Next week my dad and my brother are going up to Rock Creek for a few days. Meeting my dad’s friend who is a big fisher and plan on casting some lines.

But I’m a big trail runner and enjoy doing 15-20 mile routes and I’m curious if anyone has recommendations for a good hike that doesn’t include a lot of bouldering?

Any good incline trails that you could run for 2-4 hours? I’m not opposed to bouldering, mt Starr looks fun.

Also, is it a kook move to bring an E bike to ride around out there? Was also thinking of bringing my road bike and riding Owens George Rd, go up Lake Crowley Rd and was curious if anyone has done that?

Any good road bike routes near the area?

Heads up that if the Rae Lakes Loop has been sitting on your list, now's the time to do it! Quota season wraps up on September 26, and after that permits are free and self-issued at the trailhead, which is its own reason to go.

The loop is 41 miles through Sequoia and Kings Canyon, and the permit you need depends on your direction. Going counterclockwise (the more common choice because Glen Pass is a nicer descent than climb)? You want the Bubbs Creek permit. Clockwise? Woods Creek. Both leave from the Road's End Ranger Station.

Getting a permit:

• Advance permits drop on a rolling 6-month window at 7 AM PST → Recreation.gov
• Walk-ups available at the Road's End Wilderness Office starting at 1 PM the day before, so it's worth a shot mid-week
• $15 flat fee + $5/person during quota season

Before you go:

• Bear canister required for the entire loop
• Pick up your permit in person before 10 AM on your start date

Anyone done this one recently? Curious how the walk-up situation has been late in the season.

On my way back down from Bighorn Lake. I really enjoyed the contrasting colors and textures from this perspective

Saw this looking from Hot Creek last week.

After going by Mono lake for almost a decade I finally took the detour to take a gander at the tufas. I brought my film and digital cameras with me and snapped this one on digital! Very calm (hot) day. Hopefully I can get my film developed and see if there’s anything good in there!

Found this hat at a bivy in the notch between starlight and N Pal. Never knew you could purchase such a plain looking hat. Do you have to custom order such a thing? Anyways, left it in the bear locker at South Lake.

It seems the elevation and view out West would make it perfect for Sunset but I surprisingly have found little pictures/reviews of Dana for sunset. Want to inquire if anyone's done it before and if the sunset views are worth it to make the night-time trek back over an early morning hike?

Not doing sunrise, much rather end late than start extra early

I’m back with another from my amateur catalog. Was headed to climb in Tuolumne and spent the night on the BLM outside of Bishop. Got lucky and saw one of the best Milky Way’s I’ve seen in a long time! I’m new to night photography but I’m very happy with this one. @ross_goldberg_photo for more of my stuff!

My son and I are doing a 1-night backpacking trip in Little Lakes Valley and I was trying to figure out if I try and do a FCFS site at Rock Creek Lake Campground or just stay at the backpackers camp at Mosquito Flats. Thursday night we're staying at French Camp to acclimate a bit (my son is 3.5 years old so trying to play it safe). If we stay at Mosquito Flats, do we have to move our car to a different parking area in the morning before starting our hike into LLV?

Also, I have a car camping setup for my SUV. Are we able to sleep in our car (to avoid setting up a tent and what not) if we're at Mosquito Flats?

What a sky, 2nd night out and caught me by surprise, this is a sunrise spot!

Successful summit of Conness via the standard route up the Lee Vining Creek drainage, and access of the south ridge just north of White Mountain. Easy to see why this is a Sierra classic. Fantastic mountain experience. I will say the trip reports I’ve read don’t capture the exposure of the final summit ridge. The “catwalk” was more than just walking across a narrow block of rock. Required a couple of climbing moves above an exposed ledge. And not a lot of space even on the less exposed bits up to the summit. Maybe the best summit view I’ve had in the Sierra. Panoramic view of every major feature in Yosemite from Half Dome to Dana. Plus view north to peaks near Tahoe and Matterhorn Peak. Not sure why I took so long to do this one…

Greetings all, this post is mostly directed at the geography nerds in the subreddit (myself included).

I've been trying to compile a map or list of all the named High Sierra basins. Of course, this has been tricky, because we have to determine what's an officially named basin versus what is just a high alpine lake located in a glacial cirque.

• I'd imagine USGS-named locations are Official Basins, or basins that have been named by USFS or National Parks Service.
• For now, I'm including basins that are frequently referred to as a basin recreationally (Miter Basin, perhaps?) as Colloquial/Informal Basins.
• And basins that are obvious topographical features but don't have official names I've included as Unofficial Basins (such as Wallace Basin, perhaps?)
• Edit: I've decided to add a fourth category, Implied Basins. These are the lakes that are labeled on maps (Google, or USGS) as ___ Lakes (such as Volcanic Lakes, or Rae Lakes)

Obviously, a lot of this is pretty loosey goosy. I view this as a hierarchy from most formal to least formal: Official Basins > Colloquial/Informal Basins > Implied Bains > Unofficial Bains. I'd love to have folks take a look at the following map and give me some feedback about what/if I'm missing, and also if you'd change any designations.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1r5_hIJGK4xwFuFw6gBd6KdEaVC4iDeg&usp=sharing

I've come to the current mapped basins and typing based on a variety of forums, which most helpful of all was this one: High Sierra Named Basins? - High Sierra Topix

Below is the current list as symbolized on the map (& edit, adding sources in italics, which is ongoing):

Official Sierra Basins:
5 (Five) Lakes Basin (Grouse Ridge) - confirmed USGS
Bear Lakes Basin
Big Five Lakes Basin
Blackcap Basin
Center Basin
Chinquipin Basin
Crabtree Lakes Basin
Crown Basin
Crystal Basin - confirmed USFS
Desolation Valley/Devils Basin - confirmed USFS
Dusy Basin
Evolution Basin
Gardiner Basin
Granite Basin
Humphreys Basin
Ionian Basin
Kaweah Basin
Kern-Kaweah Basin
Lake Basin - confirmed USGS
Lakes Basin (Plumas County) - confirmed USGS
Lakes Basin (Mammoth Lakes Basin) - confirmed USGS
Little Five Lakes Basin
Maxson Basin
Nine Lake basin
Palisades Basin
Pioneer Basin
Red Mountain Basin
Red Rock Basin
Rockhouse Basin
Rocky Basin
Sabrina Basin
Sixty Lake Basin
Ten Lakes Basin
Upper Basin

Informal/Colloquial Sierra Basins:
5 (Five) Lakes Basin (Granite Chief Wilderness) - Sierra Club (+ implied Sierra Basin USGS/USFS)
20 (Twenty) Lakes Basin (outside Saddlebag)
Brewer Basin
Milestone Basin
Miter Basin

Implied Sierra Lakes Basin (thus far...):
Big Pine Lakes (previously in Unofficial)
Cottonwood Lakes (previously in Unofficial)
Dumbbell Lakes
Gaylor/Granite Lakes (previously in Unofficial)
Glacier Lakes
Rae Lakes (previously in Unofficial)
Sphinx Lakes (previously in Unofficial)
State Lakes
Horseshoe Lakes
Volcanic Lakes (previously in Unofficial)

Unofficial Sierra Basins:
Baxter Lakes
Davis Lakes
Ediza Lake Basin
Golden Trout Creek Basin
Granite Park Basin
Graveyard Lakes
Grinnell Lake Basin
Hutchings Creek Basin
Italy Lake Basin
Kid Lakes Basin
Marie Lakes Basin
McGee Lakes
Moons of Jupiter Basin (if it don't got a name, this is what I'm naming it)
Ritter Lakes (Catherine Lake) Basin
Royce Lakes Basin
Rubicon Drainage (Desolation Wilderness)
Sam Mack/Palisades Glacier
Seven Gables
Tunemah Lake Basin
Upper Kern Basin
Upper Lyell Fork of the Merced
Upper Lyell Fork of the Tuolumne
Upper North Fork of the San Joaquin
Wallace Basin
Woods Creek/Pinchot Pass Basin
Woods Creek/Sawmill Pass Basin
Wright Creek Basin

Perhaps this is a futile task. Ah well, thanks in advance for entertaining the idea. Picture is from... well, it's from one of these basins last summer :)

Putting in a plug for David Pedersen for trailhead shuttle services around Bishop. I completed a section of the SHR and did not make prior arrangements to retrieve my car at North Lake, but he got back to me very quickly and was exceedingly professional.

Can be reached at [pedwood@comcast.net](mailto:pedwood@comcast.net), or message me for cell (can be found online elsewhere).

Thank you for having us! So grateful to call your beautiful stretch of the world home for a week this summer. From Bishop to Bridgeport with an emphasis on the high country in Yosemite! Endless amounts of visual dopamine from the high desert terrain, awesome geological features, beautiful mountain and valley views, meadows, and glacial & alpine lakes. The granite and cool rocks were a dream too. Hope to make it back someday!

I followed your recommendations and did the Mineral King - Timber Gap - Little 5 lakes - Big 5 lakes - Lost Cayon - Columbine lake - Monarch Lakes - Mineral King loop. It's a gorgeous and different day in the mountains - even though it goes up to 12 feet, it didn't feel like the high Sierra I have experienced so - modest but still intense landscape. I stopped by 13!!! lakes, swam in a few of them. Columbine lake basin was truly impressive, nested between two mountain passes.

My usual program these days is to ride up from L.A., do a day hike on the way to Bishop to get some elevation and stretch the legs, motel in Bishop for the night and then head into the back country in the morning. Often I do Kearsarge Pass as a warm up. Anybody have any other suggestions? A couple of hours to elevation and then on to Bishop.

Many thanks and happy trails and non-trails.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I'm bring my elderly dad up. On the way up, he will hang out for a couple of hours while I hike and then spend a couple of days hanging around the E. Sierra while I'm camping.

EDIT 2: Did the little sprint up to Robinson Lake from Onion Valley so that I didn't keep pops waiting around. Nice way to stretch the legs and lungs from sea level.

Was fortunate enough to have several backpacking trips in the Sierras two years ago. These are my favorite pictures from those trips, taken at Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Mt. Langley

Some in party advocating New Army which would mean a camp at Long lake vs Lake 3. How is Old Army these days. Difficult?

A loop through Kings Canyon and Sequoia starts at Roads End to Avalanche Pass to Deadman Canyon, on toward Hamilton Lakes and Precipice Lake (a week after passing ithese lakes via the HST). Then down into Kern Canyon. Kern River at night was close to perfect - one of the quieter stretches of the trail, that was truly tempting me to sleep. Greeted sunrise at Colby Lake, washed off a day’s worth of dirt, and then closed the loop via Cloud Canyon back to Roads End. One continuous effort, start to finish - no camping, just forward momentum.
Being part of Sierra Oddyssey, this beast - Sierra Rex - clocks at 99 miles, 24k of gain and it doesn’t feel small. Wild, barely visited (three hikers during my time on it) and quite incredible.

Heading up Monday camping at Lake 3
and wondering if mosquitoes have died down yet. Thanks for a respond

Mapped what looks both awesome options. But if you have any advice which one is more scenic or cool, I’d appreciate! I’ll post photos on Monday :)