High Sierra Topix

snusmumriken wrote:I'm reading all this with great interest. Doing a trip with a Sierra Club group to Humphrey basin this summer and may have some days before or after the trip to do some more exploring in the area.

Question: What would be a good topo map? Is there one that covers the area from Dusy Basin to Humphrey Basin in sufficient detail for cross country travel?

This bridges two Harrison maps: Kings Canyon and Mono Divide. I'm not a huge fan of the Harrison series because the shaded relief tends to obscure the topo (shaded relief is a gimmick for folks that don't like topp), although I like the fact that their scale is near the old 62.5k (actually 63.6k--basically the same) and that they're printed on durable waterproof paper. My preference for this area is to use the two very compact (owing to the way they are folded) and waterproof Wilderness Press maps: they're waterproof versions of the out-of-print USGS Mt. Abbot and Mt Goddard 15' quads with updates to the roads and trails. Each map actually includes the "important part" (ie western and higher part) of the Mt. Tom and Big Pine 15' quads. This is key, since Humphreys Basin is actually on the old Mt. Tom quad rather than Mt. Abbot. The ultimate planning and daydreaming map is still the 3 map USFS John Muir Wilderness-Sequoia-Kings Canyon map, although a Humphreys Basin to Dusy trip will still cross map boundaries and the regular paper of the great 3 map set tends to tear after a few unfoldings and foldings.

Thanks for the map suggestions everybody. I think I'll get the Tom Harrison ones to start with.

I just want to throw in my 2 cents. I did a South Lake to North Lake a few years back as my first trip in the Sierras. What a great hike! Evolution is a must stay. There are some good campsites on the downstream end of the valley. You can sit at the waterfall and either look down into the adjoining basin, or turn you back the other way and look back up into Evolution valley. Either view is great.

Lamark Col was easy. We spent the night in Darwin and came out at North Lake. It would definitely be a haul going up that the first day, but there should be a pretty defined use trail.