Recommendation for a hike.. some specific needs please...

[mfassett]

Hey everyone. I have a friend in southern CA and I'm in northern CA.. we like to meet and do day hikes, several over a few days with one bigger one as the highlight. He has a back issue and he's not ready to do camping yet so he'd prefer that we find a spot near a lodge/motel/cabin whatever where he can have a bed at night. We have the first weekend in June penciled in.

We had planned to do something on the coast but lots of the trails we would like to do are either closed because of the winter or are trails we've already done (Pinnacles, hikes around Morro Bay/SLO, etc). So... the Sierras, but with the snowpack I'm not sure what will be open and what hikes we might have available to us. Ideally somewhere halfway between us, but obviously one of us might have to drive longer and that's fine too.

Big Sur is probably out because he'll need to go around the long way, unless there is a good hike on the south end, south of the road closer at Ragged Point.

For hikes he can do something in the 10 mile range (round trip) as long as the elevation gain/loss isn't too crazy, let's say 2000ft. Probably six hour drive each way or less is ideal.

With the challenging world we're in with snowmelt and passes being closed, do you have any recommendations? My own experience is mostly in the Tahoe areas (north and south) and spent some time over the 108 and 120 passes. What's near the 168 or 180 highways which might be open by early June?

Thank you in advance...

[balzaccom]

Plenty of hikes in the Emigrant Wilderness north of Tahoe fit that criteria, and you find lodging at Pinecrest Lake or some of the towns below that on Highway 108.

Bass Lake has lodging with good hiking in the Kaiser Pass area.

With the road to Cedar Grove closed this year, your best bet in SEKI might be out of Lodgepole.

[stevet]

Alternatively look at the eastside Sierra. Check with Parchers near South Lake, or Cardinal Village near North Lake, or a Motel at Mammoth. Plenty of dayhiking opportunity, and should you want a bigger hike Bishop Pass, or Piute Pass, or Duck Lake will all likely have beaten paths through the snow and be doable with microspikes. And if hiking doesn't work out, give a go at fly fishing.