Wishon Reservoir to Horseshoe Meadow

[Andy F]

I’m planning a trip through the southern Sierras for late July-early August along the following route:

Woodchuck Trailhead near Wishon Reservoir
Chuck Pass
Crown Valley
Tehipite Canyon
Simpson Meadow
Granite Pass
Road’s End (resupply and possible spot to join or leave trip)
Avalanche Pass
Elizabeth Pass
Kaweah Gap
Chagoopa Plateau
Kern Canyon Ranger Station
Horseshoe Meadow

I have a few questions:

1.  Is the road from Shaver Lake paved all the way to the Woodchuck Trailhead, or at least to Wishon Dam? I’ll probably need to persuade a car or shuttle service to take us from Fresno to the trailhead, and that’ll be easier if the road is paved.

2.  Can anyone provide a recent report on the trail from Crown Valley to Simpson Meadow? My understanding is that the trail down into the canyon is very steep and very unmaintained, but I saw a September 2014 post from Mark Munger that seemed to indicate that a ranger had done some work on the trail.  From Tehipite up the river to Simpson Meadow I’ve heard that the trail may be in decent shape.  I’m wondering if anyone has been on this stretch of trail recently and could provide an update on its condition.

3.  Are there any decent campsites on the Avalanche Pass trail between the junction with the Bubbs Creek trail and Avalanche Pass – maybe near the Sphinx Creek crossing where the trail starts heading to the west? If one of my hiking buddies joins this trip at Road’s End, I’d like the option of giving them a chance to acclimate by breaking the climb out of the Bubbs Creek canyon into two days.

4.  One option for finishing the trip would be the trail through Little Whitney Meadow, Big Whitney Meadow and over Cottonwood Pass. Another option would be a little to the south, along Golden Trout Creek and the South Fork Kern River, through Bullfrog Meadow, and over Trail Pass or Mulkey Pass.  Any reason to choose one route rather than the other?

5.  Is it fairly easy to hitch from Horseshoe Meadow to Lone Pine? I don’t have a sense of whether the Horseshoe Meadow area gets the same amount of traffic as, say, Onion Valley.

Any help with these questions or other useful info would be appreciated – thanks.

[Paul McLaughlin]

I can’t answer all of these I don’t think, but:

Road is paved to Wishon Dam. Might be gravel across the dam, I can’t remember.

I have never hitchhiked out of Horseshoe meadow, but I have been up there, and the parking lot is pretty good sized plus there is a pack station and campground, and every single vehicle coming out is going to lone pine, so I doubt that a backpacker with a big smile would have to wait too long. I’d aim to be at the trailhead by early afternoon so you have all the outbound traffic to work with.

Looks like a great trip!

[Pedestrian]

On hisierratopix there is a trip report written about a  father and son who ended up having to be rescued from Tehipite after tumbling down the trail from Crown Valley down a ways – they were lucky to make it out without major injuries! Those trails are not maintained very well at all. I’d read that to get a sense of state of that trail.

Besides Tehipite is known to be frequented by problem bears.

The trail up from Simpson Meadows towards Granite Pass is fine though some of the creeks run dry in late season. It can be long, hot and dry climb up!

[Andy F]

Thanks, Paul and Pedestrian.  Appreciate the info on travel to and from the trailheads.  .

I read Jimr’s posts on High Sierra Topix – sounds like the father handled the situation about as well as anyone could.

I’d heard about the rattlesnakes in the Tehipite area, but not the bears, so good to know.

[Author]

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