Western U.S. trip suggestions

How many days?  There are endless possibilities here. A loop out of Twin Lakes northeast of Yosemite would take you down to Benson Lake and back out, with lots of side trips and variations.

A loop north out of Tuolumne Meadows through the northern part of the park would do the same. Glacier point over Red Park Pass.  Granite Creek over Isberg Pass and back through Post Peak Pass.

And that’s just around Yosemite, and avoiding the crowds on the JMT.

I’m the reverse – spent half my life in CA and then the other half in AK.

There are multiple loops out of Mineral King.  Here’s a link to a map of multiple loops that could be combined.  The road isn’t very clear but comes into the red marker from the west.

https://exploringwild.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Mineral-King-Loops-Route-Overview.jpg

You could wander the many trails east of the mountain in Lassen National Park (which I argue is the ideally sized NP – not to big and not too small) for a number of days.  Maybe not 10-12, but the PCT passes through and you could bounce north and then south a bit on the PCT for a longer trip.

David & Paul, thank you for the suggestions! I’ll look all those up. Really appreciate it.

David, I’m still in Alaska and will be for a while. Just wanted to get into more backpacking down south.

As I am – in Kenai.  I’ve long to traveling back to CA for friends, family, and toxic waste sites, and joining old friends on old jaunts like Half Dome.  Now that I’m retired, the trips (and hikes) are longer.

For me, going south does more than make Vitamin D because I take the supplements during the winter and yet I come back from a 3-day trip to SFBA, GCNP or LA with distinctly more energy than I had during the 6-hour winter days in Dec/Jan.

Cut&Paste from my DM with Herman, since it seemed like helpful info for others:

Lassen could be getting snowy at any point now in October.  Or not.  Weather isn’t what it used to be.  And the park road is closed in winter (be a pity to strand a rental car there).  There used to be a downhill ski resort small – smaller than Badger Pass in Yosemite – just north of the south entrance.

I’ve been in spring, like March(?) to ski along the unplowed park road and up the 10,000-foot peak.  Which is a whole other kind of trip (also true if you proceed past Badger Pass (plowed to there) onto towards Glacier Point in winter.  Unplowed roads through national parks are pretty scenic, remote, but often someone has skied before you, setting tracks (yay!)

My many day hikes were when I was passing through the are for toxic-waste sites or caving in lava tubes plus one backpacking trip to the north shore of Horseshoe Lake on a short 2-nighter with the UC Berkeley Hiking Club.

Remember that a lot of Eastern Lassen burned in a huge fire a few years ago!

A lot of CO mountain towns are now served by the Bustang. Rather than have to loop back to your car, you could do a one-way hike and bus back. Or skip the car entirely and take the bus from downtown Denver. This will open up your options considerably. You can access the CT/CDT this way at Durango, Salida, Frisco, Steamboat and probably a few other towns. RMNP (Estes Park) is now served by the Bustang. Check out the website at https://ridebustang.com/