Recommend a Backpacking trip with the following...

[Whiterabbit]

Hi Guys!

I'm taking my young son for his first backpacking trip this year and the metric I wanted him to hit to make it survivable, well, he's blowing it out of the water and super motivated. So it's going to be great! Except the super easy trip I had planned is going to be too easy and dull now. I want to ramp it up the smallest bit, but can't find anything quite suitable. I figure you guys know something that is just right.

This is what I'm looking for, in order of preference:

- 3 day, 2 night trip
- 3 miles per day (2-4.5, I think 5 miles is pushing it too hard for day 3. 3 miles a day sustained is doable)
- Loop so we don't double back is preferred
- Within 4-ish hours of the bay area (looking Kings Canyon up to around Carson Iceberg, but can expand if the spot is perfect!)
- Not too much elevation. I was planning a trip with alot of elevation, but it was literally a mile from the car to the backpackers camp so it was doable. Can definitely have elevation, I just don't want it to get too rugged. Little Yosemite Valley would be too much elevation gain (if I could even get a permit)
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- Sierra Nevada preferred over Big Sur or coastal ranges
- Son likes fishing (so do I!), so alpine lake or stream fishing would be so nice, but I'm maybe asking too much.
- Mosquito "light" would be nice. (a less travelled Yosemite trip looked good but I heard mosquitos just swarm relentlessly there). We can deal with mosquitos. When they don't push through the 100% deet.

Any good locations that you guys would recommend I map-scout?

[RifleSupply]

Coyote Flats might be a place you and your son check out!

[flyinbronco]

In & out hike not a loop but it checks almost all you're boxes. There is a great campsite at the east end of the lake with some small waterfalls. Watch out for rattlesnakes in the summer. Great trout fishing too.

[flyinbronco]

Duh forgot the link https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/c...le%20exploring.

[John McCabe]

I love the Eastern Sierras, drive into Bishop then head up to South Lake or Lake Sabrina. Park at one of the lakes and there’s several trailheads there. Plenty of Alpine lakes, different species of trout. Each lake is a little different and it’s fun to look forward to setting up camp and getting a few hours of fishing in each day.

[geedavell]

^^^^^^
Between Bishop or Mammoth, you should be able to find any Milage/ Difficulty rating you could want.

[echo1]

Highland Creek comes out of Spicer Meadow reservoir, off HWY 4, and eventually dumps into the north fork of the Stanislaus. There's a seasonal cable bridge across the Stanislaus, at Wolfsbourogh Boy Scout camp, you can take to Sourdough Camp, about 250 foot gain in 2.5 miles, about 10 miles to Spicer dam. Good fishing, easy hike. Could/should be high water from May this year. Lots of spots to pitch a tent. Pretty low, 4000'? I've been snowed on Memorial weekend before. I know a ton of places, PM phone # if you'd like. Been backpacking for 60 years. Then there's the Blue Hole on the Mokelumne (off 88) and Hell Hole on the Rubicon. Both about 7.5 miles with little gain, also low, 4200', with decent camps halfway in. What month? PAX

[DolphinFan]

Convict lake.
Take the trail up to lake Dorothy.
Fishing, backpacking, not long, best in late April/May before the mosquitoes come out.
Another good hike is behind mammoth in the 10,000 lakes region.
Sleep beneath the minarets, reds meadows, devils post pile.
Have a great time wherever you go.

[RandyD]

Not to diminish the other suggestions, but John McCabe's suggestion of South Lake is a beautiful area with a lot of good hiking terrain. My buddy and I went there in the late 70s and we now take our daughters there.

[Whiterabbit]

wow, it does look good! we can start at South Lake and hike the lollipop around Chocolate Mountain. 2.x miles a day, 1500 ft gain over 3 days, no less than SEVEN alpine lakes, and the only brutal part of the challenge is that the whole shebang is over 9700 feet (not to take lightly!!).

How's the fishing out there? I assume Chocolate lakes are fishless (but gorgeous) puddles, maybe a chance in Ruwau or Long lakes?

Either way looks like a pretty amazing area of the state

[echo1]

That's a lot further than 2 hours. If you're going to change up your original parameters, try the Saddlebag Lake shuttle to Thousand lakes Wilderness at the east side of Tioga Pass on HWY 120. The highest lake you can drive to in Kali. Again, what time of year? The snow is going to be long and deep this season. How much experience do you have on & off trail? PAX

[Whiterabbit]

I said 4 hours, but yeah, I did notice it's far down 395. I thought it was maybe 5+ hours but yikes, I see now that it is over 7 hours! I will have to re-think that. It looks amazing but not sure that trailhead drive is doable.

I hear you about the snow being long and deep this year, so I'm thinking late July. 10-4 on mosquitos.

My experience? >30 milers, mixed on/off trail, many thousands ft gain, @ 10k / 3000m, hiked alps in tevas, scree/boulders no problem, rock scrambling. 20 years in scouting from tiger to Dad. No mountaineering, traditional backpacking (I like double wall tents). I teach leave-no-trace, definitely need a refresher on wilderness first aid (for the cert if nothing else). None of that matters for this trip other than to know I can carry my pack and his together if we have to bail for whatever reason, injury / sprained knee, etc.

Just that my experience is introducing kids to backpacking when they are middle school and up, so the parameters are looser: Half Dome OK, 20 miles OK, Skyline-to-Sea OK, etc. So I don't really know many places that are suitable for even more intro level (And I don't want a weak intro like Henry Coe when we could hit the Sierras. A good ridgeline view will land my son into backpacking hook line and sinker!). Thus asking the CalGuns Collective .

[jeager]

Excellent parameters for introduction!
Mosquito netting and headgear. they will be MURDER this year!
lookup Leave no trace seminars and wilderness first aid courses

[echo1]

I said 4 hours, but yeah, I did notice it's far down 395. I thought it was maybe 5+ hours but yikes, I see now that it is over 7 hours! I will have to re-think that. It looks amazing but not sure that trailhead drive is doable.

I hear you about the snow being long and deep this year, so I'm thinking late July. 10-4 on mosquitos.

My experience? >30 milers, mixed on/off trail, many thousands ft gain, @ 10k / 3000m, hiked alps in tevas, scree/boulders no problem, rock scrambling. 20 years in scouting from tiger to Dad. No mountaineering, traditional backpacking (I like double wall tents). I teach leave-no-trace, definitely need a refresher on wilderness first aid (for the cert if nothing else). None of that matters for this trip other than to know I can carry my pack and his together if we have to bail for whatever reason, injury / sprained knee, etc.

Just that my experience is introducing kids to backpacking when they are middle school and up, so the parameters are looser: Half Dome OK, 20 miles OK, Skyline-to-Sea OK, etc. So I don't really know many places that are suitable for even more intro level (And I don't want a weak intro like Henry Coe when we could hit the Sierras. A good ridgeline view will land my son into backpacking hook line and sinker!). Thus asking the CalGuns Collective .

Good to hear your experience levels. I too am a LNT certified instructor, have put dozens of rookies on the dirt and I can put a mess of people on the trail. Here's some of my packs. Northface Renegade (Dana Designs Terraplane copy), Kelty Coyote 4750, Jansport Redline 45, Mt. Hardware Excodus (X2 one's hiding), Gregeory (another Terraplane style), Osprey Aether 70, stack of day packs, Jansport Sortie 38 (X2), Mountain Smith Crosscountry II, Northface Terra 50. Also have half a dozen Camelbacs in various sizes.



The external frames (crappy old pic), I've added a couple different Jansports since. I also have enough tents to shealter 32 bodies (1s, 2s, 3s, 5, and 8), mess kits for each pack, 4 Coleman 2 burners, a 3 buner and oven, 9 single stoves (MSRs, Coleman Apexs, others). Over a dozen sleeping bags



Most all bought second hand, some were never used or only used once. I pick up all the decent gear I come across. Since '04 I've put about 23 rookies on the trail. Since I've retired, I've wanted to ferry flying machines to Alaska for resale, and outfit packers, but I had a triple bypass lass year and have had to rethink my priorities.

The 3 places I mentioned are in & out, not loops, but ideal for end goal base camps and fish, with clear streams for water, level halfway stops, not steep, cascades & waterfalls. With this year's snowpack the runoff should be spectacular. In the past my youngest son's crew started in February with an overnighter to Angel Island, to get the bugs out of our gear, test new stuff, and work off some holiday fat. Then March or April we'd hit the Blue Hole at the east end of Salt Springs Reservoir, because it's low but surrounded by snowy peaks (and an easy abort if necessary). Then gain elevation monthly from there. That team (up to 16+ bodies) was at it 6 to 8 trips annually from 2004 until 2014, until life started getting in the gang's way. My first crew was from 1960 to about 1974. Now days it's mostly just me, my nephew (from my first crew), his son(s) and we try to knock off small chunks of the PCT or shorter strikes. PAX

[echo1]

BTW, this is the gun rack the internal frames are hanging from. PAX