hours vs 9
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