High Sierra Topix

Bear with me as I know I'm a noob to this forum and the high sierras. My buddies and I are looking to take a backpacking/fishing trip in late september/early october and we're looking for something with good fishing and a minimal amount of human interaction. Probably a 4 day round trip. We've been to Alaska and the Boundary waters on the US/Canadian border so the wilderness experience isn't new to us but a Sierra trip is. I'm just looking for some direction and local knowledge from some of the vets on the board. Thanks in advance for your help!

Welcome Ecowear

Could you provide a little more info.
How many miles per day? X-country or trail? So that's 3 nights out, will you be
driving to you destination and hiking the same day?
Days are shorter in Oct so keep that in mind and it will not allow you
to have a very long first day since sunset is at 6:53 pm(1 Oct) and its a 5-6 hr drive from
LA or SF areas.

Hi eckowear,
Well, if the weather cooperates, you could be in for a treat. I grew up canoeing in the upper midwest/BWCA but once I got a glimpse of the Sierras, I never turned back. You will probably get hit with lots of other choices, but for my money, heading in at Agnew meadows (out of Mammoth) and going toward Thousand Island Lake (and further if you need the distance fix, additional lakes further out include the Davis Lakes and Marie) you'll see some of the best scenery out there. That area can be busy (right now), but by late September, it'll be pretty quiet. The fishing may not be as stupendous as it was for Giantbrookie (see his recent post), but it should suffice. Plus, the fact that you can walk in on one trail and out on the other (high trail or river trail) is an added bonus. The only minor hitch is they charge to go down there, but if you get going early (before 7am) and come out late (after 7:30pm, I think), the kiosk is not manned.
Cg

Thanks for the information guys. I think we're looking at getting an early start on the first day and would like to go 5-8 miles to a place where we could setup a "basecamp" and then take day hikes to surrounding lakes where we could fish. We'd prefer to stick closer to the Sacramento area Sierras as it's closer for us to begin our trip. Trail or x-country would be fine. Since it's our first trip in the Sierras we're not looking to go super big but we definetly don't want the mommy/daddy daytrip

Thanks guys!!

If Sacramento area Sierra is your desire, then some great hike-to fishing potentially awaits. Desolation Wilderness has the largest fish of any backcountry area in the Sierra. Desolation is also very amenable to relatively short hikes, given that almost no lake in the wilderness is very far from a trailhead. This makes it an ideal target in fall. Moreover, the big browns and brookies of some of the best lakes really get rolling then. My choice for 3 nights in fall would be to head out of the Glen Alpine trailhead and make a basecamp at Heather Lake (browns exceeding 20" not uncommon, and big brookies too). If the "home run" fishing (big fish can mean hit or miss) isn't happening, Susie Lake or Half Moon Lake's brookies can usually assure that you won't be skunked, and although the average fish size in those lakes (9-11") is not big, some bigger ones lurk there, too. As a plus, Heather and Susie Lakes are very beautiful, too. If camped at Heather, don't miss the chance to take the short hike up to Gilmore Lake and fish for brookies and lake trout. The top end for the latter approaches THREE FEET; no lie, I've caught a 32-incher there. It tends to be hit or miss for many, but you owe it to yourself to give it a try. Aloha Lake, also spitting distance from Heather tends to fish spottily, but the so-called "far shore" is alleged to produce some mammoth brookies. LeConte Lake has some medium sized brookies that can be quite cooperative at times. Lake of the Woods is a bit of a long day hike from Heather and can be slow at times (except in evening); it may also have the biggest brookies in the area (probably top out in 20 inch range). Not to be overlooked is Grass Lake near the trailhead, which produces very big brookies and browns (browns may top out even larger than Heather's). Bear in mind that no campfires are permitted in Desolation, which means rather long nights, but fall lunker hunting in Desolation can lead to a very rewarding trip.

Desolation would be my pick also and GB has named all the lakes plus the
best places for fishing.

First let me say that this is one of the finest information forums I have ever seen. That being said, the thread started by Sierra Noob for this trip answered quite a lot of the questions I had about going into the Desolation Wilderness area this coming Oct. (early). Thanks again for the good info