Ideas for 3 Day / 2 Night Kings Canyon

[oldranger]

AT is correct about the 9,000 foot rule for rb. It is a bizarre regulation in that, to the best of my knowledge no lakes and few if any streams or rivers had rainbows naturally above 8500 feet. The entire Roaring River drainage was barren before stocking so even the rainbows and goldens present are, in fact, exotic species in those waters.

[Ska-T]

Just to state the obvious ... A general rule is that getting to big mountain senary AND good fishing takes longer from the west side of the Sierra compared to the east side. If you could extend your trip one more day you'll have more choice.

[Or you could pack light, lose body weight, get in great aerobic shape, weight train your legs, acclimate to altitude before the trip, and thereby hike 15-20 mi a day.]

[SSSdave]

West side SEKI to lakes with decent fishing tend to be strenuous long with lots of vertical. Thus two days pounding strenuous trails for one good day at a destination. And to be honest most of decent fishing from west side areas are solid two two days in. You state that is ok and responses have reflected that.

If you are coming in from the west side, an alternative to consider to actually have much more time at a destination area without an unreasonable long drive would be to drive SR178 from Bakersfield over Walker Pass and then up US395 and up the spur to the Cottonwood Lakes basin. That is not SEKI but rather Inyo NF so permitting is somewhat less an issue. From trailheads you would be able to reach one of the most impressive lake basins in the range that have a lot of golden trout including some of size.

http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=36.47897,-118.18817&z=14&t=T

The modest extra time spent driving would be more than offset with significantly more time on your hike in day at your destination lakes. And more time on the hike out day early morning before having to leave. The close proximity of several large lakes means you would also have an option on day 2 to move camp quickly.

David
http://www.davidsenesac.com/2016_Trip_C ... les-0.html

[oldranger]

Actually Dave, you are wrong. Grinch that I am, I don't share good fishing lakes that have easy access.

[AlmostThere]

I had a great run of five years with a particular lake. Posted a couple times about it, when I went back the following year, the fishing had gone from a hit every 5-10 minutes to no hits for 30 - 90 minutes at a shot, and the fish were much smaller than before. The internet is great -- and the internet sucks.

[limpingcrab]

(EDIT: if anyone wants any info on here removed for whatever secretive reason just shoot me a message and I'll edit or delete the whole thing as requested, no questions asked. I tend to give out info freely, as long as it's my info and wasn't passed to me. There is one absolutely incredible fishing lake that I left out because it's so far beyond normal that it's probably best not posted about openly. With that in mind I will probably share the info via private message since it's very much off the beaten path and not likely to become popular)

Lake reflection is one of my favorite spots that's accessible in a day from the west side (west side is the best side!). Stopping at East Lake would be easier and you could visit Reflection on your second day but a lot more people stop there for that same reason. I'd just plug away all day to make it to Lake Reflection then stay there for two nights. Incredible spot. A day hike up into the basin under Ericsson Crags being highly recommended.

Granite Lake it great too, but has more mosquitoes than just about anywhere depending on the season and the fish are plentiful but tiny. Maybe the lowest lakes have bigger fish, I never fished all the way down there.

Another good option is Twin Lakes out of Lodgepole. Pear Lake is great and all but that whole area gets a ton (by SEKI standards) of traffic so I think it's better as a day hike. Backpacking to a spot with a toilet just seems weird to me. In the same area as Twin Lakes are some beautiful and very rarely traveled lakes at the head of Silliman Creek, below the west face of Silliman. They've got fish.

Another spot I like is Lost Lake, just inside the park border accessed from the Marvin Pass trailhead. The Brookies aren't huge but they're big enough to eat and the Lake is stunning with less visitors that it's neighbor, Seville.

If you go to Mineral King the regulations are a bit more strict as every lake is a popular camping spot. Crystal Lake is probably the least visited and has some great rainbow trout. My favorite valley is White Chief and although you'll be camping by a creek with poor or no fishing you can walk up to White Chief Lake for some nice rainbows. That is the least visited trail in Mineral King and there are a bunch of caves that are a blast to explore.

Lastly, if you want to head out into the High Sierra Trail region I'd recommend going to Tamarack Lake to avoid the HST crowds and it's a really cool lake with a waterfall falling into it and unique rock towers all around. Never fished it myself but a friend had luck a few years back.

I'm sure that no matter where you go you won't be disappointed. These are just a few spots I like with a little more solitude than some of the other choices, though crowds are not much of an issue on the west side. If you head in from the East side then others on here will be a better resource as I've never done that.

[kursavwilage]

East Lake would be a good trip if you could make it in one day, my GPS told me it was 16 mi. from roads end to the south end of East lake where the best camp spots and a bear box are. I have made it in one day many times we always got an early start , around 4 am picking up our permit the day before. The mountains that surround East Lake are amazing. For fishing, East lake has rainbows, the biggest ones I caught are around the outlet of Ouzel Creek at the west side, my biggest was about 18 inches. East Creek between Lake Reflection and East Lake has goldens, rainbows and brookies. Lake Reflections has goldens, rainbows and brookies. The only drag is the distance, if you make it in one day, stay one night then you will have to walk back out the full 15+ miles the last day. The lighter you are the more doable it is.

[lambertiana]

East Lake/Lake Reflection is one of my favorite places for scenery. Fishing is good, too. If you get a late start or move slowly, you can camp the first night at Junction Meadow and then head up to East Lake/Lake Reflection the second day. I have had no problem going out from East Lake to Roads End in one day, and I'm not the fastest hiker out there. It's all downhill on good trails.

An option out of Mineral King is to go over Franklin Pass and camp at Forester Lake. I haven't fished it, but there are good sized trout there and I have heard from people who had good luck there (I think mainly brookies). The avid fishermen on this forum can correct me if the fishing there is not very good. For scenery you could take a quick dayhike over the pass to Little Claire Lake, the view from the outlet, looking down Soda Creek, across to the Whitney group, is spectacular.

[AlmostThere]

Avoid holiday weekends if you don't like frat parties. With only three days, if you take any major route (Lakes trail, High Sierra Trail) the line in the wilderness office gets more like a parade. There were 30 people listening to the lecture about the food storage rules and I was there the morning before the holiday weekend got going -- from the way the board looked, there were going to be people crowding every campsite between Crescent Meadow and Kaweah Gap. Everyone in front of me wanted Crescent Meadow, and only a few chose other trails in response to the crowd. Then we decided on Tamarack Lake, but there were ten guys interested in that... We chose a trail that took us out through Jennie Wilderness, did a little extra driving, and got to Seville Lake -- there was enough snow over a significant part of the trail that early in the year that easily 50 people turned around instead of coming out, so the two people who made it the following afternoon said -- lots of trailheads along a particular route means that quota of 20 is only part of the bigger picture.

We prefer to take time off to use non-holiday weekends to visit some of the really popular places, rather than fight for a spot to cast a line at some of the 1-2 day destinations.

[Fairbanks142]

Thanks for the additional responses everyone. This gives me some good input do do more research.

I completely understand the sentiment about not wanting to post on some of the best kept secrets, and better spots....I've been there myself, seeing some of my favorite places in the East that once could only be found if you knew someone (word of mouth), or that you actually found yourself by using a topo, setting out, and discovering it. Before it was ever even published in a book....before there was an internet....and now today it's available to anyone that does a Google search, and masses are showing up. I get it.

Also, we'll start on a Sunday and come out on a Tuesday to avoid the weekend crowds. And not around a holiday.