High Sierra Topix

Has anyone attempted to enter Humphrey's Basin from Upper Buttermilk/McGee Creek? It looks "feasible" but perhaps a bit gnarly:

- Leave the trail below the small lake below Longley Lake and proceed N up a steep talus/dirt fan to a flat area at ~11500'.
- Continue W and ascend a second, steeper talus field with some permanent snowfield to a large broad saddle at ~12750'.
- Proceed around the corner to "One-Way Pass" ( viewtopic.php?f=31&t=15062 ) and enter Humphrey's Basin.

Looks like a pretty grueling ascent up those two steep sections, but 3.3 mi / 3600' to the crest is pretty good for a TH with untouched quota (admittedly requiring 4WD/HC to access).

I mean, it almost certainly goes, likely at cl2 or less. Snow (possibly leftover from 2023, and thus essentially alpine ice) is the only immediate hazard that comes to mind.

However, between Buttermilk Rd, which takes forever and beats up your truck if you can even drive the whole thing and the talus slog that is almost certainly longer in duration than the trail cruise in, the route doesn’t look appealing. Fighting the permit battle at 7am seems preferable.

I would agree that this route should be a doable class 2 route which would take you more or less directly to Desolation Lake and I can see the rationale of this as an alternative to get around quota limits on the standard Piute Pass entry. Another way in that is a bit longer is to go via Horton Lakes and climb over the top of Four Gables by way of its class 2 north ridge followed by the easy class 2 south slopes to Desolation Lake. I was at Horton Lakes in 1995 to try this route, but thunderstorms precluded going in. Unfortunately, the rationale behind my route in 1995 (big goldens in Upper Horton) has gone away (goldens gillnetted), so I haven't considered this. Longley's fish size stats as per the 1995 gillnet survey is middling (brookies to 29cm) so fishing Longley itself isn't an incentive for me to try this route, but the wilderness permit situation might provide some inducement as would the fun of getting into Humphreys Basin by a seldom-traveled route.

The main advantage of McGee over Horton is significantly less mileage and elevation, and from the description of One-Way Pass the approach from the Horton side doesn’t sound much nicer anyway.

generalelectrix wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 3:41 pm The main advantage of McGee over Horton is significantly less mileage and elevation, and from the description of One-Way Pass the approach from the Horton side doesn’t sound much nicer anyway.

I agree. In addition, Horton Lakes are relatively popular, whereas I'm pretty sure far fewer folks go to Longley, but I must confess I don't have a good gauge of their popularity because I've never been there (versus going to the Hortons three times: 1981, 1991, 1995).