Re: What is/are the most remote/inaccessible areas of the Sierra

Just kicking around some ideas for a trip for next year, and I've often heard the "Gorge of Despair" around Tehipite Dome and the Ionian Basin's "Enchanted Gorge" fill the bill nicely, esp the Enchanted Gorge for potential photographic opportunities.

One condition that I've can't get around, however, is a maximum of about 10 days off, it total, due to work/driving considerations.

Anyone else have any ideas?

Really depends on your definition of "most remote". Hardest to get to? Furthest from a road? Least visited?

Gorge of Despair is primarily a rock climbing destination, not sure it'd be the most scenic from a photographic perspective.

Tunemah Lake often gets billed as the most remote lake in the Sierra. Hardly anybody goes to Kaweah Basin. Lake 10565 west of Observation Peak might be the hardest to get to. Martha Lake is way out in the middle of the Sierra, but there were six people from three different groups there when I walked through last weekend. Hardly anybody goes to Stubblefield Canyon, but it's hard to argue that is the most remote since it's so close to so many trails.

Where can't you get to in two good days of hiking?
It's already been shown you can dayhike all the Peaks...

Not sure what tans goal is really. It's so easy to get away from ppl...

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AndrewF
Really depends on your definition of "most remote". Hardest to get to? Furthest from a road? Least visited?

Gorge of Despair is primarily a rock climbing destination, not sure it'd be the most scenic from a photographic perspective.

Tunemah Lake often gets billed as the most remote lake in the Sierra. Hardly anybody goes to Kaweah Basin. Lake 10565 west of Observation Peak might be the hardest to get to. Martha Lake is way out in the middle of the Sierra, but there were six people from three different groups there when I walked through last weekend. Hardly anybody goes to Stubblefield Canyon, but it's hard to argue that is the most remote since it's so close to so many trails.

Mmmm..... I saw Tunemah Lake, googled it, and found some interesting stuff.

http://themountainair.com/chris-trail-junkie-scepter-lakecrown-basintunemah-lake-basinblue-canyon/

Same with Kaweah basin.

Mostly what I'm looking for is less people/more photogenic drama.

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tanngrisnir3
Mostly what I'm looking for is less people/more photogenic drama.

I think that's what most people are really asking when they ask this question. It's also a much easier question to answer. Less people = pick a spot that isn't on a trail and you won't see anyone at all for days. More photogenic usually = further east towards the crest. Any basin with a big lake in the bottom, some trees visible in Google Earth, and a few big named peaks surrounding it is guaranteed to please. For bonus points pick a basin that is west-facing and you'll get some great alpenglow in the evening. I'd be more specific in terms of places, but then I'd have to copy & paste my entire list of trip ideas in here and it'd be pages and pages long.

Sum dome sum wear:

http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,44746,44746#msg-44746

I can count on flippers how many peeps usually see on a trip...

Old Farty and I actually had Moose Lake all to ourselves last weekend. And after being
told under NO CIRCUMSTANCES that we were allowed to camp ANYWHERE ELSE
on the two nights out there...

Go figure

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chick-on
Old Farty and I actually had Moose Lake all to ourselves last weekend. And after being
told under NO CIRCUMSTANCES that we were allowed to camp ANYWHERE ELSE
on the two nights out there...

Perhaps you were being quarantined?

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AndrewF

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tanngrisnir3
Mostly what I'm looking for is less people/more photogenic drama.

I think that's what most people are really asking when they ask this question. It's also a much easier question to answer. Less people = pick a spot that isn't on a trail and you won't see anyone at all for days. More photogenic usually = further east towards the crest. Any basin with a big lake in the bottom, some trees visible in Google Earth, and a few big named peaks surrounding it is guaranteed to please. For bonus points pick a basin that is west-facing and you'll get some great alpenglow in the evening. I'd be more specific in terms of places, but then I'd have to copy & paste my entire list of trip ideas in here and it'd be pages and pages long.

Ding! May have stumbled upon another winner, but getting up Taboose Pass sucks. The Lake Basin, which the JMT apparently used to go through, and now doesn't.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=68027



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/2014 10:31AM by tanngrisnir3.

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tanngrisnir3

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AndrewF

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tanngrisnir3
Mostly what I'm looking for is less people/more photogenic drama.

I think that's what most people are really asking when they ask this question. It's also a much easier question to answer. Less people = pick a spot that isn't on a trail and you won't see anyone at all for days. More photogenic usually = further east towards the crest. Any basin with a big lake in the bottom, some trees visible in Google Earth, and a few big named peaks surrounding it is guaranteed to please. For bonus points pick a basin that is west-facing and you'll get some great alpenglow in the evening. I'd be more specific in terms of places, but then I'd have to copy & paste my entire list of trip ideas in here and it'd be pages and pages long.

Ding! May have stumbled upon another winner, but getting up Taboose Pass sucks. The Lake Basin, which the JMT apparently used to go through, and now doesn't.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=68027

Lake Basin ... the SHR goes thru there... honestly... it's beautiful... but ... I was ... well... not completely overwhealmed...
I guess when people oooo and ahh... over something... then it had better be knock dead gorgeous.
I woudln't expect to not see anyone in there...

Some Perret and I went thru there... Good times

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chick-on

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tanngrisnir3

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AndrewF

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tanngrisnir3
Mostly what I'm looking for is less people/more photogenic drama.

I think that's what most people are really asking when they ask this question. It's also a much easier question to answer. Less people = pick a spot that isn't on a trail and you won't see anyone at all for days. More photogenic usually = further east towards the crest. Any basin with a big lake in the bottom, some trees visible in Google Earth, and a few big named peaks surrounding it is guaranteed to please. For bonus points pick a basin that is west-facing and you'll get some great alpenglow in the evening. I'd be more specific in terms of places, but then I'd have to copy & paste my entire list of trip ideas in here and it'd be pages and pages long.

Ding! May have stumbled upon another winner, but getting up Taboose Pass sucks. The Lake Basin, which the JMT apparently used to go through, and now doesn't.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=68027

Lake Basin ... the SHR goes thru there... honestly... it's beautiful... but ... I was ... well... not completely overwhealmed...
I guess when people oooo and ahh... over something... then it had better be knock dead gorgeous.
I woudln't expect to not see anyone in there...

Some Perret and I went thru there... Good times

The more I topo-OD and just look around various remote looking areas, the tougher it gets to choose.

These guys went through Lake Basin but also made it miiiiiiiles away to Glacier Lake (if it's the same Glacier Lake I'm thinking of). SO MUCH TO SEE!

http://pallant.smugmug.com/Sierra-Mountains/Lake-Basin-Kings-Canyon/

Good stuff.

Yeah, I was gonna mention that... there's just too many things to choose from...

The Upper Kern Basin west of Lake South America is pretty spectacular too... been meaning to get back there.
Ran into one person at a lower lake ... and they said they have been going there for many years...
and it's very rare to run into anyone...

Good luck deciding.

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chick-on
Good stuff.

Yeah, I was gonna mention that... there's just too many things to choose from...

The Upper Kern Basin west of Lake South America is pretty spectacular too... been meaning to get back there.
Ran into one person at a lower lake ... and they said they have been going there for many years...
and it's very rare to run into anyone...

Good luck deciding.

That trail runner kid whose blog I stumbled upon has been there, with pics to show.

http://pantilat.wordpress.com/tag/millys-foot-pass/

Thing is, he did it from Road's End, out to Mt. Stanford and back in what sounds like a day. That's 11,000 ft of elevation gain and 38 miles.

Oi.

Kewl. I came down Harrison after visiting Whitney.

And I'm waiting fur yur faux toes....

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chick-on
Kewl. I came down Harrison after visiting Whitney.

And I'm waiting fur yur faux toes....

Ha! We have to decide where to go first!

Although obscure basins and divides are always my preference, and I love class 2 & 3 off trail, my wife is not so fond of those.

Just had a friend come back from Pioneer Basin and he loved it.

Monarch Crest w/the Kennedy and Volcanic Lakes looks amazing.

Once I started looking seriously at a lot of places I've heard about my whole life and never been to, I started realizing just how damned big the Sierra are.

Whatever we decide, pics in any case!

Leor is a beast. He's going for the supported JMT speed record this weekend.

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AndrewF
He's going for the supported JMT speed record this weekend.

Never saw the point in such things.

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chick-on
Lake Basin ... the SHR goes thru there... honestly... it's beautiful... but ... I was ... well... not completely overwhealmed...
I guess when people oooo and ahh... over something... then it had better be knock dead gorgeous.

Funny... I thought Lake Basin was one of the nicer parts of the SHR. My wife always gives me trouble about this... we get somewhere and I either comment "this is my favorite place ever" or "it's not as good as I expected"... she smacks me and says ... they are all beautiful, just depends on your expectations. I think she's right, if you discover a place for yourself that nobody has ever heard of and surmise that it's awesome and you make it out there, you're likely to think it's great... if you've heard a lot about it online, been told how great it is, seen lots of pictures and then get there ... maybe not so much. I've been (and I'm sure you too) to the same place multiple times and had very different interpretations each time.

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AndrewF
she smacks me and says ... they are all beautiful, just depends on your expectations. I think she's right,

I think I like your wife!

Expectations, mood, weather, company... Probably many things affect each of us as we experience places, new and old.

I know I've changed my opinion of various places over years' of visits... I have preferences, but my tastes have also been widening..

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tanngrisnir3
getting up Taboose Pass sucks.

What about Sawmill?

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eeek

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tanngrisnir3
getting up Taboose Pass sucks.

What about Sawmill?

Lulz. Pretty much any pass that requires on start from the OV floor (or thereabouts) is going to suck. Some of them so little used from what I hear (like Baxter) that it's hard to find the trail.

Great thing about the east side, though, is that HSM, Onion Valley, North & South Lakes and Sabrina all offer getting out on the trail with all that initial climbing done by your vehicle.

How about the rocks that chick-on calls "False Moran" and I call "Tower Point"? Picture here, apparently taken from somewhere near the Four Mile Trail. It's not like they're far away or hidden -- you can see them from many places in the Valley including Curry Village and Ahwahnee Meadow. I've never heard of anyone actually going there, though. I'm not recommending that you try to be the first, just submitting a candidate for "inaccessible".

Someone who's been to almost all of the out-of-the-way places is RoguePhotonic; I think he hikes like a PCT hiker throughout the Sierra.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/roguephotonic/sets/

Yea, Chris Ryerson is a total badass. He hikes for 4-5 months, all in a row, alone, every year. I hiked Tioga peak with him couple years back. My buddy and some of his friends usually join Chris yearly for smaller loops every year. He gets out there, way out there.

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KenS

[/quoteSomeone who's been to almost all of the out-of-the-way places is RoguePhotonic; I think he hikes like a PCT hiker throughout the Sierra.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/roguephotonic/sets/]

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KenS
Someone who's been to almost all of the out-of-the-way places is RoguePhotonic; I think he hikes like a PCT hiker throughout the Sierra.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/roguephotonic/sets/

Thanks! That guy's Flickr feed is a gold mine.

Oh, and for anyone who's interested, here's another intrepid individual who also went down the Enchanted Gorge, with some nice pics.

Nice site he's got for other trip reports, as well.

http://www.lancesimms.com/Hikes/EnchantedGorgeHikeGPS2.html

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tanngrisnir3
Oh, and for anyone who's interested, here's another intrepid individual who also went down the Enchanted Gorge, with some nice pics.

Nice site he's got for other trip reports, as well.

http://www.lancesimms.com/Hikes/EnchantedGorgeHikeGPS2.html

Thanks for sharing, that's a good find. It's smart to go down Enchanted and back up Goddard, thus avoiding what everyone says is a terrible bushwhack down the last mile of Goddard to the Middle Fork. Plus the way he did it he got to walk all of Goddard Canyon too which I have been meaning to do. Hmm... sounds like fun that way...

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AndrewF

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tanngrisnir3
Oh, and for anyone who's interested, here's another intrepid individual who also went down the Enchanted Gorge, with some nice pics.

Nice site he's got for other trip reports, as well.

http://www.lancesimms.com/Hikes/EnchantedGorgeHikeGPS2.html

Thanks for sharing, that's a good find. It's smart to go down Enchanted and back up Goddard, thus avoiding what everyone says is a terrible bushwhack down the last mile of Goddard to the Middle Fork. Plus the way he did it he got to walk all of Goddard Canyon too which I have been meaning to do. Hmm... sounds like fun that way...

What sites like that do for me is they have me pouring over online topo sites (the best I've found is the one I'm about to link to) and then, just by default, I see all these other cool looking places. When he went up Goddard, and I traced his route, I noticed that off the west, east and down from Finger Peak, is the Finger Peak Basin, something w/almost no zero hits in online searches.

http://mapper.acme.com/

Copy and paste in N 37.04617 W 118.71818 and you'll see what I mean. Works really well in conjunction with Google Earth, as well.

Yep. You're on the right track. I spent a few hours every week staring at topo maps. It's an addiction. You know you've found a good obscure place when you put the name into Google and get zero, or just a few, results. I've got a list of three or four places like that on my short-list to go visit. I'd tell you where they are, but then they'd get more Google hits...

P.S. My favorite mapping site is Hillmap. Link. It has lots of map tilesets, printing functionality, pretty good path & waypoints, etc. Can also look at topos side-by-side with the satellite view.

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AndrewF
P.S. My favorite mapping site is Hillmap. Link. It has lots of map tilesets, printing functionality, pretty good path & waypoints, etc. Can also look at topos side-by-side with the satellite view.

Checking it out now. Thanks.

Never liked the two map view. Partial to gmap4 (link below on this site)...

Plus... it's fun to upload your own track and see where u been...

Sumtin like:

http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?q=https://sites.google.com/site/chickontracks/gpx/MuroBlanco.gpx

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You can turn off the two map view. Just click on the button in the top right. It's useful for evaluating how much brush there is etc but I usually leave it off.

Can also upload gpx files, but Hillmap barfs if they are too big.

And in case anyone else can sometimes be paralysed with indecision at the glorious riches of the SEKI area, I stumbled upon this guy's trip report.....

http://pantilat.wordpress.com/2013/11/19/monarch-divide-semi-loop/

That has this exquisite (and HUGE) pano with place names aplenty. Great way to get the scale of things back there. Click on the pic once you've opened it and it gets BIG

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2858/10974010063_4a976734ed_o.jpg

My limited experience in Yosemite has taught me that some of the most remote areas (in terms of people traffic) are just off trail. Going off trail eliminates 90% or more of likely human traffic. You get to experience and photograph scenes most folks never see for themselves. It can be 3 days in or just around that next corner on a day hike. Enjoy.
Jim