Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board High Sierra short backpack trip

Here's a puzzle:

I have 3 days to hike in the Sierra. The easiest thing would be starting from the Mammoth area, but i could start from any eastern trailhead really. The trick is that i want to have 3 days of minimal mosquitos. My hike will be in mid-late July. I don't at all mind hiking off-trail, in snow, or high up. Anything through Class 3 is fine. Let's keep it under 40 miles, either as a loop or one-way with a reasonable hitch at the end.

Anyone have recommendations?

Start out @ Agnew Meadow trailhead & head up to Shadow Lake, Lake Ediza & Iceberg Lake. Then backtrack to the junction going to Thousand Island Lake. Be sure to return to Agnew Meadow from Thousand Island Lake via the "High Trail". The scenery from there is spectacular! Get your permit from the ranger station in Mammoth.

I was just going to recommend the same hike. You can do the Thousand Island loop trail, described above. It's 16 miles. I do it as a day hike, but many also do it as a backpack. There are several nice camping spots along the way, flat and close to a water source.

An alternative would be to start at Coldwater campground in Mammoth and go to Virginia Lakes or Purple Lake. Purple lake would be 16 miles RT and VL would be 22 miles RT.

Those sound great, but you really think either of those will have "minimal mosquitos"? (I know i know, the best way to have minimal mosquitos is to stay indoors until September.)

Late July should be absolutely no problem. The mosquitoes are horrific generally between late June and early July in the Sierras. But this year, the bugs have been almost non-existent because of the bitterly cold conditions recently.

Doesn't that just mean the mosquitoes will be horrific around late july? instead of early july?

yes

Come on Josh - don't pull any punches here -
Actually Josh you didn't need to say any more -
The worst "skeets" I have ever encountered were in that exact area, just below lake Ediza -
Just looked at a picture from that trip and picked up on the date stamp = July 19th 2005 -- Had to look for the date but the memory of those skeets - Oh My!

Having been around that area numerous times (see Mt. Ritter section of my web site), the skeeters can be bad but you can avoid the worst of them if you avoid the swampy area south/west of Ediza. There is a good use trail to the right side of Shadow Creek as you head up from Shadow lake, past where the normal trail crosses the creek to go around Ediza. It dumps you in a boulderfield along the east side of Ediza that is a bit of a pain to navigate but avoids the swamp and 'skeeters.

Staying above Ediza to the east isn't too bad and once you're above there, you should be ok.

It's definitely a gorgeous area and worth the time to explore.

actually, you do not need to backtrack. This is off-trail option: Once at Ediza, follow a use trail going up a little while, then veering off trail to the right to Nydiver Lakes. Once there, pop over Whitebark Pass. Normally class 2, but this year with more snow likely problematic on north side as you drop down to the small lake above Garnet Lake. From there, you can either follow the northern shore of Garnet back to the JMT, or go over Garnet Pass to Thousand Island Lake. From there, return on use trails on north shore of TI to meet established trails to Agnew/Mammoth via either JMT, River Trail, or High Trail/PCT. I'd do the latter choice.

The Whitebark and Garnet Pass options are off-trail. I believe at least part of this was the original route of the JMT years ago.

Shepherd Pass into the Upper Kern - then pick Wright Lakes/Bighorn Plateau, Lake south America or milestone Basin - then a long fast downhill trek out.

Mosquitoes are just starting to make their appearance between Anvil Camp on the Shepherd Pass Trail and Wright Creek along the PCT/JMT. No mosquitoes on 7/3, but a few were out by 7/5. There should be swarms of them in that area by the middle of the month.

It's pretty hard to avoid mosquitoes in the Sierra in mid-July. Good luck.

Mosquitoes were horrible at Horseshoe Meadows over the 4th!