Most immersive 2-nighter? (anywhere between LA and SF, early August)

[sleepydragon]

Because of a new work situation, my partner and I have only three days/two nights this summer to be out. (Early August, a Sunday to Tuesday)

We're trying to figure out the most-immersive possible trip we can make in this timeframe — to try to get as much of the feeling of the Sierra as possible. I know it's early to be planning esp given unknown snow conditions, but I'd like to snag a permit early because our window is so small. Plus I'm obsessed

I know two nights don't give us that much to work with, but the factors we're looking for are:

• Big mountain scenery: stark alpine landscapes and lakes, rather than forests/meadows
• Relative isolation: we're not allergic to people, but seclusion helps
• Semi-challenging terrain or cross-country objectives: having something challenging (but not terrifying) for us to focus on is helpful
• First night < 11k': for some reason this cutoff seems to work for our acclimatization.

From reading as many TRs as I could here, the options we're considering so far are:

• (1) Onion Valley: day 1 camp Matlock Lake 10.5k', day 2 dayhike Kearsarge Pass + climb Mt Gould + see Kearsarge Lakes, day 3 out
  - Gould seems like a fun peak, but I'm worried about crowding
  
  (2) North Fork Big Pine: day 1 camp Third Lake 10.3k' or Fifth Lake 10.8k', day 2 climb Cloudripper, day 3 out
  - This area looks stunning, but I'm worried about crowding
  
  (3) South Fork Big Pine: day 1 camp Finger Lake 10.8k', day 2 not sure (the peaks here seem above our pay grade) but something xc, day 3 out
  
  (4) North Lake: day 1 camp Upper Lamarck Lake 10.9k', day 2 Lamarck Col/Darwin Bench/Alpine Col to camp at Muriel, day 3 out via Piute Pass
  - This route feels a little contrived to be challenging (for us), unsure about busyness
  
  (5) North Lake: day 1 hike over Piute Pass and camp Packsaddle Lake 10.7k', day 2 climb Matthes Peak or go see Muriel/Goethe/Desolation Lakes, day 3 out
  - Packsaddle looks beautiful. This seems like it might be the least crowded of the options, but not sure

Do you have any advice on which of these might best fit our criteria, or (more likely) better suggestions for what we seem to be looking for?

Thank you so much for your help, this community has been an incredible resource for so much otherwise-unknowable knowledge (and dreaming about places we'll never be able to get to).

—

EDIT: Forgot details about us: We're relative high Sierra newbs — we've done a few trail/xc trips (Bishop Pass/Dusy/Barrett Lks, Miter/Crabtree Basins/Whitney/Langley, some in Yosemite and Desolation), but have not been to most of the East side routes. So almost anything will be new and amazing to us. We usually aim for 7-14mi/day on-trail, 3-6mi/day off-trail — we're enthusiastic but not-super-experienced off-trailers (particularly bad at choosing lines), though we do rock-climb a good amount so can handle exposure and tedium.

[Harlen]

Here's another area for you guys to consider, though all of yours show great promise!:

North Lake TH, over Piute Pass (just 5 miles), and on as far as you can get to the the northwest for your first night. Next day, circle to the NE, hiking by the beautiful and backcountry areas from Tomahawk Lake, to Mesa Lake, and carry on back SE toward Piute Pass again. Choose a camp on the way--there are so many wonderful lakes and long views up there, you're bound to find something you will love. You might go as high as Humphreys Lakes (which would give you a short day out), but if you are keen to hike out 10 miles or so, you could camp at the top of Tomahawk, or by Mesa Lake, and still walk out easily. We recommend that you drop your packs, and try to reach one of the points on the ridge to the north-- with the passes "Puppet" and "Steelhead." The views up the range to the north and west are wonderful. I'll include some photos of this area:

View south from the north end of Tomahawk Lake.

Mesa Lake.

View east of Mt. Humphreys, which is generally always in view.

Here's that view north from atop the ridge; you are looking to the north across upper French Canyon to Royce Lakes, (Bear Creek Spire is the white mt. left of center) and beyond.


We love it up there! Long mountain views, fishing, dogs okay, flower paradise on the way in, and up in the basin too, and it is really an easy place to wander around off trail. Our most recent TR from H.Basin has a lot of photos from all around: viewtopic.php?t=23176 We hope you have a great trip wherever you decide to go. Harlens.

[Wandering Daisy]

From past experience, my husband and I tried to combine technical climbing, fishing, scenery; and it never worked. Climbing was the problem. Hauling the climbing gear loaded us down so we usually failed to get to our desired base camp, then simply gave up on the climbing but were still slowed down by unused climbing gear. Granted, these were week trips or a bit more. Simple peak bagging without gear would be Ok. If you really want to climb with ropes, concentrate on that.

The trouble with Kearsarge is that it has become a standard resupply route for PCT and JMT hikers and add the Rae Lakes Loop people, as is really crowded.

Also, you do not want to spend too many hours driving to the trailhead. Where are you driving from?

I will have to think about this one for a while. There are good short loops from Twin Lakes (Hoover Wilderness) but I am not sure the scenery is what you want.

[sleepydragon]

Thanks so much for all the advice so far!!

@Harlen,
That Humphreys Basin circumnavigation sounds like a really promising plan — it looks spectacular.
Thanks so much for the photos, and TR! They're gorgeous, and so helpful to see the character of the area.


@gmiseth,
Thanks for the tips on seclusion! We've mostly been out in September after most folks are gone, so don't have a great sense of how busy things get. Do you happen to have any favorite xc parts down South Fork Big Pine?


@Wandering Daisy,
Excellent points, thanks so much for the advice! Good to know about Kearsarge crowds.

We're trying to do this trip on a drive up from near LA (Big Bear Lake) to the Bay Area, so anywhere on the east side should involve roughly the same drive time, just either on day 1 or day 3. (We're pretty comfortable with early/late driving though, and have two drivers so we can take turns.)

For cross-country objectives, we're just looking for xc passes, xc wandering, or simple peakbagging — up to class 3, but prefer not too much of it. We won't have any ropes or trad gear (we're both not-very-tall women and carrying gear is not our strong suit). We're hoping we can stay pretty light because it's only 2 nights, so cross-country travel may be easier due to light packs too.

[Harlen]

Hey again,
I didn't see the climbing desires. Well, Peak 12,225 and 12,350 on that northern ridge from H.Basin are both dead easy, and have stunning views. the mountain "4 Gables" is higher, and harder if you choose to climb the highest point to the east, but it's only 4 feet higher than the south west summit?! Mt Hump. itself is an exposed class 3/4. I've done it 2x in my youth, but was climbing past other folks' slings. I suppose having gear to rappel down minimizes the risky bits, but I found it pretty straightfoward w/o ropes. Other neat peaks would be Mt. Emerson (Cl. 2), and Muriel (also Cl. 2).
Another nice bc/high route option wd. be to cross Alpine Col, or the "Keyhole," and then go over Lamarck Col on your return. I recall Mt L. was east to summit, tho. high up there. Please let us know how it goes, and best of luck on your trip. Ian.

[wildhiker]

We're trying to do this trip on a drive up from near LA (Big Bear Lake) to the Bay Area, so anywhere on the east side should involve roughly the same drive time, just either on day 1 or day 3. (We're pretty comfortable with early/late driving though, and have two drivers so we can take turns.)

Does this mean that you need to drive hours to or from the trailhead on days 1 and 3 of your 3 day backpack? Or is the driving on days 0 and 4?

[sleepydragon]

@Harlen,
Super helpful, thanks so much for all the beta on Humphries peaks. We'll try to do our best with all this info, and will definitely be back with a trip report!!

Does this mean that you need to drive hours to or from the trailhead on days 1 and 3 of your 3 day backpack? Or is the driving on days 0 and 4?

Sorry for not being clear! Drives are on days 1 and 3 of the backpack, though they can be quite early or late. (We have to be in Big Bear night of day 0, then in Oakland by morning of day 4.) We're very used to driving in the dark though, and we have two drivers (so the other person can sleep), so driving the first + last day of our backpacks usually doesn't cut into our hike time too much — our limiter is usually our legs.

[wildhiker]

Well, Google maps tells me that you have about a 6 hour drive from Big Bear straight up to Lee Vining (sort of the north end of the east side). Many of the "closer" east side trailheads involve side roads off 395 so they may be 5 to 6 hours driving also. Then, based on my experience (I live in Palo Alto), you have about 5 hours driving from Lee Vining to Oakland via either Tioga Pass through Yosemite Park (may require a day use reservation) or Sonora Pass north of the park. So at least 11 hours total driving to fit in along with your hiking.

I suggest the Green Creek drainage in the Hoover Wilderness just north of Yosemite Park (and about 1/2 hour north of Lee Vining). This area has both granitic and metamorphic geology and is very colorful. Wilderness permits are generally easy to get (search for Humboldt Toiyabe National Forest Wilderness Permits on recreation.gov). I've done a few trips in this area and it doesn't feel crowded.

Starting from the Green Creek trailhead, you can do an easy first day hike after all that driving up to either Green Lake (3 miles and 1000 feet elevation gain) or East Lake (about 1 mile and 500 feet elevation gain beyond Green Lake), all on trail. These lakes are very alpine but at modest elevations (9000 or 9500 feet) to help with acclimatization. On the second day, continue all the way up Green Creek to Summit Lake and the Yosemite Park boundary. Cross into the park, head down the trail a mile or so, and then up to the head of Virginia Canyon to camp in a beautiful open valley at 9800 to 10,000 feet elevation with many meadows and views of big peaks all around. This hike with packs is about 7 miles and 2000 feet total elevation gain (up, down, and up again) from Green Lake, all on trail. After setting up camp, you can explore cross-country up the basin to higher lakes or climb a peak. On your third and last day, you can do the cross-country route over Virginia Pass and down Glines Canyon back to Green Lake that is approximately 3 miles, and then catch the trail back to your car. There have been some recent trip reports here on HST that include Glines Canyon and it sounds like there is a use trail almost the whole way.

Here are some photos of the area to give you an idea of the scenery. These photos were taken over several different trips with different cameras, so some are more "colorful" than others.

From Green Lake up Glines Canyon

Peaks over East Lake

Sierra crest over lower Hoover Lake

Hoover Lakes and Kavanaugh Ridge

Dunderberg Peak over Summit Lake

Peaks at head of Virginia Canyon

Shepherd Crest from upper Virginia Canyon

[sleepydragon]

Starting from the Green Creek trailhead, you can do an easy first day hike after all that driving up to either Green Lake (3 miles and 1000 feet elevation gain) or East Lake (about 1 mile and 500 feet elevation gain beyond Green Lake), all on trail. These lakes are very alpine but at modest elevations (9000 or 9500 feet) to help with acclimatization. On the second day, continue all the way up Green Creek to Summit Lake and the Yosemite Park boundary. Cross into the park, head down the trail a mile or so, and then up to the head of Virginia Canyon to camp in a beautiful open valley at 9800 to 10,000 feet elevation with many meadows and views of big peaks all around. This hike with packs is about 7 miles and 2000 feet total elevation gain (up, down, and up again) from Green Lake, all on trail. After setting up camp, you can explore cross-country up the basin to higher lakes or climb a peak. On your third and last day, you can do the cross-country route over Virginia Pass and down Glines Canyon back to Green Lake that is approximately 3 miles, and then catch the trail back to your car. There have been some recent trip reports here on HST that include Glines Canyon and it sounds like there is a use trail almost the whole way.

I'd never considered Hoover, but both you and Wandering Daisy suggesting it has me very intrigued.

We were hoping for more of the huge granite basins of the Sierra further south this time, particularly since we'll be driving up that way. It does sound like heading outside of the JMT corridor may be the best way to avoid crowds, though.

This looks like an excellent itinerary. And thanks so much for the lovely photos — so interesting to see the area at different times, too, and to know that it's well-worth repeated trips! We've been to Virginia Canyon the other direction from McCabe/Roosevelt Lakes and found that area beautiful.

This will be a perfect short on-trail + XC loop from the Bay Area if we don't do it this time, especially last-minute if permits aren't an issue and with easy acclimatization. Thank you so much!!

[papercup]

I agree that something involving Piute Pass is probably the best option for what you are looking for. Piute is easy to get over and Humphreys is huge and has tons of easy cross-country places to visit. Just exploring the basin would be fun, but you could also hop up onto or over the ridges to the north into French Canyon or the south into Darwin Bench. Both are beautiful. Piute is a well-used pass, but Humphreys is just such a big basin that it's likely to feel a bit less crowded than your other options, once you're over the pass at least.

Kearsarge Pass is beautiful, but likely will feel more crowded. This is partially because of the JMT resupply and also because the valley on the other side is more cramped. Kearsarge Lakes are spectacular but popular. Bullfrog Lake is spectacular but off-limits to camping. Charlotte Lake is popular and not that spectacular. So you really have to either pick an unconventional campsite (e.g. perched up above the high trail next to a stream) or hike pretty far to get away from the crowds. That said, if you're willing to tolerate the crowds, it's a beautiful area -- the pass is great, Kearsarge Lakes are great, and Gould, Rixford, and Bago all have things to commend them as mountains to scramble up. I'd really enjoy a two-night trip where I basecamp at Kearsarge Lakes and then dayhike one of the nearby peaks. Bago has spectacular views, and Gould is a pretty quick side trip from the pass.

North Fork Big Pine is also beautiful but probably even more crowded, at least in my experience. When I've been up there I've had to deal with big groups blasting music out of speakers and that kind of thing. I'm sure you can find less busy campsites, but it might take a bit of work. I haven't gone down the South Fork.

One other entry to consider is Pine Creek. The initial hike up is not the best, but once you get to Honeymoon Lake you have a range of nice options available to you: Granite Park, Chalfant Lakes, Royce Lakes, etc. Bear Lakes Basin is incredible but might be too much with only two nights to work with. It is much less crowded than Piute/Kearsarge/Big Pine. Downside is just that you'll spend a decent chunk of time navigating the climb and descent from the trailhead, which is not as nice as the equivalent portion of a trip to Kearsarge, Piute, etc.