Trails and campgrounds in High Sierra

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Permalink Reply by Lance on December 28, 2010 at 6:06pm

My wife and I are looking to do some of the same once the snow clears.  Would also love to hear everyones suggestions.  If you do not already have them check out the adlerpublishing.com massey books.  They have some great offroad trail books and they discuss ones that have campgrounds near them.  If you would like to borrow mine for a few weeks let me know, I live in RWC and have the Backcountry Adventure Nor cal, Northern Sierra Trail series, Central mountains trail series.  The pictures in the books will make you want to get out there even more.

 

http://www.adlerpublishing.com/products.aspx?catID=1

http://www.adlerpublishing.com/products.aspx?catID=2

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Permalink Reply by potatomutato on December 28, 2010 at 6:46pm

it depends on what part of the Eastern Sierra you want to visit and how long you have. i would highly recommend more than three days up there, but if you were limited in time off i'd concentrate on one area. also, keep in mind that most of the passes over the Sierra probably won't be open until June given the snowfall so far. it would probably be easier if you provided some preferences, such as:

1) Camping or Lodging: if camping, do you prefer developed campgrounds or dispersed camping.
2) Trail type: there really isn't anything too difficult in the High Sierra, but everything is pretty remote. that being said, do you prefer getting up into the mountains or staying on flat land.

along with Lance's suggestions, i recommend dropping into the ranger station at Mammoth Lakes. they have a decent trail map of the surrounding area. a lot of it is exploration also...that's the fun part.

i've got quite a few photos and there are plenty of others. you can probably do a search on "high sierra" and it'll pull some image results for you. not sure if everyone was good at tagging their photos/albums though.

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Permalink Reply by Back in Black (FJ4 Tahoe) on December 29, 2010 at 10:31pm

Christine and I would be down for a Spring trip...

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Permalink Reply by TRDMedic on December 30, 2010 at 1:47am

I found a pretty cool campsite this past summer.  Its at Bear Valley campground.  Didn't get a chance to explore for any trails.

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Permalink Reply by CV Kurt on December 30, 2010 at 6:37am

Kind of depends on what you mean by "Spring" and "High Sierra".   Ebbetts (CA 4), Sonora (CA 108), and Tioga (CA 120) passes generally open just before for Memorial Day weekend.  Side roads, such as Highland Lake Road (near top of Ebbetts Pass), stay closed until July!   But there's lots of lower stuff that opens earlier.  You just have to use Carson Pass (CA 88), or something more north, to get over to the east side.

 

There's lots to explore over on the east side.  Off hand, I would recommend maybe base camping in the Twin Lakes/Bridgeport area, allowing side trips to Bodie mining district, the Sweetwater range to the north, and Mono Lake to the south.

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