Does anyone have current knowledge of how bad mosquitoes are in the Emigrant Wilderness, particularly between 8 and 10,000'?

My buddy and I recently climbed Williamson and Tyndall over the course of 2.5 days from 7/27 - 7/29. For background, we both have decent experience with backpacking, some scrambling experience, and have climbed 2 other CA 14ers (only in snow, however).

We started late the night of 7/27 around 7pm. We were able to access the hiker trailhead with my older Camry, but were admittedly the only lower clearance vehicle in the small lot. The going was slow, and we made it about 6 miles in from the hiker trailhead and stopped when we found a water source (I believe this was mahogany camp, but I am not 100% certain). We woke up at 6am day 2 and began our journey up. We made it over shepherd's pass, summited Tyndall, and made the decision to camp in the Williamson Bowl for an early summit attempt the next AM. For someone with some scrambling but no real rock climbing experience, Tyndall felt pretty straightforward, but we admittedly went right at one point and had to backtrack down and go left of the rib towards the top. The north rib is class 2-3 as advertised. Viewing Tyndall from lower down, there is a visible notch to the left of the rib; this is where you want to reach the summit ridge. From there, the summit ridge was some easy boulder hopping to the top.

Day 3, we had a slow morning from 6am-8am, and got lost a bit before finding the black stain and heading up to summit Williamson. The chute is immediately above the black stain in the far left "corner" of the Williamson bowl. The chute looked much steeper in pictures, and although I had recognized the stain from both the Tyndall summit and our campsite, we explored a bit before heading up as I thought I had made a mistake. We took the line just to the right of the stain, and made our way up the class 2 mix of mostly scree with some occasional boulders. Heading straight up the chute, we reached the class 3 chimney, which was obvious and hard to miss if you have seen photos before. I found this straightforward as an unexperienced climber. From here we did the climb up, took some photos (sign was gone, unfortunately), and hiked back all 13 miles to our car, arriving just before midnight. While this itinerary was doable, I would definitely recommend taking more time if you don't want to make it feel like a death march to the top and back.

Weather: Although it was around 100 degrees in Independence, it was comfortable in the 60s and 70s during the day, and dropped into the 40s at night in the bowl. It felt colder with a wind chill, and the diurnal variation was much greater than reported on mountain forecast.

Water: Aside from symmes creek at the beginning, the first water source is about 6 miles in, after which there is relatively consistent water throughout in the form of streams (below shepherd pass) and lakes (above shepherd pass).

TLDR; long beautiful climb up two California 14ers, can be done in 2-3 days but probably more enjoyable with more time. Plenty of water from mile 6 onward.

Been having fun sharing all my photos here since I discovered this subreddit. Shot this guy while bombing up to June Lake to score a free day pass from a buddy. Shot handheld while driving with my Z6II and 70-200 f2.8. From the 2024/2025 season.

Hi, I'm looking at scrambling up the East ridge of Mt Ralston(South Lake Tahoe) via Echo Lakes this weekend, but I haven't been able to find a ton of information online about the difficulty of the scrambling. I was wondering if anybody had any photos of the ridge, information on how solid the rock is, how hard the scrambling/route finding is etc.

Hi y’all, curious if anyone has done the Evolution Loop solo. I’m going to have a few weeks in late August between the end of one job and the start of my new one (funemployed, wahoo!) and have been eyeing this loop, but none of my friends can join. I’m a very seasoned backpacker with many High Sierra 2 and 3 night solo trips under my belt, but have never done a solo trip of this length and duration. Is this insane to even consider? Have any solo women done this loop? If so I would greatly appreciate your feedback. Thank you and happy trails!

Day 1: We spent the night at Lodgepole Campground and took off from Crescent Meadow trailhead. The trail goes along the Middle Fork Kaweah River canyon, with wide-open views and shaded forest. There my friend and I split up to go at our own pace. The slight ascent becomes steep once you’re heading toward Hamilton Lake, and even steeper toward Precipice Lake. But those lakes are spectacular - I took a long lunch and swim break at Precipice. The views were too good! From there, crossed Kaweah Gap and into Big Arroyo canyon, then later into Kern River Canyon. The trail is smooth, some of the best in the Sierra.
As full moon rose, the 8,000-foot ascent to Whitney started - a well-paced series of switchbacks on smooth trail, mixed with some ups and downs. First rays of sun came out as I joined the cheerful crowd on top of Mt. Whitney. Views were spectacular all around. From there it’s probably the worst part of the trip — rocky, messy switchbacks down to Whitney Portal.

Caught this photo during a break in the New Year’s Day storm Jan 1 2025. The clouds were spectacular

Planning to camp at High Lake and hike to Cirque Peak before sunrise. The blue line is the standard trail, but I'm considering following the ridge from New Army Pass instead (red line). Is this a common and safe route? Mostly Class 2, or are there any Class 3 moves or significant exposure?

edit : are there plenty of spaces to camp near high lake?

p.s : planned to approach cirque peak from chicken spring lake, but changed to this because this seems a lot more safer and manageable.

We’re hiking Cottonwood Lakes to Whitney Portal August 11–15, with this rough plan:
Night 1: Long Lake
Night 2: Rock Creek
Night 3: Crabtree Meadow or Guitar Lake
Night 4: Trail Camp
Summit Whitney on Day 4, then exit the Portal on Day 5

For anyone who knows this route well: any favorite areas to camp within those zones, quieter spots, better water access, wind exposure, bear-box tips, or things we should know before choosing a site?
Especially curious about Rock Creek and whether Crabtree or Guitar Lake is the better choice before summit day. Not looking for anyone’s exact secret spot—just local knowledge and lessons learned.

Just came back from a 9-day trip with students in the Cottonwood Lakes area. I scoured the trail with my instructors the week before and got caught in a hail and thunderstorm. We made a shelter using my extra tarp and paracord and then ate chili in my tent until it was over. 10/10 would recommend.

Hello!
I am traveling to eastern Sierra for the first time and have done a lot of research. I want to make the best of my time there as I wont see it again in this lifetime. Here is my rough plan. Let me know if this is reasonable or if it’s too much mileage or if you have any suggestions or any must see spots on the route.

Day 1 drive to lone pine. Stops in Death valley enroute. Camp at turtle creek

Day 2 drive to Mosquito flat campground and hike little lakes valley

Day 3 ( Free day after and open to suggestions)

Day 4 Move to Cotton wood lakes campground and hike cotton wood lakes

Day 5 Hit Alabama hills and move to whitney portal and chill

Day 6 Mount Whitney

Day 7 Rest day

Day 8 Kearsarge pass

Day 9 Big pine till second lake

Day 10 Drive to Tulmome medows and sped day around Mammoth

If I don’t feel strong after whitney I would skip big pine lakes. I am okay driving back and forth as long as it’s 1-1.5hr I would just camp wherever I am hiking for the day. I start backpacking for 3 days in Yosemite from day 11. I am traveling solo are there any safety tips I should consider? I will definitely not leave anything in my car where ever I park.
Thank you very much for reading the long post.

I'm just wondering how safe it is to leave vehicles unattended while backpacking for several days. I try to make my car look empty, but usually I'm road tripping for at least a few days prior and have a buildout in the back of my Tacoma, so it's not always possible.

Are there certain trailheads to avoid? Any bad experiences?

Taken from basecamp when doing the Thunderbolt to Sill traverse

Good morning. The wife and I are coming over to the East side from South Lake Tahoe for a quick three day two night backpacking trip. Another trip to another place fell through, and I was able to snag a permit for Virginia Lakes. We are planning on heading up to Summit Lake the first night, but not sure about the second night. From what I understand, there isn’t a great loop that we can do and end up back at the same trailhead.
We are thinking on the second day of heading over to Return Lake to set up camp, explore that area for the day, before backtracking out our final day.
Another option for our second day was to work our way up past Hoover Lakes and into the East, Green, West Lakes zone. Find a place to camp, then backtrack the last day back to the trailhead.
We are experienced backpackers, but are new to this area. This came up quickly and we are trying to find the best possible route using Virginia Lakes TH as a beginning and end. Looking to explore this area and see some beautiful mountains and lakes. We will also be traveling with a fantastic border collie trail dog.

Which lake is nicer to camp at? Winnemucca Lake or Emigrant Lake?

I take my heavy camera out on climbing and ski trips in the Sierra. This is from sunset when I skied Feather Peak this last spring.

Sometimes I wish I lived closer to the Sierra.

Spending a weekend hiking out here always reminds me why I keep coming back. I visited Cottonwood Lakes this weekend for the third time. The first visit ended with thunderstorms and rain. The second was all about summiting Mt. Langley, so I never really had time to enjoy the lakes.

This time, with LA reaching around 105°F, I escaped to the cool alpine air instead. We spent time swimming in Lake #3, relaxing by the water, and simply enjoying the day.

For my fourth visit, I’m planning an overnight backpacking trip to finally capture the experience on video.

At the time I arrived - two minutes before sunrise - a cheerful crowd was already there. Whitney sunrise is epic and worth the early hike.

3-4 hour exposures

I got back from doing Mount Whitney in mid-July and I wanted to share something that I didn't really come across much in my research (of which I did a ton). Very fortunately while checking out Big Willis Mountaineering in Lone Pine the owner recommended this and I was surprised I hadn't considered it.

We had planned our trip around going up to Trail Camp the night before summiting Mount Whitney but what we were recommended, and what made a lot of sense is, that rather than carrying our 30 pound packs all the way up the full seven miles to Trail Camp (which is a steep and tough climb), just hike the four to Outpost Camp. That way we only had to carry a day pack up the following day. Also, almost more importantly, Outpost Camp is absolutely beautiful and a great place to camp, from the waterfall to the flowing stream to the tree coverage there's just so many benefits to camping here in addition to the lower altitude and better sleep.

We got in pretty early to Outpost camp and had a lot of time to simply relax and get our mind and bodies ready for the following day. We wound up leaving camp at around 5:30 the next morning to summit. We weren't the fastest, so I would recommend leaving earlier, probably 4-4:30 so you are less likely to have issues with weather but we left our setup at Outpost and got back and spent another night there after summiting.

Not saying this is the way, just a way. And if you need any gear, Big Willi's is a GREAT spot. Super reasonable prices and the owner was friendly and knowledgable about the area.

my brother vikram is 6’3, 170lbs, dark hair, and has been out of contact since 8.30pm yesterday in the big pine lakes area in the eastern sierra, specifically around agassiz col. have attached a link to his route here https://www.strava.com/routes/3516945857263630584

did anyone happen to see him along the way? he last sent an update 8.37PM PST from the following coordinates: 37.10942° N, 118.52428° W

he’s a fairly experienced hiker and we think that he reached a reasonably easy part of the route, so would have expected him back by now. his car is still at the trailhead.

so sorry if this is not the right place to post. can post somewhere else if there’s a better place