Dayhiking Eastern Sierras mid-June

[SSSdave]

Plenty of lower elevation areas to visit, but not higher wilderness elevations. Tioga Pass, NO. For instance lower McGee Creek, Mono Lake, many lower Sierra slope sagebrush, mule ears expanses, lower above trailhead Bishop Creek areas, Lower Rock Creek, June Lake loop.

[Wandering Daisy]

I think the adults are more put off by crowds, not the kids. In fact, most little kids are not even that interested in big views. They want to explore, play in water, play with bugs, etc. The biggest problem I see mid-June in the Sierra could be mosquitoes. Cannot tell until you see what happens with the snow melt. As for the coast, lots of poison oak. I never could take my grandkids to the coast until they got old enough to not touch the poison oak or run into unsafe waves. One coastal area that may be OK for kids is McKerricker Park- great campground, tidepools, fun in town too.

You may be better getting lower by dropping down to Bishop. There are a lot of low elevation campgrounds around Bishop and south to Lone Pine. And Bishop itself is kid-friendly with its city park and easy drive up to a lot of day-hike areas. The hike up to Long Lake is short enough for kids.

[texan]

FYI, Just checked and Mammoth has 524 inches of snow this year, will make it to 600 inches for sure, so there will be a lot of snow. They are predicting a record snow year like 82-83 maybe, top 5 for sure. Any elevation above 10K will be snow for sure in June by Mammoth. Hope this info helps.

Texan

[c9h13no3]

Any elevation above 10K will be snow for sure in June by Mammoth. Hope this info helps.

This is mostly true, but you can play games with the aspect and sometimes avoid the bulk of the snow. If the road is open to Minaret Summit, hiking the ridge out to San Joaquin Mountain would likely be mostly clear due to it's exposure to wind. Could also hike up to Heart Lake, that trail is mostly southwest facing.

Just have to be a bit more intelligent to find hikes that require only trekking poles, but there's stuff out there. Maybe it isn't the Rainbow Falls you saw on the brochure, so you'll have to decide for yourself if it's worth it.

[jgshal2385]

I have a trip of June 20th that will take me up towards the Ediza Lake area. My trip up there last year was perfect in late July (low snowpack that winter). With that being said, is this trip going to be doable in normal backpacking gear or am I going to need Crampons, Gaiters, etc... The people coming with are in shape military personnel but not avid backpackers with all those additional gear requirements. Any thoughts on if this is do able or if I should post pone this trip?

[John Harper]

I have a trip of June 20th that will take me up towards the Ediza Lake area. My trip up there last year was perfect in late July (low snowpack that winter). With that being said, is this trip going to be doable in normal backpacking gear or am I going to need Crampons, Gaiters, etc... The people coming with are in shape military personnel but not avid backpackers with all those additional gear requirements. Any thoughts on if this is do able or if I should post pone this trip?

The road to Red's Meadow may not even be open by June 20 this year.

John

[texan]

I have a trip of June 20th that will take me up towards the Ediza Lake area. My trip up there last year was perfect in late July (low snowpack that winter). With that being said, is this trip going to be doable in normal backpacking gear or am I going to need Crampons, Gaiters, etc... The people coming with are in shape military personnel but not avid backpackers with all those additional gear requirements. Any thoughts on if this is do able or if I should post pone this trip?

The road to Red's Meadow may not even be open by June 20 this year.

John

Good point from John Harper. "The road to Red's Meadow may not even be open by June 20 this year."
I don't think road will be open to Red's Meadow by June 20 this year, too much snow and it usually opens late anyway. Just like South Lake if they have it plowed my Memorial Day we will be lucky, it won't happen for the trout opener at the end of April that's for sure. There's just too much snow and it's supposed to stay cold for another two weeks. Leavitt Meadows(7200 ft) snow sensor said it had 9 feet of snow and Leavitt Lake(9600ft) is almost at 20 feet of snow. We all wanted a good snow year to get out of the drought and we sure got it.

Texan

[c9h13no3]

I have a trip of June 20th that will take me up towards the Ediza Lake area. My trip up there last year was perfect in late July (low snowpack that winter). With that being said, is this trip going to be doable in normal backpacking gear or am I going to need Crampons, Gaiters, etc... The people coming with are in shape military personnel but not avid backpackers with all those additional gear requirements. Any thoughts on if this is do able or if I should post pone this trip?

Even if you change your permit to Rush Creek or walk the (snow covered) road to the trailhead, you will certainly be traveling on snow for a huge chunk of the mileage.

[c9h13no3]

I have a trip of June 20th that will take me up towards the Ediza Lake area. My trip up there last year was perfect in late July (low snowpack that winter). With that being said, is this trip going to be doable in normal backpacking gear or am I going to need Crampons, Gaiters, etc... The people coming with are in shape military personnel but not avid backpackers with all those additional gear requirements. Any thoughts on if this is do able or if I should post pone this trip?

Here is a satellite image of Ediza Lake, on June 16th of 2019. The yellow pin is Ediza Lake. This year there is currently more snow on the ground than 2019 at this same time.

Ediza.png

[Wandering Daisy]

I went in Rush Creek 2010, and here is a photo taken from below Lost Lakes on 6/27. This year is likely to exceed 2010 snow levels late June. Note that the rock slabs are dry in some places. Another thing is that PCT hikers may have arrived, and they may have made a packed snow path on the PCT.

IMG_5053.JPG

IMG_5058.JPG