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Wow after years backpacking Lone Pine to Mammoth I was pleasantly surprised by the jaw dropping beauty of the Hoover Wilderness. I would venture to say it rivals the Rae Lakes loop in terms of epicness but it’s half the distance. Extreme beauty in a compact size. For anyone going up there soon the East side of Rock Island pass was covered in snow and made for a tricky descent without spikes or crampons. Doable with the bergshrund edges but much slower than walking down with friction.
We did the trip counter clockwise. Day 1 trailhead to Peeler Day 2 Peeler to Robinson Day 3 back to trailhead. We planned to drop packs and either go up Crown Point or out Mule Pass but decided against Crown and we’re so tired after navigating the snow that I didn’t want to do it again up and down Mule. We enjoyed the river and Buckeye springs on our way out and had a delicious dinner at Virginia Creek Settlement. The highlights were Kerrick Meadow wow the prettiest meadow I’ve seen in the Sierras, rivals the Cascades and Rock Island Pass.
If anyone has any other loop suggestions in this area please hit me up! I’d love to see the Matterhorn cyn next.
I'm glad your trip was an enjoyable one. That is indeed a beautiful part of the Sierra. I suppose the only thing I don't like is the trailhead area itself (the dusty RV campground) and the inefficient switchbacks of the lower part (if they haven't changed those since my last hike up them in 1993), but the scenery is hard to beat. Judy and I did a zany 4-day out-and-back trip to Doe and Tallulah Lakes in N Yosemite by way of that trailhead and we were duly impressed with the beauty and variety of landscape and scenery.
Virginia Lakes are a wonderful and underrated take off point and they are one of the highest east side trailheads (just a bit lower than the likes of Saddlebag Lake, Little Lakes Valley, and Cottonwood/Horseshoe), so you get vaulted into the high country right out of the gate. There are some fun short loops you can do, such as crossing the crest at Summit Lake, then crossing back over at Virginia Pass (after spending some time in the Return creek headwaters region) and looping back by way of East Lake. That area has a different charm than the Peeler-Crown area who hiked in. The Sawtooth Range and environs are mostly sculpted out of pale granitic rocks, whereas the cliffs and crags in the Virginia-Return-Greek Creek area are richly hued metamorphic rocks in reddish browns and dark and light grays. I also find that the Virginia L takeoff is more pleasant than the Mono Village kickoff. A special novelty of a route to Summit Lake is Summit Lake itself which is perched on the crest of the range. If you camp there, I highly recommend camping on the spine of the crest, south of the trail and above (and west of) Summit Lake. The views are unique: you can look to the west into NE Yosemite with great views of Virginia Peak but also look eastward and downward, so you can look to both sides of the Sierra Crest because you're on it. It is a novelty you that doesn't come with too many places in the Sierra, although one of those rare places in fact Peeler Lake. Whereas the view to the NE from Peeler is impressive, I think the westward view isn't as magical as the westward view (especially NW) from Summit Lake. That having been said, I think other destinations in the area are even more scenic, if not as novel, and the truly scenic spots include Return Lake ESE of Virginia Lake and the large, gorgeous, East Lake.
I overnighted at Peeler Lake this past Sat. 8/26. There were two very small patches of snow on the trail from Robinson Creek TH, just before making Peeler. But, they were so small and easy to traverse around or over, hardly worth the mention. Creek crossings were easy.
Had planned to do the loop as described by OP, but found the mosquitos annoying enough at Peeler I did not want to see what they might be like in the meadows, so made it a one night out and back. I think mosquito tolerance is probably an individual thing, so the level of aggressiveness is likely tolerable to some.
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Thank you giantbrookie for the suggestions (HST is such a great resource). Like OP I found this area very beautiful and look forward to another visit soon.
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the prettiest meadow I’ve seen in the Sierras, rivals the Cascades and Rock Island Pass. 
