Mokelumne Wilderness Early July 2012

[chris Nelson]

Hey All

I'm planning on doing a 3 day 2 night trip in the Mokelumne Wilderness. We are looking to do a 6-8 mile/day loop, with lakes for fishing. Not looking to do anything super strenuous but I don't mind a little challenge.

Any advice on trail heads and/or routs?

thanks!

[Paul Wagner]

There are not a lot of great loops in that area. We've done a ton of hiking there, but most day trips and overnights. But the time you get ten miles in, you are already pretty close to the other side, and seeing day trippers from that side.

You might look at coming in via the Blue Lakes trail head, and then hiking into Grouse lake. That is a wonderful hike. But that's an in-and-out

And then you could always go in to 4th of July Lake for the first night, and then down into Summit Creek Canyon…and back out along the ridge. That's a LOT of climbing up and down, though.

Maybe the best option would be out of Lake Alpine—to Wheeler lake the first night, the up over the ridge into Underwood Valley, and then back to Alpine. Make sure you take the time to climb out on peak 9115 on the way to Wheeler Lake, which has stunning views.

But all of this seems less than ideal…for my money, I'd look at Carson-Iceberg or Emigrant if I wanted a better loop.

We've got photos and trips logs of a lot of this area on our website:

backpackthesierra.com

[chris Nelson]

Thanks Paul

I just did a great 4 day loop in Emigrant, taking off from Crabtree, so looking to do something different. Maybe I will check out Carson-Iceberg. Any 3 day favorite loops you have that are not crazy strenuous?

Funny thing that you replied to my post. My girlfriends and I often refer people to your website and when on the trail we tell my friends things like "P likes this" or "M does it like this"…..

Funny stuff

[Paul Wagner]

Thanks for the kind words, Chris!

And you are right–M and P often do things differently. Just goes to show that there is more than one way to have fun in the mountains.

So for Carson Iceberg, you could go up Disaster or Arnot Creek, and then down Highland Creek as far as you want…and then take one of the connecting trails back to Clark Fork trailhead.

Or we did very nice hike this winter to BOulder Lake, then you could go up to the Pacific Crest Trail, and then back down through Disaster Creek.

There's a lot of nice territory in that area!

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