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This trail-itinerary has it’s place. It’s very doable 4 day weekend leaving from the Bay Area or LA. With the exception of Avalanche Pass, it’s not a grueling hike yet with many rewards. The Roaring River campsite along with the Barton-Lackey Cabin is kind of fascinating. The Sugar Loaf valley has always held a special place for me. The lakes on either side of Silliman Pass are divine. Sillman and Avalanche Passes offer gorgeous views. All this for an extended weekend? Not bad.
I’d also offer this is a fairly unique experience. Not many hikes travel this route and that in itself is a joy. Lastly, you will have bragging rights that you’ve hike from one National Park to another. Pretty cool.
This is a one way hike. You’ll need to arrange transportation from one trailhead to the other. If you heading N->S, the Bubbs Creek permit is a tough one to get.
Be warned that the 1.6 mile Belle Canyon-Comanche Cutoff (north of Silliman Pass, South of Sugar Loaf trail) is swampy, with downed trees and is quite buggy in mid summer. At the time, I took it as a challenge .. others might not.
I’ve done 50+ hikes in California, and I can understand someone saying that the hike through the Sugarloaf Valley is uninspiring. (I usually just smirk when I hear comments like that and think Too bad for you.)
If you have two cars the logistics are easy enough to figure out.
If you don’t, you’ll need to get a shuttle service. The park does not provide transportation between Sequoia and Kings Canyon NPs. We had a good experience with Trent who offers a reasonably priced taxi service. (Highsierratransportation@zoleo.com) His Facebook page is here.
Southbound:
If you are leaving from Kings Canyon, here are my recommendations:
Camp 1: Bubbs Creek/Sphinx Creek (bear box)
It will no doubt take a half day to travel from your home to Kings Canyon. Pick up your permit and hike a few hours up the trail to your first camp. This will knock 1200 vertical feet off and nearly 4 miles of the trail.
Camp 2: Roaring River (bear box)
For all practical purposes, there is only one choice for your next camp and that is at Roaring River. You can stay on either side of the river. One side seemed to be as good as the other. I know the far side has a bear box.
Camp 3: Hunter Lake (bear box)
For the 3rd campsite, I’d recommend Hunter Lake, although there are a number of lakes in the vicinity. There was an absolutely gorgeous alpine glow surrounding mountains and an equally inspiring sunrise.
Northbound:
If you are leaving from Lodgepole (Sequoia NP) for a really cool fishing trip, I’d recommend the following:
Camp 1: Twin Lakes (bear box)
Your first top would be about a 6 mile/2700 vertical ft hike to Twin Lakes. This would be a half day, leaving enough time to set up and do some late afternoon casting.
Camp 2: Seville Lake (bear box)
Your second stop, after a good morning of fishing at Twin Lakes, I would hike to one of Ranger/Lost/Seville Lakes. For a fishing trip, I try to figure out where no one else wants to go. That would probably take me to Seville Lake. The others are good options too. All lakes listed have bear boxes.
Camp 3: Roaring River (bear box)
The 3rd day would be an easy 10 mile, relatively flat hike to Roaring River. Which would leave you with strenuous 15 mile hike to the trail exit on the 4th day. That would include a 3k climb and 5k descent.
The nice thing about this hike is that it shouldn’t take a lot of prep. You should have a lighter pack for 3 nights. If you are hiking this southbound, which is the easier direction, the hike over Avalanche Pass should be divided into day & a half.
If you are hiking this northbound, you will end up doing a 5k descent on the last day. You pack will be light, but you should have a health respect for that descent. I’d do a few moderate local hikes in the weeks before to “activate your quads” in preparation.
All the permits on Federal land is reserved through recreation.gov. Nothing new there. You’ll need to navigate over to to the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Wilderness Permits section.
Southbound (From Kings Canyon): Bubbs Creek
Northbound (From Lodgepole): Twin Lakes
Each of these trails offer 20 permits/day. My observation is that that the Bubbs Creek go very quickly, as in a few minutes after they are offered. The Twin Lakes permits go a little slower, particularly on week days.
Tackling this in either direction is quite fine. As described in the Trip Summary, we traversed from N->S due to the fact that one of our team members fell ill. Would I recommend this route to others? The Sierras are full of epic extended weekend trips. The N->S route falls short of epic, but it does have a lot to offer.
If I did this from S->N (Lodgepole->Kings), I’d bring my fishing poles. In fact, this might be a perfect fishing itinerary. The first day, I’d hike to Twin Lakes, set up and do a few evening casts. Then spend the morning casting away. The destination the next day can easily be done in the afternoon, so spend a leisurely morning fishing. The next day you have 3 lakes to choose from. I went to Ranger, but Lost and Seville lakes are close by. Hiking from Ranger to Roaring River is 13 miles on a gentle down hill. Mid summer, you could cover that after an early lunch.
As mentioned, the Belle Canyon-Comanche Cutoff section is really buggy. Bring a face net. I’m pretty tolerant of bugs – just keep moving, wear long sleeves/pants, etc. With that being said, for California, yup this neck of the woods is pretty bad – but a net works perfectly fine. I’m not really into DEET, but I was tempted here. Some sort of hand coverings is also recommended.
Trip Summary: Sugar Loaf Traverse
Jens, Olaf, Mark & Jason June 25-29, 2022 A technical description of this trail can be found a the Sugar Loaf Traverse Trail Page. Background: So