Woods Creek/S. Fork Kings/Rae early June

[HermanBlume]

Experienced SEKI backpacker looking for advice on a first week of June trip, ideally up to Rae Lakes, snow willing. Visiting the US from Europe, won’t have a car. I would appreciate any advice/suggestions.

Plan:
Shuttle to Sequoia from Visalia, then hitchhike from Sequoia into Roads End, try to get a weekday, walkup Woods Creek entry permit. Don’t mind waiting a couple days for a permit to come available. But I would need to sleep somewhere, campground or stealth. Have done similar in same week for Sequoia and Yosemite trailheads in recent years. I assume that if I line up early, with a little luck I'll get a spot for the net day. Or maybe one of those 10am cancelation spots.
If I can get a permit, next challenge seems to be the S. Fork Kings River crossing. If an early morning crossing works, I’ll see how close to Rae Lakes I can get, depending on snow. I assume Glen Pass isn’t possible w/out eqpt. so will go back out the same direction. I'll have 12 days total after arrival to SEKI.

Any advice on the above? Am I missing any main concerns, which I see as: 1. Successfully hitching into Roads End. 2. Likelihood of successfully getting a permit after arriving early and queuing up at the ranger station. 3. How difficult will it be to camp to facilitate this? 4. Chances of an early morning Kings crossing? 4. Chances of a. getting up to Rae and b. not sleeping on snow?

Any and all thoughts or suggestions on the above (or related) are highly appreciated.

[c9h13no3]

I’d rather cross Glenn Pass with snow than the Kings River near peak melt. But I like snow. It is wide in that spot, and it hasn’t been a big snow year. So maybe?

There will certainly be dry spots to camp.

I’d guess getting up to Rae would be fine. Maybe some mud, flooded sections, or snow hiking.

[creekfeet]

Regarding hitching, getting from Lodgepole to Road's End can be time consuming, and will most likely require multiple rides. I've never had any issues getting a ride back from Road's End. Just strike up a conversation with someone in the parking lot that's on their way out, and most people feel to guilty to say 'no' when you ask for a ride.

Regarding your other concerns, all of them can be avoided by just going up Copper Creek instead. Snow likely won't be a concern because it's a south facing slope, and the creek crossings are mellow. Your reward is complete solitude; I can all but guarantee you won't see another person out there in early June. Not to mention you get a run of ridiculously scenic lakes including Grouse, Granite, Granite Basin, and Volcanic Lakes.

[Wandering Daisy]

In 2006 I did a 4-day, 7/13-15 trip up Copper Creek. I intended to do 8-9 days but bailed out because of mosquitos. 2006 was a high snow year. I think this year would be at least two weeks earlier. Not sure if early June would be similar this year. It was the third trip starting July 4th holiday where I was running higher each trip to avoid mosquitoes. There was some snow, but I had no problems with snow. Lots of wading across swollen streams.

Day1 to Grouse Lake; 7.5 miles, +5565 6.5 hours. The trail is really well designed and you can just plod up it almost without stopping.
Day2 to Upper States Lake; 7 miles, +2100, 7 hours, mostly off-trail. Here is where the mosquitoes drove me into the tent- really bad
Day3 to Volcanic Lakes; 6.5 miles, +1600, 6 hours. Mosquitoes bad unless walking. found a campsite on a windy ridge to Volcanic Lakes.
Day4 out; 9.7 miles, -6640, 5.5 hours. Woke up to still conditions and swarms of mosquitoes. Bailed out fast as I could.

Without mosquitoes this is a really nice loop. I did not go into Granite Lake. It is at the head of a huge swamp full of mosquitoes even later in the year. Volcanic Lakes were really nice- I day-hiked to many of them.

Volcanic lakes melt out quickly because of the dark rock and being above timber. The north facing slopes over Goat Pass would probably have snow. But the real game is beat the skeets.

[Fviolich]

Hello! I saw your post about your 2006 loop route through granite Basin. Sheila and I are doing a 12 night Coppercreek over the HST end of August, through Lake Basin and over Explorer down to Window Lake and back. Weighing whether taking HST through Glacier Lake to State or stay on the trail and go through Granite, Volcanic, and hook back up to the HST to State. How did you find the flyfishing at Grouse/Glacier vs Volcanic/Granite ? We noticed you did Coppercreek to Grouse in one shot. We’d like to do the same but are trying to be realistic at 68 and carrying 12 nights of food/gear (28lbs). Sorry for all the questions, I know you have experience in all things SEKI! Many thanks! Frano

[Wandering Daisy]

I did not fish on that trip so cannot say. Roper's High Route is very scenic. The reason to use the trail is that Granite and Volcanic Lakes are also very scenic but then you will have a long walk in forests with little view until you get up to States Lake. Sort of a toss-up in my opinion. You need to check the miles, but I think the route via Volcanic Lakes is longer. The Copper Creek Trail is very well designed at a perfect grade to put your head down and walk one step at a time. If you pace yourself is surprisingly easy. I camped at lower Tent Meadow in 2006 and started in the late afternoon, then continued in the early morning cool. I did the same route up in late August 2010 and I was 61 then, and it was just as easy. That time I started at 5AM and got all the way to Grouse Creek with little trouble. But this was after 20+ continuous days out on the High Route and the day I did it was unusually cool. I doubt I could have done it if it were beasty hot.