High Sierra Topix

May 20-29 Cottonwood Pass; snowshoes to Rocky Basin Lakes, Miter Basin etc.
-mort

paul wrote: ↑Wed Mar 06, 2019 4:46 pm Early May - on skis to Blackcap Basin & surrounding area.

mort wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2019 1:23 pm May 20-29 Cottonwood Pass; snowshoes to Rocky Basin Lakes, Miter Basin etc.

For those of you planning extended snow travel, what made you pick out those areas? I typically pick out trips that allow me to camp below snow line, and most alpine lakes are frozen over. So I'm curious what drew you two to basins over 10K feet.

I'm assuming Paul will say "good snow, mountains" since I know he does long ski tours, but with snowshoes I'm not sure what the allure is of the Rocky Basin Lakes is.

And I kinda wanted to steer this more towards good low elevation hiking spots, since those are the types of questions we'll be getting bombarded with between now and June. Swinging a little off-topic towards the winter sports.

Also planning on going to the Trinity Alps, namely Rush Creek Lakes. Only started exploring the Alps a couple of years ago, but have been blown away by everywhere I've been. For my two cents Grizzly, Papoose, and Caribou Lakes rank right up there with any Sierra lakes, and the Red Trinities are like the Sierra on Mars. Might also try to hit the Marble Mountains while I'm up there.

May is the traditional time for a trip to Rancheria Falls in the Hetch Hetchy part of Yosemite. It tends to be good for wildflowers, assuming that the flow of the waterfalls has not closed the trail. Look on the bright side, you get a cold shower out of it.

creekfeet wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2019 3:02 pm For my two cents Grizzly, Papoose, and Caribou Lakes rank right up there with any Sierra lakes

Do any fishing?

c9h13no3 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 06, 2019 2:35 pm
3) Four Lakes Loop: This isn't the Sierra, but it's an area I need to explore more. Maia has a pretty solid trip report for the area, and all the lakes are below 7500 feet so it should melt out enough by mid June.

Diamond Lake and the White Trinities. This spot was spectacular. by maiathebee

That's a beautiful area, but I'd bet on encountering a lot of snow in mid-June this year. I ran into snowfields at Anna and Billy Be Damn over July 4 in 2009, which was a slightly below 'normal' year up that way. Yeah the elevation is lower, but the subalpine landscape tells the story truer than mere feet above sea level.

If you do go, I second Maia--Siligo Peak is a must.

I was into Sky Blue Lake 6/15-21 2006, a 130% snow year. We took crampons and used them, no snowshoes needed. We only needed the crampons to climb (Newcomb to Pickering traverse) and to get down the cornice on New Army Pass. There was dry camping at Sky Blue Lake near the outlet. No snow below there. Snow around Chicken Springs Lake, but the PCT'ers had beaten a big path by then. Even though much higher in elevation, the southeastern part of the Sierra get less snow and melt out earlier than a lot of the lower elevation parts. Cottonwood is actually a good place to go in early. Sky Blue was mostly frozen when we arrived, breaking up when we left.

Mid March - a desert loop (I call it the Cahuilla-Kumeyaay Loop) through Anza Borrego combining some XC, PCT, and the SDTCT
Mid April - PCT Section A or Angeles Mountains, depending on snow ("Fool's Traverse")
Memorial Day - road trip and car camping up the coast to NorCal
June - nothing?? hmmmm...

wanted to do the Zion Traverse and some other stuff in that area in late march, but they got pounded with snow...

I'm sorta toying around with the idea of visiting a hot spring in the snow. Warm water could be nice if there's a bunch of snow on the ground. Flamingo has a good trip report about visiting Iva Bell in 2011 from the west before road in Mammoth was open. Not sure if I'd rather ski in from the east, or hike 20 miles on abandoned trails, but it's an intriguing idea. Jordan Hot Springs is low elevation, and there's some waterfalls to the east on the map. But idk, the mud-hole pictures don't seem super appealing.

I'll probably end up just skiing all spring anyways :P

Trail crew when the OSV program stops.
Got a lot of work to do this year on Sierra NF.
Taking some ladies yurting in Mt Madonna next weekend, to kayak with the otters in Elkhorn Slough. Hiking the small parks up and down the coast while we are out.
I'm probably getting a Henry Coe overnight in there somewhere as well before the Sierra opens up and I can shoulder the crosscut.