Sierra South: Backcountry Trips in California's Sierra Nevada

by Elizabeth Wenk, Mike White

Overview

Find the Best Hikes and Backpacking Trips in California’s Sierra Nevada

The rush of trekking through nature, the thrill of experiencing new places, the reward of discovering beautiful sights—all of this awaits in the Sierra Nevada. For more than 50 years, this definitive guidebook has led readers along the top trails between Walker Pass and the southern border of Yosemite National Park. Now, with the revised and updated edition, let hiking experts Elizabeth Wenk and Mike White show you the way.

Sierra South is the award-winning guide that features 80 meticulously selected trips, from new routes to old favorites. Traverse the stunning wilderness areas and national forests of the region, including Kings Canyon National Park, Sequoia National Park, John Muir Wilderness, Ansel Adams Wilderness, and many more. The trips are organized around major highways and roads, so it’s easy to choose your next adventure. Just pick an area, drive there, and go hiking.

Inside you’ll find

• 84 trips that range from quick overnighters to 12-day excursions
• Complete trip details, including day-by-day trail descriptions, GPS waypoints, and elevation data
• 41 trailhead maps that show the routes for every trip
• Beginner tips and trusted advice on camping, fishing, and bear safety
• Information on side trips, geology, natural history, and more

Planning your trip into the southern Sierra backcountry is easier than ever before. For additional hiking and backpacking opportunities, see the companion guide Sierra North. Both titles are recipients of a National Outdoor Book Award.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780899978857
Publisher:	Wilderness Press
Publication date:	02/09/2021
Series:	Sierra Nevada Guides
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	50 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Since childhood, Elizabeth “Lizzy” Wenk has hiked and climbed in the Sierra Nevada and continues the tradition with her husband, Douglas Bock, and daughters, Eleanor and Sophia. As she obtained a PhD in Sierran alpine plant ecology from the University of California, Berkeley, her love of the mountain range morphed into a profession. But writing guidebooks has become her way to share her love and knowledge of the Sierra Nevada with others. Lizzy continues to obsessively explore every bit of the Sierra, spending summers hiking on- and off-trail throughout the range, but she currently lives in Sydney, Australia, during the “off-season.” Other Wilderness Press titles she has authored include John Muir Trail, One Best Hike: Mount Whitney, One Best Hike: Grand Canyon, 50 Best Short Hikes: Yosemite, and Wildflowers of the High Sierra and John Muir Trail, the latter a perfect companion book for all naturalists. Mike White was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. He learned to hike, backpack, and climb in the Cascade Mountains, and he honed his outdoor skills further while obtaining a bachelor’s degree from Seattle Pacific University. After college, Mike and his wife, Robin, relocated to the Nevada desert, where he was drawn to the majesty of the High Sierra. In the early 1990s, Mike began writing about the outdoors, expanding the third edition of Luther Linkhart’s The Trinity Alps for Wilderness Press. His first solo project was Nevada Wilderness Areas and Great Basin National Park. Many more titles for Wilderness followed, including the Snowshoe Trails series; books about Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Lassen National Parks; Backpacking Nevada; Top Trails: Northern California’s Redwood Coast; Best Backpacking Trips in California and Nevada; Best Backpacking Trips in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico; 50 of the Best Strolls, Walks, and Hikes Around Reno; and Afoot&Afield: Reno-Tahoe. Two of his books, Top Trails: Lake Tahoe and 50 Classic Hikes in Nevada, have won national awards. Mike has also contributed to the Wilderness Press classics Sierra South and Sierra North, as well as Backpacking California. In addition to his books, Mike has written for Sunset, Backpacker, and the Reno Gazette-Journal. A community college instructor, Mike is a featured speaker for outdoors groups. He and Robin live in Reno; his two sons, David and Stephen, live in the area as well.

Read an Excerpt

Trip 63: Treasure Lakes

Trip Data: 37.14522°N, 118.57544°W (lowest Treasure Lake); 5.8 miles; 2/1 days

Topos: Mount Thompson

HIGHLIGHTS: Few trips offer so much High Sierra beauty for so little effort. Not only is there a wealth of dramatic scenery, there’s also good camping and fishing. This trip also makes a good day hike.

DAY 1 (Bishop Pass Trailhead at South Lake to lowest Treasure Lake, 2.9 miles): Starting just left of the information sign, the trail crosses an unmapped creeklet and meets the trail climbing from the pack station; turn right here, heading south. The trail descends slightly toward South Lake and then immediately begins a steady climb up the sandy slope rising from the shore with splendid views across the lake. Soon out of sight of the lake, you wind upward, through pocket meadows and conifer stands.

The trail presently reaches a junction where you turn right (southwest) onto the trail signposted for Treasure Lakes, while the main Bishop Pass Trail continues left (southeast; Trips 64–67). Dropping down a sandy slope, the trail crosses a flower-lined tributary creek on a small plank bridge, ascends briefly, then continues a gentle descent through open lodgepole and whitebark pine forest that offers filtered views to Hurd Peak and Thompson Ridge. Continuing its westward traverse, the trail soon crosses the South Fork Bishop Creek on a more substantial bridge, steps across a seasonal tributary, and mounts a minor rib to reach the Treasure Lakes drainage.

You briefly parallel the Treasure Lakes’ outlet stream downward, enjoying the dense shade and carpet of Labrador tea, then cross the creek on a planed two-log bridge. Beyond, the trail quickly begins to switchback up, channeled between broken granite bluffs. Roseroot, mountain pride penstemon, fireweed, and Sierra arnica color the otherwise gray, gravelly slopes as you zigzag diligently upward, surmounting many a big step. Slowly the fractured rock transitions to smoother granite slabs dotted with glacial erratic boulders and you cross the Treasure Lakes outflow on another planed-log bridge. Surrounded by steep granite cirques, the views from here are stupendous. The glaciers readily plucked out chunks of the fractured rock, creating the magnificently steep walls that surround you: Hurd Peak sits to the southeast and Gilbert Peak to the southwest. Passing a clutch of heath-ringed tarns, the trail embarks on another series of switchbacks to reach the lowest Treasure Lake (10,668'; Lake 1). Most campsites near this lake do not abide by Leave No Trace tenets, for they are too close to water or on vegetation; instead, seek out the sites on the knob to the east (for example, 10,693'; 37.14704°N, 118.57567°W; no campfires). This lake, the largest in the Treasure Lakes basin (12 acres), affords fair-to-good fishing for golden-rainbow hybrids. There are additional campsites at fishless Lake 11,159 (Lake 3); see the sidebar on the facing page. The listed mileage ends where you ford the lowest lake’s inlet stream—usually a wade.

DAY 2 (lowest Treasure Lake to Bishop Pass Trailhead at South Lake, 2.9 miles): Retrace your steps.

CROSS-COUNTRY SEMILOOP
Adventurous hikers can make a semiloop of this trip by adding a cross-country segment and returning on the main Bishop Pass Trail. This option adds 2.7 miles and many hours to Day 2. After fording the creek separating Lake 1 and Lake 2, a use trail leads up a bedrock rib and then alongside Lake 2’s inlet stream. The trail becomes fainter and disappears in stretches; aim for Lake 3 (11,159'), where you’ll stumble upon a large collection of splendid sandy campsites among whitebark pines (for example, 11,192'; 37.13843°N, 118.57628°W; no campfires). The use trail proceeds around the western shore of this lake and the next one upstream, then cuts across the outlet of Lake 11,175 (Lake 4) and begins climbing the rocky, sandy slope to Hurd Col (11,731'; 37.13253°N, 118.56867°W).

While a passable use trail exists up the western slope to this saddle, the eastern side of Hurd Col is steeper and rockier and mostly lacks a worn tread; you descend slabs and work your way down narrow gullies between steeper bluffs to reach Margaret Lake. Overall, from the saddle, descend north-northeast about 300 feet and then veer over to a little stream, paralleling it momentarily beside a short waterfall. From there, work almost directly down to Margaret Lake’s northwest side (10,968'; 37.13535°N, 118.55988°W) to find a use trail that leads northeast to the southernmost point of Long Lake. Ford the inlet, go east past campsites, and meet the Bishop Pass Trail; turn left (north) on it. Return to the trailhead, staying on the Bishop Pass Trail at all junctions (Trip 65 for a description in reverse). It is 2.0 miles to the Treasure Lakes–Bishop Pass Trail junction, then an additional 0.8 mile to the trailhead.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Sierra South Locator Map

Going High to Get High

Trip Cross-Reference Table

Introduction

• Updates for the Eighth Edition
• Care and Enjoyment of the Mountains
• Safety and Well Being
• The Bear Problem
• Wilderness and Campfire Permits
• Maps and Profiles
• How to Use This Book

WEST SIDE

State Highway 41 Trips

• Fernandez Trailhead
• Granite Creek Campground Trailhead

State Highway 168 West Side Trips

• Wishon Reservoir—Woodchuck Trailhead
• Courtright Reservoir—Maxson Trailhead
• Courtright Reservoir—Cliff Lake Trailhead

Kaiser Pass Road Trips

• Potter Pass Trailhead
• Deer Creek Trailhead
• Florence Lake Trailhead
• Bear Dam Junction
• Lake Edison Trailhead

State Highway 180 Trips

• Lewis Creek Trailhead
• Roads End—Copper Creek Trailhead
• Roads End—Cedar Grove Roadend Trailhead

Generals Highway Trips

• Big Meadows Trailhead
• Lodgepole Campground Trailhead
• Wolverton Corral Trailhead
• Crescent Meadow Trailhead

State Highway 198 Trips

• Sawtooth-Monarch Trailhead
• Cold Spring Trailhead

State Highway 190 Trip

• Summit National Recreation Trailhead

EAST SIDE

Horse Meadow Road Trip

• Gibbs Lake Trailhead

State Highway 158 Trip

• Rush Creek Trailhead

State Highway 203 Trips

• Agnew Meadows Trailhead
• Devils Postpile Trailhead
• Fish Creek Trailhead
• Duck Pass Trailhead
• Crystal Lake Trailhead

McGee Creek Road Trips

• McGee Creek Roadend Trailhead

Rock Creek Road Trips

• Hilton Lakes Trailhead
• Mosquito Flat Trailhead
• Pine Creek Pack Station Trailhead

State Highway 168 East Side Trips

• North Lake Trailhead
• Sabrina Basin Trailhead
• South Lake Trailhead

Glacier Lodge Road Trips

• Big Pine Creek Trailhead

Sawmill Creek Road Trips

• Sawmill Pass Trailhead

Onion Valley Road Trips

• Kearsarge Pass Trailhead

Whitney Portal Road Trip

• Mt. Whitney Trailhead

Horseshoe Meadow Road Trips

• Cottonwood Lakes Trailhead
• Cottonwood Pass Trailhead

Kennedy Meadows Road Trip

• Blackrock Trailhead

Index

Map Index

About the Authors

Editorial Reviews

Over the years, the guides have gone through a number of editions and have sold over 100,000 copies. The latest editions have been meticulously updated by Elizabeth Wenk and Mike White and include a feature that [original authors Thomas Winnett and Karl Schwenke] could never have imagined back in 1967: GPS trail coordinates. These fine books are certain to continue to guide hikers for generations to come, all thanks to the foresight and pioneering work of Winnett and Schwenke.”
—National Outdoor Book Award reviewers

From the Publisher