High Sierra Topix

My preferred direct route to Benson would be from Saddlebag Lake. I would go over the saddle s of Sheppard Crest but instead of going to McCabe lakes go right down the drainage until you get to the PCT. Have done that route and if you do it right you can get to Matterhorn canyon in a long day. Have also gone in from Virginia lakes and that route, though all trail seemed tougher to me. You could do a lollipop route or set up a shuttle between either of these starting points and twin lakes. Or do loops as proposed from twin lakes. The options are many! Decide what works best for you. I have always viewed n. Yosemite as best experienced late August/early September in a wet year to avoid mosquitos and nasty stream crossings. In dry years this timing doesn't work well because the s. Flowing drainages make water availability problematic.

The Shepherd Crest route is steep- if there is snow you may have problems. I did that route in the fall this year- good late season route. I went over July 4, 2002 and snow was not a problem. 2002 was a 95% normal snow year. We camped at upper McCabe Lake and it was wet and miserable, worst mosquitoes I have ever been in!

Excellent information. Thanks so much for all your input. As we continue to plan the trip I’ll keep everyone posted as to what we decide. Look for a detailed trip record!!!!!

I looped from Twin Lakes into Peeler & Crown Lakes in mid-September 2011, following a high snow winter. There was still snow on parts of the trail above Crown Lake.

In 2015, I looped to Benson Lake from Twin Lakes in late June. I don't recall walking over any snow at all on that trip. However, that was an epic low snow year (one of the lowest in Sierra history). So, I'm not sure how helpful it is to know that I didn't encounter snow on that particular trip.

Generally, the Yosemite area can get very high levels of snow and be slower to melt out than the more southerly Sierra, even in an average year. I don't tend to make plans to do high passes in Yosemite in June or the first half of July unless I'm prepared for a whole lot of snow.

- Oleander

Even after the snow melts, the mosquitos are horrible in northern Yosemite for several weeks. I either go early and deal with snow, or wait until August. In my opinion, the best time in northern Yosemite is early September.

We decided to head out July 5th this year. I’ve been watching the snow reports. Looks like we will just plan on dealing with quite I bit of snow. I’m just hoping that the mosquitoes won’t be bad and the fishing will be great.

At the last time that I took a summer trip through that northern part of Yosemite, it was warm enough that I was wearing a t-shirt. Then I noticed that my arms were tingling. I looked around, and there was a thick coating of mosquitos perched on my upper arms. I had to put on my rain jacket just to get relief.

Sjaxon1 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 23, 2019 2:46 pm We decided to head out July 5th this year. I’ve been watching the snow reports. Looks like we will just plan on dealing with quite I bit of snow. I’m just hoping that the mosquitoes won’t be bad and the fishing will be great.

Early july snow and mosquitos on your route won't be the big issues. Stream crossings will be nasty and dangerous.