High Sierra Topix

Kpeter wrote:

I have taken earlier packtrips in to explore into Dusy Basin and into Humphries Basin, so I will resist the urge to linger in those areas. Should I take an extra day at Evolution Lake and dayhike up Darwin canyon (since I am not doing Lamarck Col?) How about a day exploring x-country to McGee and/or Davis lakes? Or given the snow, maybe I should hang out at a lower elevation. Spend a day in Evolution Valley?

All these higher places will have snow, so it depends whether that is an issue or not?
Forget Davis it will still be frozen, and all snowed in at over 11000ft.
McGee Lake is a cool place, and there is McGee Pass that puts you right west of Sapphire
Lake, but getting up McGee Canyon may not be easy, and McGee Lakes is shaded by
Mt. McGee on its western side, and the ridge on the south, so it will probably be
snowy on the northern side of the lake, and the lake itself may be frozen at 10821ft.
The views from EM, and CM are great, and worth spending time at, and if your up to
it, a climb up to Darwin Bench (will be snowy) has outstanding views of the area.

Not to highjack the thread but can anyone tell me what kind of weather and how bad the mosquitoes we should be expecting in August? (19-27)

Yes, I would very much like an answer to this as well! I will doing North Lake to South Lake via Lamarck Col around that time and am very concerned about weather/mosquitoes/river crossings!

I know that this is an older thread but I'm thinking about doing the same trip - North Lake to South Lake, parking my car at South Lake and then using the Tyee Lakes trailhead to walk over to Lake Sabrina, then road walk to North Lake for the start. I already have my Piute Pass permit. Would I need another permit to start at Tyee Lakes?

Thanks.

I personally wouldn't mess with an additional permit. Your milage may very

I just got off the phone with Inyo national forest. They say that I would need an additional permit if I plan to spend a night in the Tyee Lakes area the night prior to my entry at Piute Pass. Apparently the road walk to North Lakes means that this would be treated as two separate trips rather than one.

Hi Rnagarajan,

Welcome to HST!

Rnagarajan wrote:
Apparently the road walk to North Lakes means that this would be treated as two
separate trips rather than one.

This makes sense. When you enter on different trailhead than what your permit
indicates than yes you will need a new permit, especially if sleeping overnight at Tyee.
You may try to hitch a ride to North Lake from South Lake (offer some gas money)
and don't get to South Lake to late in the day, you may get lucky.

Anyone have suggestion of where one can reserve (not first come first serve) camping near trailhead? Looking for 1-2 nights at elevation prior to setting off.

Sambieni,

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/inyo/re ... 4&actid=29

This is a list of local campgrounds, some are group only and only some are reservable. The actual booking needs to be done on the Recreation,gov website.

Dave

dapperdave wrote:Sambieni,

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/inyo/re ... 4&actid=29

This is a list of local campgrounds, some are group only and only some are reservable. The actual booking needs to be done on the Recreation,gov website.

Dave

Thanks. I have seen those and appears all are non-reservable, first-come, first-serve. Still leaves me the same place. What is one to do on holiday or August weekend when you need a campsite and not a local, thus you're hauling in around 8-9 pm post-work hoping on a wish and prayer?