High Sierra Topix

Kinda annoying how a person's word doesn't count for anything these days!

As you get older, it gets harder to rope people into a trip. So many family and work challenges. Have to roll with it.

Welcome to the reason I hike with large groups on a regular basis - to find a larger pool of people who will do multi-day trips, with weather, regardless of time of year.

When solo, I tend to stay on trail, having the experiences with the SAR team firmly ensconced in my brain. The ones we never find - solo, off trail, unclear route left with someone ("we think he went over some pass from deer meadow? Canyon? He said something about a lake?").

There's a form posted here on the forum - you would be well advised to take advantage of it. Make sure the person you leave it with knows when and which rangers/sheriff's office to activate in the event you do not return.

You can't go wrong with Mineral King. The marmots are at the worst in early spring - we've parked without tarpage in September and October without issues. A huge blue tarp you can drive onto and duct tape up around the car is adequate.

from Mav's sig:

Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0:
http://reconn.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for the replies! Well, the trip might be saved yet. I messaged a person I met hiking last summer and they seem pretty gung ho, not only for backpacking 5/29-5/31, but also for staying longer (maybe thru 6/4). I think we could keep the original plan of backpacking the Deadman Canyon loop, and we can get out when we want to. Then we can drive to different spots and dayhike (Road's End, Mineral King), or we could theoretically drive to Yosemite for a couple of days!

We'll see. Anyway I'm wondering what kind of weather conditions people would say is about average for the end of May/early June up around central Sequoia (8000-9000' elevation). I went to that mountain forecast website and looked up Kaweah Queen. The current conditions seem fairly pleasant--highs in the 50s and lows in the 40s at 8000' today, dropping about 10 degrees by the weekend. Is that about right for late May as well? I realize that mountain weather is what it is, all bets are off in the event of a storm, and be prepared to change plans to suit changing conditions, but I'm wondering about the rough averages.

I don't think you should go. It snowed last week and it's due to drop more next week. It won't even be fun snow you can snowshoe. Just snotty, melting, spring snow like what I stomped through for eight miles last weekend at 6,000 feet. It'll stay longer at higher elevations and it'll be deeper.

Did you see my Pear Lake trip report from last weekend? There is a lot of snow above 10,000ft in that area, and Elizabeth Pass (over 11k) certainly won't be anywhere close to melting out by the end of May, especially if we get more cool weather next week.

If you are now thinking 5-6 days for the loop and you both know what you are doing on snow (including carrying the right gear eg ice axe and snowshoes) it might start to become feasible, but I've not seen any evidence of that to date. Note also there is a non-trivial crossing of Sugarloaf Creek which will be at peak flow right about then.

I did read your TR Tim and thanks for the tip Almostthere. While we aren't married to any particular trail, route, or section of the Park, we are married to the dates because we both teach college but on opposite sides of the country. This is the only time where our breaks overlap.

We're not married to routes and we have about 6 good hiking days. I think that gives us a lot of flexibility to change our plans to suit people's incoming trip reports and the conditions we find when we arrive. I am interested in hearing more about that Sugarloaf creek crossing because I can't swim, though. As you can imagine, I'm very cautious about fording anything. If either Sugarloaf or Elizabeth Pass looked sketchy, we could just pack out the way we came and still have a very fun trip, I think. In the back of my mind I still have the idea of switching to Road's End and doing 2-3 days' backpacking there, but is the snow/river crossing going to be any better there?

We could also switch to the East side, but I kinda feel that my friend ought to have the full Sequoia experience being that it's her first time. She probably wouldn't care, but gosh...going to Sequoia and not seeing the big trees is kind of like going to San Francisco and not seeing the big bridge!

Edit:
I found this picture of the Sugarloaf Creek crossing from July 2006. This would freak me out but I think I could handle it if I was with someone. Alone I might turn back:

http://ziggyworks.com/adventures/2006_0 ... 013_md.JPG" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you really want to go from the west side, I would head up from Roads End through Woods Creek towards Rae Lakes and see how high you get. Just don't try to cross Glen Pass. Keep an eye on the Charlotte Lake snow sensor (http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snow/DLYSNOWDP" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, showing 29in of snow there at the moment) which should be reasonably comparable for the Rae Lakes area. Glen Pass will have considerably more snow, especially on the north side.

That route starts well below snowline and ascends gradually and AFAIK doesn't have any significant unbridged stream crossings. It is a pleasant 5-6 day trip to Rae Lakes and back and you won't get stuck days from help like you might in Sugarloaf/Deadman Canyon that time of year.

franklin411 wrote: I am interested in hearing more about that Sugarloaf creek crossing because I can't swim, though. As you can imagine, I'm very cautious about fording anything.

Caution is good if you can't swim. I would recommend in your spare time you actually take a swimming class and learn how. You miss out on some experiences out there with that limitation.

I thank my mom for putting me in swimming classes at the age of 3.

Ability to swim has little to do with surviving a crossing of a creek when the water is icy cold and it is raging at peak flow. Even those who swim are in danger. Smart backpackers avoid peak flow crossings and plan trips where there are bridges.