Sierra Day Hikes

[Lumbergh21]

I want to introduce my wife to the Sierra with some day hikes so she can also enjoy a warm bed and shower each night. The time that will work best for us will be the end of May, beginning of June. My wife is fit and will probably be "encouraging me" to pick up the pace, but I would still like to keep the hikes to 10 miles round trip or less and no more than 3,000 feet of climbing. I'm comfortable going off trail, so easy of trail is an option as well. Given the time of the year, I figure that I will need to stay under 8,000 feet even if it is a low snow year. I'm thinking some of the sites around Yosemite Valley is one possibility, but at that time of the year, Tioga will likely still be closed so that might limit us to the west side of the Sierra. Any ideas for hikes on the west side that I could do in addition to some of the hikes around Yosemite Valley? Any ideas for hikes that I could do on the east side instead? Any other ideas are also welcome. Thanks.

[c9h13no3]

I mean, you know these places, I’m probably just bumping them to your attention. I assume you’re Bay Area given the Tioga remark, I’d bet they open Sonora Pass on Memorial Day this year.

The hike to Barney Lake out of Twin Lakes is great, and just a touch longer drive vs the Valley. And the lesser crowds make for a more relaxing trip. No early mornings to beat the rush, no permits.

The Big Pine Lakes can compete with Yosemite as well. It’s about 11 miles to the third Big Pine Lake and most of the trail is on a southern aspect. But a long drive from SF, and then you gotta camp in the desert (good for mosquitoes, not so good for scenery).

But Yosemite Valley in late Spring is pretty fantastic as well. If you can get a weekday or two free, it’s really hard to screw that up unless you completely flub the crowd management.

And some people aren’t all scenery or bust. I really enjoy my time spent hiking on the west side of the Crystal Range. The drive is quite short, crowds are manageable, very little red tape. It’s the quickest alpine experience you can get from the Bay Area.

[dave54]

Bassi Falls off Highway 50, near Union Valley Reservoir. You could stay in one of the many resorts in the area. May might be too early, June should be spectacular with the falls roaring. The Falls are about three miles from the trailhead, but the trail continues past them.

[jefffish]

Where are you coming from?

[balzaccom]

So good ideas here. If you're worried about driving times, the Desolation is the way to go. You can hike out of Wrights Lake to all kinds of wonderful places, usually less than 7 miles round trip, so you can add on a bit of exploration to the day. Look at Twin and Island Lakes, or Maud Lake and Rockbound Pass.

Ebbetts Pass has a lovely hike on the PCT south to Noble Lake. if you're lucky, the lupine there will carpet the hill.

Sonora Pass either north or south takes you along the PCT, and has great views. North, you can also head up St. Mary's Pass and climb Sonora Peak.

You are right about Tioga Pass. It might not be open. If it is, try Mt. Hoffman out of May Lake, Cathedral Lakes, or Lake Elizabeth out of the Tuolumne Meadows campground--with the continuatio of a use trail up the the crest of the Cathedral Range.

But if you are willing to drive a bit, the hike to Mitchell Peak down by SEKI is our all-time favorite day-hike in the Sierra. The peak gives a truly amazing view of the entire Sierra Crest and the Great Western Divide. All for 6-7 miles, and some climbing.

[Lumbergh21]

Thanks for the suggestions. We'll be coming down from Northern California, so it makes no difference to me in terms of driving time if we go to the east side or the west side of the Sierra. It just seems to me that if we start in Yosemite Valley it will be a much longer drive to the east side that time of the year, so we would stay on the west side and vice versa.

[giantbrookie]

Stay-in-a-room mellow dayhikes are something I've been doing with my wife and kids for a long time, even though our High Sierra "season" also includes more difficult backpack trips (especially for daughter, Dawn).

I agree that the late May-early June cuts down on options. Keeping in mind that my dayhike targets are always lakes with decent fishing prospects, here are some thoughts on room-stay dayhikes in a "normal" late May-early June.

1. Northernmost Sierra. This region has some pleasant short hikes and much of it is hikeable by late May/early June in a typical year (ie not 2023). There are many pleasant short dayhikes in the "Lost Sierra" which is the Lakes Basin/Mt Elwell/Sierra Buttes area (north of CA49 and N Fork Yuba River). The Grouse Ridge area north of I80 also offers some pleasant dayhike options.

2. Early-thawing lakes, E. side of the Sierra. The following lakes thaw out very early, sometimes in April and they will certainly be thawed in 2024. From N to S: a. Poore Lake, Secret Lake, Roosevelt + Lane Lake (E of Sonora Pass), b. Walker Lake (S of Lee Vining), c. Parker Lake (S of Lee Vining).

3. Early-opening, W flank Sierra. N-S
a. Waterhouse Lake, Emigrant Wilderness
b. Kibbie Lake, NW Yosemite---but this is only a mellow dayhike if they've opened the road to the Shingle Springs trailhead
c. shoreline of Hetch Hetchy. You can choose the length of the hike you want and this is available pretty much all year round with the only exceptions being when the runoff is so fierce that the stream crossings near Wapama Falls get dicey.
d. dayhikes out of Courtright and Wishon Reservoirs can be had as soon as they open the road. Typically the road is open by late May-early June.

These are just a few options. Note that I did several of these room-stay hikes last year (2023) in category 1 and 2a with Judy and Dawn and I also did some with Lee and posted the reports on Topix.

[grampy]

… Ebbetts Pass has a lovely hike on the PCT south to Noble Lake. if you're lucky, the lupine there will carpet the hill.

If you do happen to drive up Hwy 4, Calaveras Big Trees State Park is also worth a visit. The trees aren’t as big as in SEKI, but it’s still quite nice (or at least was when I was there 20+ years ago).
If you head up 108 (assuming you can access Eagle Meadow Road, same turnoff as for Niagara Creek campground), you can drive to a trailhead and then hike to see the Bennett Juniper. Yes, this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s probably the only place you can see a 3,000(ish) year-old Western Juniper.

[paul]

Driving to the east side is not much longer with Tioga closed from most of northern california (unless you are saying that you already have plans to go to Yosemite valley and would be starting from there). The route I like is 50 to meyers, 89 over monitor pass, then down 395. If you want spectacle, the eastside wins for sure, and for early season dayhikes I think you`d have better luck finding something not snowy that is not mostly thick forest. Unless younprefer thick forest, in which case Hwy 104 is your mecca.

[balzaccom]

Driving to the east side is not much longer with Tioga closed from most of northern california (unless you are saying that you already have plans to go to Yosemite valley and would be starting from there). The route I like is 50 to meyers, 89 over monitor pass, then down 395. If you want spectacle, the eastside wins for sure, and for early season dayhikes I think you`d have better luck finding something not snowy that is not mostly thick forest. Unless you prefer thick forest, in which case Hwy 104 is your mecca.

I think you mean either Highway 4 or highway 108. 4 has the sequoias. 108 has the junipers. 104 doesn't really get above the low foothills.