High Sierra Topix

The three I have used for young kids are Round Top Lake, Blue lake from Sabrina, and Little Lakes Valley from Mosquito Flat.

Round Top I would recommend as either an overnight or a three day trip at most. You can dayhike to the top of Round Top, explore Winnemucca lake, etc. My son enjoyed climbing around on some tame granite.

Blue Lake is slightly more ambitious but gives you lots of dayhikes and more spectacular scenery.

Little Lakes Valley is very small-scale. Beautiful with many lakes near enough together to provide for a lot of exploring and wandering. Very gentle elevation gain going in.

The problem with all such places is getting reservations, since easy to access places with great scenery are very popular.

The most important consideration when taking kids is timing the mosquitoes. I made a catastrophic mistake once by hitting Blue Lake too early in July, and the kids spent the whole trip in the tent playing cards--and worse, they wouldn't go backpacking again for two years. Wherever you go, time it correctly and don't be afraid to abandon a reservation if it would mean taking the kids into the swarms.

I asked the ranger at Carson pass and she said that round top/winnimucca are first come/first serve and this weekend they were booked by 9am and they open at 8 with a line out the door. I'm still thinking about those though with a fallback of coming down the hill a little if they're already booked.

How do you time mosquitos? The only technique I know of is to go there and see if they're their. Not exactly a great technique.

-Eric

efinley wrote:I asked the ranger at Carson pass and she said that round top/winnimucca are first come/first serve and this weekend they were booked by 9am and they open at 8 with a line out the door. I'm still thinking about those though with a fallback of coming down the hill a little if they're already booked.

How do you time mosquitos? The only technique I know of is to go there and see if they're their. Not exactly a great technique.

-Eric

Visit a destination 6 weeks or later after snowmelt--or within the first week after snow melt. 2-5 weeks after snowmelt is mosquito hell. Since the time of the snow melt varies by elevation and location, consult this site, rangers, etc. to determine how long a destination has been dry.

Concerning mosquitoes-keep an eye here and the later in the season (especially this year) the better off you will be. I took my oldest to Dinkey Lakes when he was 4 on his first backpacking trip. The skeeters were insane. He did fine with them and came up with crazy ideas on how we could trap them and get rid of them. I came home with 40 bites on the back of each hand. I kept him covered and had headnets.

Here are a couple old trip reports with kids: http://www.highsierratopix.com/communit ... f=1&t=8286

http://www.highsierratopix.com/communit ... f=1&t=5326

efinley, Hidden Lake and Granite Lake are both nice. Each one has its own character. Great scenery and easy hikes for kids. Funny thing, I've never hiked the trail between them just going from the closest trailheads. If you have a passenger car, the road to the parking area near Minkalo Camp (Granite Lake TH) is a little rough at the end. I've never fished them so have no info.

FeetFirst, thanks for sharing your pictures. I like exploring places that are less popular and it seems like there are so many nice routes you can take in that area. One of these days I might hike up to Martin Meadow or follow Caples Creek to Kirkwood.

rightstar76 wrote:FeetFirst, thanks for sharing your pictures. I like exploring places that are less popular and it seems like there are so many nice routes you can take in that area. One of these days I might hike up to Martin Meadow or follow Caples Creek to Kirkwood.

You're welcome. I too like the lesser known areas and yes, lots of exploring opportunities nearby. There are some absolutely sublime stretches of Caples Creek if you head upstream off-trail.

This weekend I was up at Silver lake again and went fishing at Caples (skunked again). On the way back we stopped at the vista point wide spot just after the avalanche area as you leave caples towards Silver lake. Looking at Caples creek below Kirkwood lake made me want to hike down there. The waterfalls were spectacular!

The funny thing is as I was looking at the map this morning I realized that the road to Caples Creek trailhead goes to Kyburz, I used to camp and fish the American river through there as a kid. I just didn't put it together since we always came from the 50 side, not 88!

At this point I'm seriously considering the Caples Creek trail idea, I'm afraid the higher lakes will either have snow or crazy mosquitoes, I know they were pretty bad at Silver Lake last weekend.

-Eric

You might want to look up some trip reports on Henry Coe State Park and Point Reyes National Seashore.

efinley wrote:This weekend I was up at Silver lake again and went fishing at Caples (skunked again). On the way back we stopped at the vista point wide spot just after the avalanche area as you leave caples towards Silver lake. Looking at Caples creek below Kirkwood lake made me want to hike down there. The waterfalls were spectacular!

The funny thing is as I was looking at the map this morning I realized that the road to Caples Creek trailhead goes to Kyburz, I used to camp and fish the American river through there as a kid. I just didn't put it together since we always came from the 50 side, not 88!

At this point I'm seriously considering the Caples Creek trail idea, I'm afraid the higher lakes will either have snow or crazy mosquitoes, I know they were pretty bad at Silver Lake last weekend.

-Eric

The snow must have melted off a bit more by now. Snow is actually good, as the kids can play in it and if you camp near enough to the melt-out zone, the skeeters should be less, assuming you find a dry spot to camp on. Supposed to be even warmer up there this weekend.

What were you fishing with at Caples that had you skunked?

Russ

We tried various kastmasters and spinners but no bait. Nobody else was catching anything either but one guy with a grasshopper had a nibble. It appeared pretty slow... I heard Silver lake was slow as well. I'm hoping wherever we end up this weekend is a little better.