High Sierra Topix

From the time I've spent up there the numbers of hikers I've encountered seem to be average for some of the places I've been to but the west side may in fact be lighter than usual (excluding Yosemite):
early May: Laurel and Vernon Lakes, ran into quite a few folks on the trail and there were multiple groups at both lakes. This was a midweek overnightee.

early June, Mokelumne Wilderness, short day hike. Fewest folks I've seen there, but the road was gated off adding a mile or so to the hike, so that probably changed the game. This was also a midweek trip.

early June, Woodchuck Country. Surprised to be only group out there for an overnighter; encountered no other group at our destination, nor on the trail. Note that this was a midweek overnighter, however. I recall doing a midweek dayhike there in 2013 and also finding no one there.

late June, Tuolumne area dayhike. Super crowded as that destination has been on every visit. This was a midweek visit, too.

End of June, Woodchuck Country 4 days. Met one individual at the lake we camped at (she camped there on day 1 and passed through on day 3 on her return from just west of Blackcap) and saw one or two groups at another lake and that was that--we didn't meet anyone on the trailed parts of the trip, either. This is fewer folk than I encountered in this area on trips in 2007, 2008 and 2015. Note that the weather report was really ominous for that week and it did in fact dump on us for the first three days (and we hiked out quickly enough to avoid a certain afternoon dousing on the 4th day).

July 13-21 Hoover-Emigrant-N Yosemite. When we were briefly on a segment of the PCT, from Long Lakes to Dorothy Lake Pass we ran into a steady stream of hikers, the vast majority of whom were headed north. Other than that we saw very few people further from the Leavitt Meadow trailhead than Fremont Lake. The lack of people was notable because we were on trail quite a bit of the time on this trip.

July 30 (Friday) short dayhike, Hoover Wilderness. Quite a few folks as expected given the proximity to the trailhead but perhaps a little bit less than "average" in my experience. The intimidating weather report probably played a role. I know I was worried about it.

I can’t really speak to the west side this season yet, but in the Eastern Sierra it seems pretty normal to me - even for pre-COVID times. Been up nearly every weekend since hanging up the skis late April. A lot a factors at play to really determine things - wx, location/trailhead, day of week, etc. Normal-ish amount of folks on trail, once off trail we see very few folks.

tlsharb wrote: ↑Wed Aug 04, 2021 8:35 pm Westmatt, just to be clear—. I’m not complaining . We had Rae, Blackrock, Punchbowl, and Kings River all to ourselves. I just expected after a year of COVID that it would look like Manhattan in the basin.

I don't spend nearly as much time in the Red Mtn Basin as I used to, but in my experience I have not seen many people in it in the past 20-30 years. I expect you are one of the few people to visit Blackrock Lake this year or in the past ten years. Rae and Punchbowl are way more popular, but I haven't had neighbors at either lake on trips there during the past ten years.

I returned a few days ago from a 6-day trip out of Isberg trailhead on the west side of the Ansel Adams Wilderness to Bench Canyon. I saw all of four people besides my party. The four were on the Sierra High Route. I encountered them in Bench Canyon.

Maybe the threat of wildfires is keeping people away. California now has an annual wildfire season from Aug 1 through to October. It's wise to get your backpacking in before wildfire season starts.

I think there are less people, certainly when I have intersected main trails. Many reasons:

1) On JMT/PCT, covid travel restrictions keeping out foreigners. This accounts for a lot of people.
2) Covid inhibiting US travel in general.
3) As the season goes on, fire uncertainty.
4) Screwed up permit situation.

I just had to abort a Tahoe Rim Trail trip. I met up with friends at South Lake Tahoe, a hellhole I hope to never visit again, we had a nice breakfast and a perhaps ill-advised swim in the lake, and then made the 7 hour drive back to LA. I can't imagine anyone north of Bishop continuing their trip at the moment.

Useage also sort of depends on luck - in the bear lakes basin last summer I saw 1 tent at black bear, 2 at ursa, and 4 along the west shore of vee when we came in over italy. The next two days of bouncing around the basin and exiting down the west fork trail we didn't see anyone.

I did a trip out of Maxon Meadow a few weeks ago, and must say, that the trail is pretty boring for a long ways until you get to the good stuff. It was also very dry and hot. It took 2 long days to get up to Blackcap Basin and the trail was miserable and dusty. I think most people prefer quicker approaches, especially the east side ones which are spectacular from the first mile. And the drive to get there is also long. And there are no "big name" routes out of Maxon.

North Fork of the Kings is one day in from Maxson/Courtright - I don’t think I’d refer to *that* area as boring.

This year it was less than scenic. The North Fork of the Kings is a tiny stream right now. It was very sad. I have been there in more normal years and yes, it is a nice river. Now it is just a trickle, not even flowing as you go upstream in places.

We hit the high trail out of Agnew meadow about 7am on Aug 3rd and saw a half dozen groups on our way to Thousand Island. During lunch at the lake, there was one other couple nearby, not the grand central station we're accustomed to. We chalked it up to the monsoonal pattern of the preceding 2 weeks. Once on the JMT, it was the usual steady flow. The next surprise came when we decided to bail out of the upper reaches of Lewis creek basin and saw exactly zero folk at Gallison and Bernice lakes. The hike down from Bernice and the ~3miles down the trail from the Bernice trail (toward Washburn) was a zero. We then took the high trail over toward the Lyell fork of the Merced. The tally was 2 (father-daughter). It was an unusually paltry tally for August. Then again, the rain had given way to smoke, so that could have been a factor, too. Cameron