Sierra’s at end of april

Bear Lake might be. You can always call the ranger station there. If Crabtree Cabin trailhead is open, you shouldn't have much trouble there. And much of Emigrant is at 8,000 feet or lower…and spectacular. If you can get across the creeks, there are some wonderful hikes out of Crabtree. We have a bunch of them, with photos, on our website: backpackthesierra.

Other options might include just the other side of the highway from Emigrant, in the Carson Iceberg Wilderness. Clarks Fork or Sword Lake are usually open earlier as well.

If you look a little farther north of there, around Highway 88, you find Carson Pass. To the south of the highway, there is the Mokelumne Wilderness, Round Top, Lake Winnemucca, Fourth of July Lake, and all that. I was snowcamping in there just this past weekend. It is almost too late for XC skiing, but too early for backpacking on foot, so we were on snowshoes. Around 9000 feet elevation, we saw a maximum of about four feet of snow depth. It wasn't getting terribly cold at night, so that means that the big melt will be happening now.

–B.G.–

Howdy,

I was thinking little yosemite valley should be accessible but I'm not sure what there is to do around that area besides half dome or clouds rest at this time of year.

If you've not done the classic dayhikes at LYV, I can recommend looking into Liberty Cap and Mt Broderick. Easy summits. The Diving Board is a great option as well. You'll never forget it. Just taking the climbers trail to the base of Snake Dike will be an adventure, if you're a newby. The gully ascent between LC and Mt. B may be too wet, but it may be an option this year.

Sorry if I seem vague, these are off trail hikes, and i'm not being specific. If this is for you, you can read a map and know the risks.

stephan

I just got back from a Whitney trip. As far as snowshoes, early in the morning we were able to walk on the snow. By afternoon I had the worst snow conditions of my hiking career and I have hundreds of snow miles under my shoes. It was so bad that I was stuck in the snow several times and had to dig myself out with an ice axe. So, bottom line I would recommend snowshoes. You could get without them but it could seriously slow forward progress.

Bear Lake from Crabtree – probably the road to crabtree won't be open yet. Nor to Gianelli. But 108 is open to Kennedy Meadows already, and you can most likely get up to the far end of Relief Reservoir or maybe to Kennedy Lake without hitting serious snow, and a good chance you could get to around Sheep Camp on the trail out to Brown Bear Pass without serious snow – you'll be sloshing in runoff on the trail and slogging through patches for sure, but I would doubt it will be solid snow by then.
Some decent views as you go around Relief, but it's views from the bottom and not from the top.

There is a now sensor near Ostrander Lake – you can see it here:

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/queryF?s=STR

"snow WC" means snow water content. Depth will be roughly double to triple that at this time of year. "Snow DP" is supposed to be depth but clearly has some issue at the moment.

Pretty forested route up to Ostrander so snow will linger .

Little Yosemite valley via the Panaorama trail from Glacier point might be pretty nice.

Thank guys for the great suggestions and insights.

Sounds like LYV is still my best option for getting high without having to deal with a lot of snow.

@Stephan Liberty cap and the diving board sounds like a great side trip and I think depending on how much snow is up there, I'll take a shot at it.

What are the typical day hikes out of that area besides half dome and clouds rest? Merced lake looks a little too far for a day hike and doesn't look that interesting from the pictures I've seen. Are there other day hikes in the area I shouldn't miss out on?

@Paul Having a link to the sensor is super useful. Does it mean that when "Snow WC" reaches 0 there is no more snow at the sensor?

In theory yes. Just keep in mind that it's not that precise a system. But if it says zero it will be close to it anyway. If you get close to the end of the month there may beamish measurements logged in which are more reliable