Golden Trout Wilderness in early season?

[Matthew / BPL]

A friend game me some Tom Harrison maps they are not using any more and one of them is for the Golden Trout Wilderness. I noticed this wilderness is at lower elevation and further south than Seki/Inyo and I’m wondering if this might be a good spot for early season warmup trips before the big melt in the Sierra proper… a couple Qs:

1. Any recommendations for trails/routes/trailheads/destinations? Bonus points for stuff accessed from the east side (I drive in from AZ).
2. I’m guessing that entering in late May or early June when school gets out is reasonable except in really heavy snow years. Is my assumption incorrect?
3. Is the Golden Trout Wilderness interesting/beautiful?

Thanks in advance for any advice or thoughts!

[Erica R]

I can’t help much, but I do want to subscribe to this thread. In mid May I like Utah, in June I like the Trinity Alps, I don’t get to the Sierra until later in July.

I wouldn’t call Cottonwood Pass interesting or beautiful, but I hear it does lead to some great places. The trailhead is extremely high.

 

 

[Don A.]

The “lower elevation” areas of Golden Trout are primarily in the south and southwest areas. All of it is interesting and beautiful but the best scenery would be further north in my opinion. Then again my experience is limited to the PCT and many shorter trips in the Cottonwood Lakes area.  Further north=higher elevations=more snow.

Making assumptions about snow in the Sierra is no more than wishful thinking.  Best to wait to see how things play out weather wise before locking in a date.  When the roads open up you’ll know you can at least get to the trailhead, and always be open to plan changes.

A great source of info for the Sierra:  http://www.highsierratopix.com/

 

[Miner]

Check out this website for any information on open roads. https://goldentroutwilderness.wordpress.com/

I usually do at least one hike there each year (sometimes more) as the trailheads are closer to SoCal.  By memorial weekend in May, you often can get access to some of the nicer parts (if it wasn’t a big snow year) and hike often into sometime in November.  But many of the roads for the remote trailheads close for the season once the snow starts to fly in quantity.

There are a lot of nice meadows, a few high peaks, deep canyons, some hotsprings, but note that some of the trails are in poor condition.  Most are still hikeable, but I do recommend carrying some sort of GPS device with the trails loaded.  Cattle grazing is allowed in parts so the cows also complicate things by making their own trails that seem more distinct then the real ones.

Permits are easy to get.  If you hike in from Blackrock, the permits are self issue.  Coming in from the west, I’ve had permits left outside of the ranger station in Springville and picked them up at midnight as I drove through.  Don’t recommend getting one from Lone Pine Ranger Station unless it isn’t a weekend.  There is usually a big line and they often use lotteries to pick the order instead of first come first serve even though the trails into Golden Trout don’t have quotas; at least if you aren’t planning on hiking into Sequoia National Park the first day.

Here are some photos of a trip I did over July 4th weekend in 2017 that was a big loop through the eastern half (got the route from a recommended trip from the website I noted at the top).  A nearby fire started just before I arrived and you can see the smoke in some of the photos.  I have plenty of other photos from other trips in other parts, just don’t have them uploaded anywhere at the moment.

[Author]

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