Baxter Pass Loop Options - Advice Needed!

[luke.creswell]

Level 4 backpacker with Sierra experience, comfortable with x-country, and some Class 3 scrambling.

I have a permit out of Baxter Pass (first time here) in middle August for 5 days 4 nights. I am having a hard time finding a loop that is both challenging and rewarding in that time frame. I don't mind bigger mile/elevation gain days that include hiking for 10-12 hours per day. I originally wanted to hike the north SEKI loop in this time frame but my permit out of roads end was canceled.

Rae Lakes loop from Baxter pass could be fine, but I've done it a couple times and I am looking for extended time in the higher elevations. I am not opposed to going over Forrester or a similar pass.

Any recommendations out of Baxter Pass would be so greatly appreciated!

[c9h13no3]

I originally wanted to hike the north SEKI loop in this time frame but my permit out of roads end was canceled.

I don't see why this is off the table? (assuming you mean the Northern Portion of the Big SEKI loop). It certainly wouldn't be my choice to dip down to Roads End if you're entering at Baxter, but if doing the whole loop holds some appeal to you, why not?

Yeah, the Rae Lakes area & associated environs around 60 Lakes & Gardiner Basin is the most obvious scenic area to visit when Baxter Pass dumps you out at Dollar Lake. Other attractions that folks like in the area are Bench Lake (and it's associated view of Arrow Peak), and the Lake Reflection area (usually visiting the Upper Kern lakes). There's also Randy Morgenson's favorite, the Window Peak drainage.

Link 'em together in a way that is fun for you

Lastly, Onion Valley is a high use, high elevation trailhead next door. It would be easy to hitch back to town, or bike back to the Baxter TH if you wanna get funky and finish some place other than your start.

[Gazelle]

maybe look at where the south sierra high route goes, there is a pass to the west of baxter peak called grasshopper I dont recommend! but follow where the so shr goes, really nice lake to the south of cedric wright peak and can go through a pass to the east of it. then loop back around?

[luke.creswell]

I originally wanted to hike the north SEKI loop in this time frame but my permit out of roads end was canceled.

I don't see why this is off the table? (assuming you mean the Northern Portion of the Big SEKI loop). It certainly wouldn't be my choice to dip down to Roads End if you're entering at Baxter, but if doing the whole loop holds some appeal to you, why not?

Yeah, the Rae Lakes area & associated environs around 60 Lakes & Gardiner Basin is the most obvious scenic area to visit when Baxter Pass dumps you out at Dollar Lake. Other attractions that folks like in the area are Bench Lake (and it's associated view of Arrow Peak), and the Lake Reflection area (usually visiting the Upper Kern lakes). There's also Randy Morgenson's favorite, the Window Peak drainage.

Link 'em together in a way that is fun for you

Thanks for the feedback!

North SEKI loop from Baxter pass is like 110 miles, so with driving in and getting up Baxter I think I'd need one more day to do the loop. Do you know a route to connect Bench Lake, Lake Reflection and Window peak? I am not really seeing the optimal way of doing that.

[cgundersen]

Luke,
If you want to avoid crowds and tackle some fairly challenging off-trail passes, I'd recommend a "high loop" around Mt. Clarence King. It goes something like this: day 1 you're probably not going to get too much further than lake 11145 (largest of the Baxter Lakes) which is fine, because that area is one of the few where I've seen bighorn sheep in the Sierra. day2: head down to the JMT; there is a use trail that cuts to Dollar Lake, but since your target is to the north, I've just bushwhacked down the hillside (near Baxter creek) to reach the trail. Roughly a mile and a half later, you reach the outflow stream from Lake 10315 and follow the creek up to the lake. From Lake 10315 you head west aiming for the ridge that has "King" on it on the Harrison map. There is a lone, small lake in the next basin. This is the crux of this route, because finding one's way down the ridge above that small lake can be very time consuming with lots of cliff-out opportunities. But it does "go", because I've done it a couple times (and did a write up in the XC passes section with a silly name like North King col). From that basin you continue west to the basin with 5 lakes stretching north and west of Mt. Clarence King. Plenty of campsite opportunities here. day3: I've been over King col once and really do not need to do it again. So, the last time I was up there, my buddy and I continued in a southwesterly direction from the 3rd of the 5 lakes and hopped the ridge into the canyon with another solitary lake (and a couple ponds). But we did not descend very much, because our goal was to traverse into Gardiner Lakes basin (an easy task). Again, you have plenty of options for camping in Gardiner basin. day4: you close the loop by going over 60 Lakes col and rejoin the JMT and return to the Baxter Lakes (or further) contingent on how early you want to get out the next day. Anyway, this route is a bit short on miles, but it makes up for that with route finding; a slightly different challenge.

Cameron

[Gazelle]

https://caltopo.com/m/BDSCH. like this?

[thegib]

An obvious loop would be to head north, go up White fork, cross to Bench lake and come back south on the JMT. Ascending Window lake creek works too but may require crossing white fork saddle. Less obvious would be going up or down Arrow creek drainage and using Arrow pass. Alternatively, as cgunderson says, making your way to the 5 lake basin NW of Mt Clarence King can be a struggle but is highly worthwhile. I descended the creek rather than try King Col and it was a lovely route down - except for 50' of aspen mayhem at the very bottom. Any crossing of Woods Creek must of course be considered serious this year.

[Gogd]

Luke,
..day 1 you're probably not going to get too much further than lake 11145 (largest of the Baxter Lakes)...

..day3: I've been over King col once and really do not need to do it again. So, the last time I was up there, my buddy and I continued in a southeasterly direction from the 3rd of the 5 lakes and hopped the ridge into the canyon with another solitary lake (and a couple ponds)...

Cameron

Addressing Cameron's post:

Day 1 objective: A first day objective of 8.5 miles and 6K elevation gain (not including elevation loss going into Baxter Lakes) would be very impressive.

Day 3 route: The north facing cols west of Clarence King likely will still be guarded by snowfields. Plan to hit them first thing in the morning to minimize risk from freeze/thaw rock fall. Ascent of these cols is steep enough it behooves you to pack an axe, maybe even crampons. Otherwise a rewarding XC loop for competent alpinists.

Ed

[cgundersen]

Luke,

Ed has preserved my brain cramp when composing my post: most of the "east" directions I included should have been west. I edited the post to correct the oversights. No wonder my trips lately take SO much longer. And Ed's suggestions are spot on for this year's snow situation. The year I did Kiung col was a high snow year, and I think that simplified the task. The trip when we bailed on doing it, the scree/talus looked like more than we wanted to tackle on a steep pitch, so we did the detour which worked fine. Cameron