Loop in John Muir Wilderness

[nunatak]

Visiting relatives on the East Side in August. Wanting to plan an 80-100 mile loop, if possible, starting from any of the trailheads between Bishop and Bridgeport. Have a dog, so no Nat’l Parks.

Prefer as much ‘high route’ style wanderings as possible. Steep snow and class III passes OK.

Maybe a segment of Roper’s HR is the simplest approach.

Any advice?

[jscott]

Do you want to hike in the JMwilderness, because of your dog…or anywhere between Bishop and Bridgeport, which is a much larger area.

[nunatak]

North of Muir is fine too. Just no NP. We can also hitchhike if there’s a good point to point.

We’ve been around that area before, when we lived in Bishop in the nineties. But due to having young kids back then it was mostly short peak bagging trips, etc.

 

[jscott]

I think that Bridgeport trailheads change from Hoover Wilderness to Yosemite NP as soon as you reach Crown lake etc., which is too bad. I could be wrong. Then it’s all Yosemite until Silver Lakes trailhead, I think. That would connect you to Ritter/Banner area. There’s very nice off trail stuff there. sorry, it’s late and I need to go to bed. I’m sure that others will chime in soon.

[Justin Baker]

I’m curious, how do dogs handle steep snow fields?

[nunatak]

Strong, agile, low center of gravity, built-in Micro Spikes, four points of contact. The only thing sometimes lacking is judgment, but that’s where a leash comes in.

 

The dogs I’ve had were all expert backcountry travelers, but this current one is really phenomenal.

[nunatak]

Maybe my question was too broad. So here goes:

How about this: Coming in at North lake, across Humphrey Basin to the SHR before Bear Lakes Basin, follow the SHR to Mammoth. Hitchhike back. 6 days realistic? Maybe come in at Pine Creek instead. Seems to remember permits being easier to get there.

[nunatak]

True to the title of my thread, a loop in the JMW, we came up with this tentative exploit, focused less on miles and more on complexity:

Pine Creek to Italy Pass, into Bear Lakes, down Seven Gables trail, route find around to Lou Beverly.

Up the drainage and into West Pinnacles, then, down by Pemmican, traverse over to East Pinnacles. At the top above Aweetasal over Stough pass back into the Seven Gables area.

Any one of the many choice to get to the Merriam drainage, then over the saddle between Royce and Merriam peaks.

Thru Royce Pass back to the TH.

I’ve already been to many of these locations, but it’s so long ago I have a hard time remembering on which trip I did what. The Pinnacles area would be totally new.

Any thoughts?

[Matthew / BPL]

I thought you couldn’t take dogs into wilderness areas. Am I mistaken? This would open up some new options for me and my new dog. :)

[Caledonia Heather]

Generally, dogs are only restricted for national park wilderness areas (and other particularly sensitive, heavily used areas). Most national forest wildernesses are fair game.

[Matthew / BPL]

That’s great! I’m just in the early stages of hiking with my dog and looking forward to some backpacking trips with her here in the forests of Arizona this spring. I’m floored by the idea of taking her to the Sierra with me.

Sorry for the derail…

[nunatak]

No problem. Dogs should be more interesting than my vacation plans…

 

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