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:	9780899978840
Publisher:	Wilderness Press
Publication date:	02/09/2021
Series:	Sierra Nevada Guides
Edition description:	9th Revised ed.
Pages:	472
Sales rank:	659,275
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

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 Universityof 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 v

Sierra South Locator Map vi

Going High to Get High xii

Trip Cross-Reference Table xiv-xv

Introduction 1

Updates for the 9th Edition 1

Care and Enjoyment of the Mountains 2

Safety and Well-Being 6

Maps and Profiles 11

How to Use This Book 12

West Side 21

CA 168 West Side to Kaiser Pass Road Trips 22

Deer Creek Trailhead (Huntington Lake) 23

1 Kaiser Loop Trail 23

Potter Pass Trailhead (Huntington Lake) 29

2 George Lake 29

Mono Creek Trailhead (at Lake Thomas A. Edison) 34

3 Arch Rock and Margaret Lakes 35

4 Graveyard Lakes 41

Bear Diversion Trailhead 44

5 Bear Lakes Basin 45

6 Medley Lake 55

7 Bear Creek to Florence Lake 59

Florence Lake Trailhead 63

8 Martha Lake 64

9 Red Mountain Basin 69

CA 168 West Side to Dinkey Creek Road Trips 72

Cliff Lake Trailhead (Courtright Reservoir, Dinkey Lakes) 73

10 Cliff Lake 73

11 Dinkey Lakes 77

Maxson Trailhead (Courtright Reservoir) 82

12 Post Corral Meadows 82

13 Bench Valley Lakes 86

14 Red Mountain Basin 89

Woodchuck Trailhead (Wishon Reservoir) 91

15 Woodchuck Lake 91

16 Blackcap Basin 96

17 Crown Lake 99

CA 180 Trips 104

Lewis Creek Trailhead 105

18 Volcanic Lakes 105

Copper Creek Trailhead (at Roads End) 114

19 Granite Lake 114

20 Middle Fork-South Fork Kings River Loop 119

Cedar Grove Roadend Trailhead 131

21 Lake Reflection 131

22 Rae Lakes 135

CA 198 (Generals Highway) Trips 140

Big Meadows Trailhead 141

23 Jennie Lakes 141

Twin Lakes Trailhead (Lodgepole Campground) 144

24 Ranger Lake 144

25 Deadman and Cloud Canyons 149

Wolverton Corral Trailhead 163

26 Alta Meadow 163

Crescent Meadow Trailhead 166

27 High Sierra Trait 166

CA 198 to Mineral King Road Trips 177

Mineral King Roadend Trailheads (Timber Gap and Franklin Pass) 178

28 Pinto Lake 178

29 Nine Lake Basin 182

30 Big and Little Five Lakes 184

Tar Gap Trailhead (in Cold Spring Campground) 189

31 Hockett Lakes 189

CA 190 and Sherman Pass Road Trips 193

Summit Trailhead 194

32 Maggie Lakes 195

Blackrock Trailhead 198

33 Redrock Meadows and Jordan Hot Springs 198

East Side 205

Horse Meadow Road Trip 206

Gibbs Lake Trailhead 207

34 Gibbs Lake 208

CA 158 Trip 210

Rush Creek Trailhead 211

35 Gem, Waugh, and Thousand island Lakes Loop 211

CA 203 to Minaret Summit Road Trips 217

Agnew Meadows Trailheads 218

36 Thousand Island Lake via the High Trail and JMT 220

37 Ediza Lake 225

Devils Postpile Trailhead 228

38 Minaret Lake 229

39 King Creek Lakes 232

Fish Creek Trailhead 235

40 Silver Divide Lakes 238

CA 203 to Lake Mary Road Trips 246

Red Cones Trailhead 247

Deer Lakes Trailhead 247

41 Deer Lakes 249

Duck Pass Trailhead 251

42 Upper Crater Meadow 251

43 Iva Bell Hot Springs 257

44 Ram Lake and Lake Virginia 263

McGee Creek Road Trips 266

McGee Creek Trailhead 267

45 Steelhead Lake 267

46 Pioneer Basin 271

47 Big McGee Lake 276

48 Rock Creek via the Silver Divide 278

Rock Creek Road Trips 284

Hilton Lakes Trailhead 285

49 Hilton Creek Lakes 285

Mosquito Flat Trailhead 289

50 Little Lakes Valley 292

51 Mono Creek 293

52 Pioneer Basin 298

Pine Creek Road Trips 301

Pine Creek Trailhead 302

53 Upper Pine Lake 302

54 Royce Lakes 305

55 L Lake 308

CA 168 East Side Trips 311

North Lake Trailhead 312

56 Humphreys Basin 314

57 Lamarck Lakes 316

58 Darwin Lakes 318

59 Evolution Basin via Lamarck Col 320

Sabrina Lake Trailhead 324

60 Tyee Lakes 324

61 Midnight Lake 328

62 Baboon Lakes 330

Tyee Lakes Trailhead 333

Bishop Pass Trailhead (at South Lake) 333

63 Treasure Lakes 337

64 Chocolate Lakes 339

65 Dusy Basin 341

66 Palisade Basin 344

67 South Lake to North Lake 350

Glacier Lodge Road Trips 359

Big Pine Creek Trailhead 360

68 Big Pine Lakes 360

69 Brainerd Lake 366

Taboose Creek Road Trip 369

Taboose Pass Trailhead 370

70 Bench Lake and Woods Lake Basin 370

Division Creek Road Trip 379

Sawmill Pass Trailhead 381

71 Sawmill Lake 381

Onion Valley Road Trips 384

Kearsarge Pass Trailhead 385

72 Flower Lake 385

73 Charlotte, Rae, and Kearsarge Lakes 388

74 Sixty Lake Basin 392

Symmes Creek (Shepherd Pass) Trailhead 397

Whitney Portal Road Trip 398

Mount Whitney Trailhead 399

75 Mount Whitney Summit 400

Horseshoe Meadows Road Trips 406

Cottonwood Lakes Trailhead 407

76 Cottonwood and South Fork Lakes 407

77 Upper Rock Creek 412

Cottonwood Pass Trailhead 417

78 Horseshoe Meadow to Mount Whitney 420

79 Milestone Basin and the Upper Kern 427

80 Rocky Basin Lakes 435

Useful Books 438

Index 441

About the Authors 456

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