Inyo NF Permits - 1st Night Restrictions

[kdemtchouk]

Hi! Having some trouble finding the information to answer my question on the Inyo NF website, so figured I would post it here.

Permits for some popular trips on my wish list get snapped up very quickly. Specifically, I'd like to do these trips in the next couple years:
-North Lake/South Lake Loop
-Minaret-Garnet-Thousand Island Lake to Tuolomne Meadows

Is it permissible to book a permit for a lateral trail, sleep the first night along that trail, and then backtrack to my original itinerary?

Specifically, it seems like getting permits for Tyee Lakes and Beck Lake (respectively, for the two trips I mentioned earlier) is a lot easier and they're close enough that I could "re-route" pretty easily.

Thank you for any advice!

[thegib]

Yeah that's perfectly acceptable. The permit restricts entry and exit points. The only exception is the Mt Whitney zone.

[kpeter]

I did the North Lake/South Lake loop by parking at South Lake, walking the short distance to the Tyee Lakes trailhead, and hiking up into Tyee Lakes for the first day. Day 2 I walked over the mountain to George Lake, continued down to the Sabrina trailhead, road walked the short way up to North Lake trailhead, and continued on to Piute Lakes for night 2. Then I continued on the loop--finishing up at South Lake.

I like Tyee Lakes 3 and 4--11015 in particular--and it was the most isolated spot, relatively speaking, on the whole loop, which got pretty crowded.

I put it all down on my itinerary and no one questioned it.

[kdemtchouk]

Awesome, glad to hear that worked out and Tyee Lakes were worth seeing in their own right!

[SSSdave]

There was an old thread on the subject, and no it is NOT acceptable at least in Inyo NF to hike out on one trailhead a permit is for and into another separate trailhead though that may not be the situation elsewhere. It is also not allowed in some circumstances to hike into separate zones accessible from a single trailhead. I had an Onion Valley trailhead permit for Flower Lake and expected to backtrack to the trail to Golden Trout Lakes that is just a half mile above the parking lot. Instead a group of backcountry training rangers at Gilmore Lake as I was going down the trail spoke with me and said that I'd have to access that via crossing Mt Gould. She issued me another permit and related that was a subject some personnel at the station didn't understand. In any case phone the station.

[Wandering Daisy]

If your route is on the permit with specific campsites each night, I do not see how you could get cited. If it is illegal then the permit should not be written. But worth a try- if not legal you should get an error message. However, once you camp in the front country, you have to get a new permit. There are some specific areas where you cannot jump to another trailhead, for example, crossing Yosemite Valley to another trailhead. Rangers will not write a permit that does that.

For your Minaret trip, have you considered the Rush Lake trailhead? It is very easy to get a permit and you could cover the same area. Or the George? Lake trail that drops to the PCT and shortly reaches Reds Meadow? Or a permit for Koip? Pass and drop to Rush Creek. Also there are lots of ways to go in from Devils Postpile- Agnew-High Trail, Agnew-River Trail, JMT from Reds, PCT from Reds, the trail to Annona Lake (cannot remember its name).

There are more options if you have off-trail experience. Also, try a permit for your route either direction and then adjust +/- one day for each way. Sunday or Monday are good days to try to get permit.

[kdemtchouk]

Thank you! All great suggestions.

[Lumbergh21]

I had a permit reserved for the Beck Lake trailhead a few years ago. I ended up replacing it with a different permit as a walk-up, but I do remember there is a restriction on the Beck Lake Trail permit specifically stating that this trailhead does not include the JMT or Minaret Lake. Now, while I never got to find out if it would have been ok as I got a different permit anyway, my plan was to hike to the Beck Lakes and others in that vicinity before heading north to Minaret and others. I second Wandering Daisy's suggestions above for the High Trail, River Trail, Mono Pass (Horseshoe Lake), etc.

[oleander]

I looked up my Beck Lake TH to Minaret Lake options last year when I needed to get to Minaret Lake and didn't have a permit for it. What I learned is that you can't just go walk up the Beck Lakes Trail, hang out overnight there, and then double back and turn up the Minaret Lake Trail. That takes you back close enough to the Reds Meadow TH that you are violating the spirit of your permit. Don't recall for sure, but I believe I learned this on a phone call with the Mammoth ranger station. Minaret Lake is highly impacted, doesn't have all too many campsites, and they just don't want to double the Minaret L. population by allowing the hordes to fake their way there with a Beck Lakes entry.

With a Beck Lakes TH permit, you ARE allowed to go up the Beck Lakes Trail and then go x-country from Superior Lake over Nancy Pass to Deadhorse & Minaret Lakes. For most people, that would take about 2 days, one-way. Nancy Pass is OK (I'd rate it a moderate Class 2), but it is a lot of altitude and tedium just to get to Minaret Lake.

Personally I did Nancy Pass halfway through a week-long trip starting with a Beck Lakes TH permit and a nice long visit to some of the southern lakes in the Ritter Range. Nancy Pass was a worthy price to pay to connect from the southern Ritter Range into the middle part of the Ritter Range (including Minaret Lake & others) for the second half of the trip. But if you are not really interested in checking out the southern lakes, then I wouldn't recommend Nancy Pass as a fun way to get to Minaret Lake.

- Oleander

[SSSdave]

Per inputs about Beck/Minaret, an easier alternative versus Nancy Pass, is set up the permit to go to rarely visited Dog Lake the first night and then cross the ridge at that 2900 meter elevation and class 1 route southwest that is all modest gradients down to Minaret Creek. That still requires an extra 200 meters uphill versus the trail but is 100 meters less than Nancy Pass.

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