Advice on Hopkins Pass suitability

[scrinch]

I've got permits for 5 of us (3 60+ year olds, and 2 20+ year olds) to hike from Mosquito Flat to Mammoth via Mono, Hopkins, McGee, and Duck passes beginning on Labor Day this year. Most of this is easy trail to hike and follow, but I've read that the trail over Hopkins Pass is a use trail and can be a little tricky on the north side. We oldsters have been backpacking in the Sierras since we were kids, mostly on established trails. We've done some scrambling and x-country hiking, but usually only a few miles here and there. The younger guys are less experienced but are good followers and are in very good shape.

My question is whether we should be concerned about the descent on the north side of Hopkins Pass. We're perfectly happy to scramble and boulder-hop, but if it is significantly exposed (by that I mean you-slip-you-die), I'd rather re-route over Silver Pass instead. Any comments on the suitability of Hopkins Pass for average backpackers?

[frozenintime]

there have been reports of major blowdown and/or debris slides lower down in hopkins from last years snowpack, making travel very difficult. this may be a bigger impediment than the pass itself.

[windknot]

The pass itself is straight forward and had a well-defined use trail on the north side when I went over it in both directions in 2020, but I haven't been back recently and the north side ascent to the pass is pretty steep. So given the additional context from frozenintime I'd recommend avoiding unless your group is prepared to do on-the-fly offtrail scrambling to circumvent the debris slides.

[DaveDill]

We hiked over Hopkins Pass a couple of years ago going southbound. I would classify it as a relatively easy, straightforward class 2. There is a use trail on the north side that we were able to generally follow up to the pass. Nothing particularly exposed. I don't believe we located a use trail on the south side but as I recall the slope was gentle.

[scrinch]

Okay, thanks for the insights. I'll have to think about it some more. If the debris slides haven't been dealt with already, or a route hasn't been placed around the slide(s), it doesn't sound like a very pleasant passage. If anyone has more recent info (2023 or 2024) regarding travel up Hopkins Basin, please chime in.

[erutan]

Major blow down as of late September 2023. I doubt it's been cleared.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/sierrat ... %2CO%2CP-R

[scrinch]

Wow! What a mess. Thanks for the link. I think we might try to go over either Rohn or Shout-of-Relief Pass.

[scrinch]

As a follow-up to this...we decided to go over Bighorn and Shout-of-Relief Passes, and had a wonderful time doing it. The off-trail was just the right level for our little merry band, the weather was great, the mosquitoes were gone, and we only saw two people in the 2+ days we were off-trail. While on the trail near Mono Pass, we did talk to two groups who had come from N to S over Hopkins Pass. They both said that they had to climb over the Hopkins basin debris flow, but it was manageable. One of the groups said that they thought traversing the debris flow S to N would be more difficult, but still doable.