High Sierra Topix

miter basin/crabtree pass loop is pretty tame, but involves class 2 cross country. One of my favorite areas of the sierra.

Greetings Captain

How about North Lake to Lamarck Col: through Darwin Canyon and Evolution Meadow: JMT along the San Joaquin River; Piute Canyon Trail along Piute Creek; head East at Hutchinson Meadow; swing North up to Desolation Lake; and exit via Piute Pass to North Lake. Pretty good fishing along the way.

I would suggest camping in Darwin Canyon, as it is beautiful. You might also include Puppet Lake for a little more cross country activity.

Roughly a five day trip. This would sure take you through a variety of terrain.

Peace.

balance wrote:Greetings Captain

How about North Lake to Lamarck Col: through Darwin Canyon and Evolution Meadow: JMT along the San Joaquin River; Piute Canyon Trail along Piute Creek; head East at Hutchinson Meadow; swing North up to Desolation Lake; and exit via Piute Pass to North Lake. Pretty good fishing along the way.

Hi balance -- I did the North South Lake loop last year but would love to go back sometime and use Lamarck Col.

Thanks for the additional suggestions. I'm not into fishing unfortunately. Right now, I am going back and forth between a Twin Lakes loop and a Pinchot/Mather/Granite Pass loop. The latter comes out around 80 miles with Taboose if my math is correct. If I drive the extra hours to Roads End, it's more like 60 miles, which would be more achievable. However, I'm sort of leaning towards Twin Lakes since I've never been there.

The only thing that's given me pause is determining how photogenic and scenic Twin Lakes is. There seem to be a couple of comments that I've run across that say parts of the surrounding area are not as nice. I've also looked for trip reports and photographs, but there seem to be fewer than there are for the other areas. Can anyone comment on the scenery around a Twin Lakes/Dorothy Lake/Wilma Lake loop? Still spectacular? Thanks

I did a very nice mostly-loop trip from the Pine Creek TH last year. Head over Pine Creek Pass; down French and Piute Canyons; up the Muir trail over Seldon Pass; up Hilgard Creek and over Italy Pass; and back to Pine Creek. The total hike is a bit over 50 miles without side trips including about 15 on the JMT and about 6 mi repeated near the TH. There are several opportunities for peak bagging (Seven Gables, Mount Hilgard, etc.) and visiting side lakes (Rose, Sandpiper, etc.) if you want a bit more. Note that the foot path west of Lake Italy can be a bit hard to find and rather rough in places.

Hi Dave,

Welcome to HST! Thank you helping a fellow member out!

Captain wrote:

The only thing that's given me pause is determining how photogenic and
scenic Twin Lakes is. There seem to be a couple of comments that I've run
across that say parts of the surrounding area are not as nice. I've also looked
for trip reports and photographs, but there seem to be fewer than there are
for the other areas. Can anyone comment on the scenery around a Twin
Lakes/Dorothy Lake/Wilma Lake loop? Still spectacular? Thanks

The Northern Yosemite Loop is 46.8 miles entering thru Crown Lake and exiting via
Peeler Lake Trail.
Check these following links out before making a decision:
http://photos.calipidder.com/SierraAdve ... -Northern/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://pantilat.wordpress.com/2011/08/2 ... semite-50/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.google.com/search?q=norther ... 66&bih=904" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The cross country route between Dorothy and Peeler is beautiful, especially around Lakes Ruth and Helen. There is a use trail up the headwaters of the West Walker until you get to the pass that drops into Thompson Canyon. The orienteering section from Tower Lake to the West Walker is fun. The map shows it as in the open, but it's in trees. Thompson Canyon was an an incredible meadow when I was last there in '84, but a buddy told me a huge avalanche strew trees all over the place a couple of winters later.

Map: http://caltopo.com/map?id=6T1I" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hi Tom,

OP wrote:
I've done lots of on trail hiking but not too much cross country.

That is a nice route Tom, lakes in Thompson are especially nice and rarely visited,
but do not know whether OP is interested in doing any crosscountry sections. Had
mention the Big Slide area earlier in my post, but did not get any interest from OP.
It seems from the OP's recent post that he is preferring a trailed route.

Hey Mav,

Thanks for that. This is some exceptionally easy XC though. Some places are a little steep, but not dangerous. Most of it has no obstacles and no tallus, so it's basically Class 1, just no trail. It's almost the perfect Sierra location for someone new to XC. The worst part is Tower Lake to upper W. Walker through the trees. Someone not used to orienteering might get disoriented in terms of exactly where (s)he is on the map, but there's no way to get lost-just keep following the contour and going very slightly downhill and you eventually reach the river and trail.

Tom

Tom wrote:
Someone not used to orienteering might get disoriented in terms of exactly where
(s)he is on the map, but there's no way to get lost-just keep following the contour
and going very slightly downhill and you eventually reach the river and trail.

You would be surprised Tom at some of the stories I and many others could share
about folks getting lost even here on local Bay Area Trails. I know folks (my
wife included) who can get disoriented in a car if they take the wrong turn, and
do not have a GPS, and forget about knowing how to use a map.