End of May trip Advice

[Love the Sierra]

Hi trail seasoned friends,

I need a late May trip, 3-5 days depending upon conditions. Using crampons if not terribly steep is fine. Easy off trail or snow navigation is fine. Sleeping in snow also fine, but hope to find dry patches for camping so I can bring less warm gear, ie, less weight. I need low mileage each day since all of my local trails have burned, I am recovered from a recent knee injury and we are in terrible shape. I want to avoid risk of wet, loose slab avalanche and high, fast creek crossing. Of course, you can never know trail conditions until you are out there. I am looking for my best chances. Here are the trips I am considering, which would you suggest?

1) Leaving out of the Sabrina Lake TH, going to midnight, Tyee or Blue Lakes. I have never hiked out of this TH so it might be a nice choice. Which one of the three?
2) Leaving out of South Lake TH and going to treasure Lakes, Chocolate Lake, etc.(I have never hiked here before.)
4) Mosquito Flat to Ruby to Golden Lake. I did this delightful trip in the third week of May, 2021 and it was fantastic! I would not mind repeating it but would like something new. I can’t exactly remember, was 2021 a snow year like this one?
5) Cottonwood TH up south lake trail, exploring around the lake basin. (In late June of 2023, the creek was roaring and past my skill level to cross, though others in this group did. Of course, that was 2023 but late June after all. Would it be impassible for me late May in a sort of normal snow year?)

THANK YOU!

[balzaccom]

In late May, all of those could well be under plently of snow--even this year. We just got another big storm this week.

When I hike in May, I aim for elevations below 8,000 feet. The bed news is that a lot of the USFS roads are still closed in May. The good news is that those roads are closed--meaning you can hike in and not see a soul.

What about hiking into Kings Canyon from above? If either Horse Corral Meadow or Hume Lake are open, you can hike the old Don Cecil Trail down into Kings Canyon---and you would have the place to yourselves. Best of all, the hardest part of the hike would be climbing back out, when your packs are lighter!

[Love the Sierra]

Thanks Balzaccom,
No national parks, I hike with my Jasmine Rose. See our picture, she is the pretty one!

[c9h13no3]

Yeah, I think you picked the 3 highest trailheads in the Sierra :P.

You're lucky that this year and last year were pretty similar. So just use Copernicus Browser and look at last year's snowpack in May.

My first thought (you're in SoCal right?) was over Cottonwood Pass into Miter Basin. It looks reasonable last year on Memorial Day. You're definitely hiking over snow, but you're legit in the High Sierra.

[maverick]

My first thought (you're in SoCal right?) was over Cottonwood Pass into Miter Basin. It looks reasonable last year on Memorial Day.

She has a dog, so not Miter.

[SSSdave]

Our much experienced @balzaccom is correct "in May, I aim for elevations below 8,000 feet". There are a few such lakes like Kibbie, as well as plenty of experienced backpackers already aware of them. So not many choices for the Memorial Day holiday. Am always dismayed at all those that target the same high elevation lakes they do mid summer and then after tromping through slippery snow whales end up atop bright white frozen expanses.

For years I've advised people to think out of the box about late May backpacking that tends to be ignored because most backpackers have the terminal disease of Lakeitis. They never consider, much less backpack to any destinations regardless of time of year without lakes other than an occasional major river/stream. At issue is there are few natural wilderness lakes in the Sierra Nevada at lower elevations because both inorganic and organic sediments fill such depressions in relatively short geologic time.

For hard core fishermen, those attitudes are of course understandable. But what about others? Another issue for some is they only ever hike to destinations with trails because they are actually afraid of real wilderness without any others, long distances from any others. Others become lonely and fearful where they don't come across other people to socialize with. And then there backpackers that are all about all day rambling down long trails for which crosscountry travel has no interest, nor base camping. Because wilderness trails tend to route to popular destinations as in lakes, a wiser May strategy is to target places without trails. There are plenty of potential destinations that are aesthetic without nearby lakes and that will be my advice.

But one will also need to do some homework using caltopo dot com and Goggle Earth. What most summer backpackers that never visit spring desert regions tend to not be aware of is there are lower elevation areas that are quite pleasantly green, flowery, with flowing stream water in late May instead of the hot, dry, brown, waterless conditions they only ever see mid summer. One will not even need a wilderness permit, another plus of convenience.

The destination elements one will need is a nearby water supply, available flat ground for a tent spot, nearby to camp shade, scenic views, places to explore, and being on public land. There are many more possibilities for those with high clearance 4WD, but I won't go there. I do see you live in the south central coast region.

The first suggestion, an easy one with facilities is to park either at the public campground Intake #2 or Upper Pipeline Parking sites on the Bishop Creek Road at 8,000 feet. By May there won't be any snow there while sagebrush vegetation ought still be green, including expanses of mule ears. From there hike along the slightly downhill dirt aqueduct service road for 1.5 miles till it turns the glacial moraine rim. One may be able to drive that because it is used by LADWP to service the aqueduct but is sometimes closed due to erosion. Then round just south the sewage pond on use trails to obtain the Aqueduct penstock road west-northwest.

Follow that about 1.5 miles into a little known fall aspen wood photography zone also at 8,000 feet that also has plenty of big jeffrey pines with little used peakbagger staging zones beyond. Views west of peaks a mile higher are of spectacular metamorphic colorful 13966 foot Mt Humphreys and Mt Emerson that will still have plenty of snow. The higher one travels, the less one can see the big peaks, so better lower. Also there is more vegetation lower down where gradients lower, providing lush flowery meadows. I'll suggest first setting up a base camp below the aqueduct road of the Horse Creek in the magenta circled area. At 700 horizontal feet below the road, that will be well away from any 4WD vehicles on the road above, and peaceful. Note, I am one that rarely sites camps near others.

[Bishop_Bob]

I recall JimmyJam did a late-May trip that looked quite nice: viewtopic.php?t=23541

[khamike]

I would second that if you're thinking about Cottonwood, consider going south over Trail pass or even down to the Domelands wilderness. These tend to melt out sooner. Could also consider something up in the White mountains.

[Wandering Daisy]

I have done a lot in the White Mountains and would not take a dog there. The travel is really rough, there are rattlesnakes, limited water and high altitudes. Do dogs get altitude sick?

[wsp_scott]

I've always thought that Rocky Basin Lakes over Trail Pass and Cottonwood Pass looked interesting for an early season trip.