High Sierra Topix

Hi everyone,

Long time lurker, can't believe I've never posted. I'm taking my mother on her first backcountry trip in a few weeks (3 days/2 nights) and decided on Leavitt Meadows for a few reasons. I'm a real fan of Emigrant Wilderness (and the Sonora Pass in general), and have wanted to try Hoover after stumbling upon it during a trail run when I was at the Pickel Meadows Marine base for 5 weeks. Permits are easy and the Leavitt Meadows route seems to be generally mild compared to other backcountry trails, so seems like a good first trip for mom.

I'm still firming up our itinerary, and was hoping for some advice on the following ideas so as to avoid picking a "dud" destination:

Day 1: hike to and camp at either: Lane/Roosevelt or Hidden Lake/Red Hat Lake
Day 2: hike to and camp at either: Fremont or Chain of Lakes
Day 3: return back to the car

We'll have a pooch with us and plan on a leisurely trip filled with fly fishing and relaxing in the water. I'm cool with navigating off trail but it might be better to forego it for her comfort. I already did some poking on Google Earth and tried to sleuth via google search but info is fairly sparse on Hidden Lake, Red Hat Lake, and Chain of Lakes. Should we steer clear of any of those? My concern is that Hidden Lake and Red Hat Lake may be overgrown/tepid and not ideal. Is the fishing decent at any of those 3? Are there decent campsites (that aren't too rocky)?

I appreciate the help and look forward to posting more regularly!

Chain of Lakes (south of Fremont Lake) are pretty little lakes in the forest. Shallow, which makes them good for swimming because they warm up! I don't fish, but I'd be surprised if they had good fishing because they are shallow. I didn't notice any good campsites by those lakes when I went by back in 2015. Fremont Lake is deep and large and more scenic.
-Phil

Thank you wildhiker! That's definitely helpful

I've only zipped through the area on a day hike, so I don't have a ton of input. But Lane/Roosevelt was semi-crowded. I ran by early in the morning and in the dark in the evening. Saw 2 parties in the morning on a Saturday in August, at least 2 campfires Saturday night. So if you're looking for solitude, that probably ain't it.

The Walker River trail is flat, sees a lot of stock use, and stays low elevation along it's length (not a ton of views or alpine scenery). It's a fast trail to get into the Tower/Bond/Dorothy area with minimal elevation gain, but it's not particularly scenic hiking.