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I have a friend that is coming down from alaska to do some light camping/backpacking with me so I figured I would come up with something less crowded than say mount bishop pass or piute pass. So I was able to grab a few permits for the convict lake basin (entering from Laurel Lakes) and based on my research and from annoying people in the area I have pretty much come up with two main plans.
Plan A is more of a circle route, involving packing up and moving every day to a new campsite each time staying at one of the lakes in the basin for a night. (I like this one because it changes the sunrise/sunset views as we move around)
Plan B is more of a Hub plan, where once we reach the centralized camp, we stay there and just do day hikes to various parts of the basin. (I like this one because we can take lighter day-packs around)
I was wondering what you all thought of this plan?
Also, does anyone have any pics of Bunny Lake? I was trying to find some but it seems like nobody ever goes there.
--Chris
---- Everyone has a happy place.
Mine is Tulainyo Lake at Sunset.
I do hope to make it back there one day.
I did a shorter trip up here in SEPT 2017. Here are a few notes:
-The road up to Laurel Lakes is pretty rough, 4WD definitely recommended.
-Lake Dorothy has many places to camp, definitely a great spot for a hub, but it also gets the most traffic in the area
-Fishing is great up there if you have a collapsible rod that you can bring. Mostly small brookies.
-We also camped at Bighorn lake, which felt more secluded and personal.
I am always a fan of the Hub technique when not thru hiking. You have more time to cover more ground when not packing up camp every day and carrying your main pack.
One more note: when we did our trip, we parked a second car at convict lake and hiked out via convict creek. In 2017, the bridge over convict creek had washed out during the melt, and the creek was flowing too fast to cross where the bridge used to be. We ended up off trail paralleling the creek down the canyon until we found a spot to cross a few miles down. . With the low snow year and later fall start time, you would be able to cross anyway. Your current routes do not go down the canyon where the bridge used to be, so you should be good, but just wanted to give you a heads up in case your plans change
I have accessed this area via McGee Creek- Big McGee Lake-Corridor Pass. It is a longer route but if you are into fishing, the McGee access has some good fishing. A great route would be to go up Mc Gee Creek and then back down Convict. But you would need two cars or somehow get a ride between the trailheads. I had hoped to do such a trip this summer. I also did a trip report of my trip there and you may want to look that up too.
Dorothy Lake is nice but camping is limited. There are some nice but tight places along the east mid-shore, but they are below the trail. I do not recall much good camping at the outlet. I really liked Constance Lake: camping is very cramped near the outlet. Better camping down at Lk Wit-so-nah-pa with easy walk up to Constance. There also is some timbered campsites on the east ridge above the lake towards the inlet. Scenically, Cloverleaf Lake is so-so. I liked Genevieve better. Memory is vague, but I think Edith Lake was quite brushy and buggy. The area is quite compact, so you could also make one or two base camps and day hike to the rest.
tmesko wrote: ↑Thu Apr 16, 2020 8:44 am
I did a shorter trip up here in SEPT 2017. Here are a few notes:
-The road up to Laurel Lakes is pretty rough, 4WD definitely recommended.
-Lake Dorothy has many places to camp, definitely a great spot for a hub, but it also gets the most traffic in the area
-Fishing is great up there if you have a collapsible rod that you can bring. Mostly small brookies.
-We also camped at Bighorn lake, which felt more secluded and personal.
I am always a fan of the Hub technique when not thru hiking. You have more time to cover more ground when not packing up camp every day and carrying your main pack.
One more note: when we did our trip, we parked a second car at convict lake and hiked out via convict creek. In 2017, the bridge over convict creek had washed out during the melt, and the creek was flowing too fast to cross where the bridge used to be. We ended up off trail paralleling the creek down the canyon until we found a spot to cross a few miles down. . With the low snow year and later fall start time, you would be able to cross anyway. Your current routes do not go down the canyon where the bridge used to be, so you should be good, but just wanted to give you a heads up in case your plans change
Happy Hiking!
I was looking at the road actually, I have a raised jeep grand cherokee, off road tires and shocks, so I think im okay on that one.
I was thinking on camping up on the eastern ridge next to lake dorothy. mid lake when looking at it along the north south axis.
I have a 3wt fly rod, i figure the normal flies should work?
Bighorn Lake? how is it? are there more spaces there?
---- Everyone has a happy place.
Mine is Tulainyo Lake at Sunset.
I do hope to make it back there one day.
Wandering Daisy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 16, 2020 8:57 am
I have accessed this area via McGee Creek- Big McGee Lake-Corridor Pass. It is a longer route but if you are into fishing, the McGee access has some good fishing. A great route would be to go up Mc Gee Creek and then back down Convict. But you would need two cars or somehow get a ride between the trailheads. I had hoped to do such a trip this summer. I also did a trip report of my trip there and you may want to look that up too.
Dorothy Lake is nice but camping is limited. There are some nice but tight places along the east mid-shore, but they are below the trail. I do not recall much good camping at the outlet. I really liked Constance Lake: camping is very cramped near the outlet. Better camping down at Lk Wit-so-nah-pa with easy walk up to Constance. There also is some timbered campsites on the east ridge above the lake towards the inlet. Scenically, Cloverleaf Lake is so-so. I liked Genevieve better. Memory is vague, but I think Edith Lake was quite brushy and buggy. The area is quite compact, so you could also make one or two base camps and day hike to the rest.
I dont suppose you have been to cloverleaf lake or up to bunny lake before? Maybe even Bright Dot Lake?
---- Everyone has a happy place.
Mine is Tulainyo Lake at Sunset.
I do hope to make it back there one day.
Camping at Cloverleaf was pretty nice and I caught enough fish for dinner, but nothing big. I am not a dedicated fisherman; I just fish after hiking to catch dinner. I do not know if you could do better if devoting more time. I did not try to fish Genevieve. Never been to Bright Dot. Bighorn Lake is not that appealing. The photos below are not that great, but give you an idea of some of the lakes.
