Info Wanted - Cottonwood Lakes - Kern Headwaters yoyo
Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2018 9:03 pm
Hi All,
Two level 4 backpackers heading into wilderness (fingers crossed for a walk-in permit!) on Friday 8/3 at Horseshoe Meadows.
The plan is to head up the JMT, dip down to walk up the Kern, explore the Kern headwaters (and hopefully catch a football sized golden trout) and then head back on as high a route as possible, taking the pass between Tyndall Basin to Wright Basin, up into Wallace Lakes Basin, to the JMT and then over Crabtree Pass into the Miter Basin, and back out.
Here's a map https://caltopo.com/m/3QMG
Questions:
- how does the route look to you, what would you change having been there?
- Do you have any favorite campsites along this route you are willing to share?
- Best fishing along this route?
- Is the upper kern river drainage a nice place to hike and fish? Some river valleys are to die for, some (mono creek drainage for example) I find tedious.
- Are there any basins or areas just off this planned itinerary that you think are cant' miss?
- Is there anything we can cut out, this is a lot of miles without any layovers
- Where would you take a layover if you could? I left the miles shorter up near Kern headwaters, thinking that would be an area we would want time to explore
- There's a long section of the JMT from Rock Creek to Crabtree Meadows that I included basically so it would be more of a loop rather than an out and back. The section along Rock Creek I have seen and didn't find very memorable. How's the section from Rock Creek over Guyot Pass up to Crabtree Meadow? Should I just cut this section and go both in and out over Crabtree Pass and Miter Basin?
- Should we plan on spending a night at Cottonwood Lakes? I wonder if they are very crowded on a weekend and that I should skip over them and check them out during a week trip. That could make the last day a long one to get back to the car, but would also maybe free up a night to spend elsewhere.
Thank you so much!
Two level 4 backpackers heading into wilderness (fingers crossed for a walk-in permit!) on Friday 8/3 at Horseshoe Meadows.
The plan is to head up the JMT, dip down to walk up the Kern, explore the Kern headwaters (and hopefully catch a football sized golden trout) and then head back on as high a route as possible, taking the pass between Tyndall Basin to Wright Basin, up into Wallace Lakes Basin, to the JMT and then over Crabtree Pass into the Miter Basin, and back out.
Here's a map https://caltopo.com/m/3QMG
Questions:
- how does the route look to you, what would you change having been there?
- Do you have any favorite campsites along this route you are willing to share?
- Best fishing along this route?
- Is the upper kern river drainage a nice place to hike and fish? Some river valleys are to die for, some (mono creek drainage for example) I find tedious.
- Are there any basins or areas just off this planned itinerary that you think are cant' miss?
- Is there anything we can cut out, this is a lot of miles without any layovers
- Where would you take a layover if you could? I left the miles shorter up near Kern headwaters, thinking that would be an area we would want time to explore
- There's a long section of the JMT from Rock Creek to Crabtree Meadows that I included basically so it would be more of a loop rather than an out and back. The section along Rock Creek I have seen and didn't find very memorable. How's the section from Rock Creek over Guyot Pass up to Crabtree Meadow? Should I just cut this section and go both in and out over Crabtree Pass and Miter Basin?
- Should we plan on spending a night at Cottonwood Lakes? I wonder if they are very crowded on a weekend and that I should skip over them and check them out during a week trip. That could make the last day a long one to get back to the car, but would also maybe free up a night to spend elsewhere.
Thank you so much!