Early Season Alternatives

[erutan]

Given the snowpack and consequences (stream crossings dangerous, DEFCON mosquitos down low, infrastructure damage) I'm pondering a later arrival to the range, which I don't mind so much given last summer was a good run at least.

This USDA map of snow water equivalent in the mountain west is useful to see things at glance. Some parsing needs to be done as 1000% snowpack can be an area that normally has under half an inch and now has 8" or so.

The Sawtooths look to be far enough south to be a bit socked in, the Winds seem to be borderline. The Canadian Rockies / Glacier are areas I've only dipped a toe in for a few days and have lower than average snowpack, but I imagine AQI is going to be a mess as Alberta currently has 108 wildfires and evacuation orders. The Olympics seem like a safe bet, if not my ideal aesthetic. It feels like a very play it by ear summer.

[wildhiker]

Also consider the higher mountain ranges in Nevada. There are only a very few SNOTEL gauges in Nevada. I looked at all of them. Most had 10 to 20 inches of snow water equivalent right now. The highest was 30 inches for one of the Ruby Mountains sites. The Ruby Mtns are traditionally the snowiest in Nevada. For comparison, our Sierra sites are generally 60 to 120 inches snow water equivalent right now.
I've done trips to the central Nevada ranges (Toiyabe, Toquima, and Monitor) in early to mid June several times and snow was always almost gone by then. This year, I imagine some snow will persist into July. The Forest Service wilderness areas in these central ranges have actual trail networks. Views extend up to a hundred miles and solitude is everywhere. Check this website for photos and information on visiting Nevada wilderness areas:
https://www.nevadawilderness.org/designated_wilderness

-Phil

[TahoeJeff]

This USFS site can be helpful for researching snow levels:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DO ... 45012.html

[erutan]

I've seen a few photos of the ranges in Nevada and they looked interesting, thanks for putting that back on my radar.

At this point I don't have any firm plans for the summer and obligations through mid-June, so I'll probably push off any decisions as late as I can.

[c9h13no3]

I like snow, more for me.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[wildhiker]

My many trips to central Nevada ranges were back in the 1970s. I've got a bunch of old fading negatives and slides, some of which I have scanned. Here's one of the better scans, taken in June 1975 from the high ridge at the head of the South Fork of the South Twin River in the Toiyabe Range at about 10,800 feet elevation, looking north to the crest.

-Phil

[erutan]

Nice shot - I drove past in 2018 going from Reno to Cedar City and was intrigued. In my mind it was more of a shoulder season destination with good fall backpacking - a fastpacker I met off 395 has done some trips there . Given how warm the Sierra have been the past few summers, being lower doesn’t seem appealing (range tops out at 11k) for a June/July destination (and working out of Elko between trips wouldn’t be ideal either).

I enhiy snow (we carved steps up McGee Pass last early June, had some snowy hiking into the upper Hilton creek lakes etc), but I don’t have much ski touring skills and carrying a full pack while snowshoeing (or postholing) through slushy snow for days on end isn’t appealing to me.

[wildhiker]

Nice shot - I drove past in 2018 going from Reno to Cedar City and was intrigued. In my mind it was more of a shoulder season destination with good fall backpacking - a fastpacker I met off 395 has done some trips there . Given how warm the Sierra have been the past few summers, being lower doesn’t seem appealing (range tops out at 11k) for a June/July destination (and working out of Elko between trips wouldn’t be ideal either).

The Toiyabe and Toquima ranges in central Nevada top out at nearly 12,000 feet. Mt. Jefferson in the Toquima Range has a summit plateau several miles long at nearly 12,000 feet with some glacial cirques. The Toiyabe Range is more of a long narrower crest. Tonopah is the nearest good-sized town.

-Phil

[Gogd]

The So Cal mountains area good options, albeit it takes a concerted effort to leave the crowds behind, and such areas are not large land tracts. You will find minimal human presence, however, if you commit to the effort required to leave the day hikers and PCT hikers behind. The good news about the drought is it has discouraged camping in areas that previously had water resources, but now are dry hikes. The bad news is they are dry hikes. The ones listed below all have water if you know where to look; understanding the regional hydrology and a geology map indicating local stratigraphy is a great help in that endeavor. For example: the maps indicate numerous water sources originating at the 4600 - 4800' elevation all along the south facing slopes of the front range of the San Gabriel Mountains. But in a sustained drought many of these once dependable year round water sources have been reduced to seasonal flows, due to less annual precipitation. This season may break the trend, due a superlative, wet season.

• Wiki "East Fork San Dimas Canyon", or "San Dimas Experiment Forest" or Glendora Ridge Road Experimental Forest". They are the same place with variations on the name. This area is all below 6K' elevation, and faces south onto metro So Cal. On clear days the Channel Islands are visible, and at night the city lights are spectacular! There are some trails, and some water (if you know how to find it). The main appeal is in the upper part of the canyon; it gets very few visitors and is mostly XC bushwhacking. If you like coastal scrub ecology, this as a gem. Black flies and ticks may be a seasonal nemesis.
• The San Gabriel Wilderness has very few trails, and very rugged XC terrain. The wilderness area was designated as part of a program to re-establish the black bear in the region. The wilderness covers the area west of Hwy 39, east of Short Cut Picnic Grounds, north of the West Fork San Gabriel River, with the wilderness area's the northern boundary straddling Hwy 2. It has a jagged, meandering boundary and excludes certain lands located within its interior (e.g. Crystal Lake), all to accommodate previous development. The wilderness parkland itself has very little trail access, which makes moving around in this extremely rugged terrain very challenging. Black flies and ticks may be a seasonal problem.
• The Idyllwild side of Mt San Jacinto. This side of the mountain receives a mere fraction of the total visitors to the mountain. With exception given to the Humbler Park trailhead, the other trailhead heads of the area receive light traffic. Most of the hiking done in this region is along the PCT.

There are a several web sites focusing on So Cal back country activities, in addition to official gov web pages, for example http://perryscanlon.com/ focuses on the San Jacinto area, while https://www.simpsoncity.com/hiking/y has mostly San Gabriel Mountain content. Similar sites exist for the San Bernardino Forest and other parklands of So Cal.

Ed"
edit: "Hwy 36" corrected to "Hwy 39"and other minor changes

[gary c.]

I've been looking at the Kennedy Meadows/ Dome Land Wilderness. Was really surprised when I found this report from the Troy Meadows Facebook page. It was posted on the 8th by someone who knows and lives in Kennedy Meadows.

Troy Meadows, Sequoia National Forest
6d ·
I know a lot of people are wondering what the status of the high country is this spring.
Road over Sherman pass is under closure and feet of snow, do not expect this route to open before July.
Route thru Kennedy Meadows is closed at the south fork Kern river and gates are locked.
This road is covered with rock slides and downed trees and heavy snow in the higher elevations. Forest service is hoping some of this area will be accessible by Memorial Day, but has not made any progress. Monache is part of this closure.
This past winter was record breaking and areas like Troy meadow at 7900 feet still have 3 foot plus snow on the ground and the higher you go the deeper it gets. Motorcycle trails are still buried under snow and zero progress has been made to begin clearing downed trees. Expect this to be the latest opening of this area in the last 40 years.