High Sierra Topix

Id like to get head up to Sequoia NP and do a nice three dayer on June 1st weekend. Looking to do a relatively secluded loop stopping at Alta Meadow then either Moose Lake, Keweah River above Pear Lake or Tablelands area and then out. I'm not to interested in Pear lakes or the others as I assume they will be very crowded. A couple of Questions, of the the area around table lands I mentioned, which is better to camp with views. In order to hit Alta and loop around, any guesses if will I need crampons and an ice axe or would Micro spikes do that time of year? Thanks, Phil

Hard to tell snow conditions yet, wilderness Rangers are going out this week to assess, call them the Tuesday after memorial day. By then they will have better ideas of conditions and other hikers will have reported as well. I would recommend going up the Pear Lake trail and keep going past Pear. Less steep slopes compared to Alta Meadow, although Alta is south facing...hmmmm, decisions decisions. Keep your plans loose and call them next week to finalize. I may head up there later this week and report back.

A TR would be great. I was thinking of going counter assuming a panther gap permit would be a lot easier. Also, I’d do a short hike and stop at Alta Meadow or just Merhten Meadow and acclimate a little the first day after traveling from sea level to get there. I’ll definitely call next week after the holiday and get some intel.

I did a similar trip in June last year when the snow was much higher:

http://www.highsierratopix.com/communit ... 34&t=16128

I'm guessing there will be dry places to camp at Moose Lake by now given the huge difference in snow between last year and this year, but I would take crampons and maybe an axe if you want to get up to the divide.

I did a similar trip in mid-June of 2014, which was a similar snow year.

https://plutoniclove.com/2014/06/25/moo ... onal-park/

There was no snow at all through Alta Meadow and up to Moose. In fact, was pretty dry even through the meadow. Two weeks earlier there was probably some snow, but it was probably easy to deal with. I think you should be ok to go that route June 1 this year.