If It's Monday, it must be Kings Canyon, or....

[John Kasaian]

....The Majestic Mountain Loop---- 3 National Parks in 3 Days
I came across this new tourist website and thought it might be interesting for those of you considering trips to the Sierra Nevada from the West side. Not photography specific (so mods, please delete if it's not appropriate) but full of ideas to cram in a lot (too much, IMHO) of National Park "turf" for those on a tortuously tight time schedule.
Nope, it's not "wilderness" it's "tourist" but photogenic none the less:
http://www.majesticmountainloop.com/

[Drew Wiley]

Interesting. I was musing just the other day how I wished I had three more lifetimes just to see most of Kings Canyon. But given the fact that I'm still on the clock, I'm trying to make the most of two weeks. Maybe not enough at my age to get in and out of the next spot on my checklist. Have you done that Reinstein Pass loop down into Goddard Creek and back over Finger Pass down to the North Fork, John? It's close to a hundred-miler, so I'd really prefer three weeks, so that I can have
some quality time in the remote part of the trip. I'm thinking of using Hell for Sure Pass instead, to avoid potential ice axe work crossing the White Divide. I'm fine with that gear, but my hiking companion might not be. But I was up to Hell for Sure not too long ago.

[John Kasaian]

Hell for Sure is spectacular, as is Six Shooter and Crown. A trained mule helps---you'd kill one if you tried to ride in, just hang onto the tail and let it pull you up like a ski tow Deadman is on my bucket list.
Big country!

[Drew Wiley]

I did that whole big inner Sequoia thing two years ago, but via Cloud Can into Kaweah Basin. Didn't see anyone else for an entire week, and not even a fire ring in the Kaweahs. Cloud Can itself was empty. I've thought of hiring a mule drop into Blackcap, but overall would prefer to avoid dusty horse trails as much as possible. Going in from Courtwright over Hell for Sure involves dusty trail only the first eight miles (luckily, it had rained the day before, last time I did it). Then down into Goddard Can before going over the top. I'd prefer to avoid going in from Florence since that was once my backyard, it seems, and I've done that route into Evolution many times. The gal who inherited the Muir Trail Ranch was a neighbor and classmate. Maybe I'll have to wait another year, after I'm officially retired. Deadman Can has some gorgeous granite too. But I wouldn't go near it before late Aug in a year like this one. There will be a lot of little bloodsuckers in the meadows.

[SMBooth]

I might be heading over that way in a few months so I found it to be quite interesting.

[Drew Wiley]

I just remembered that there's a lovely hanging valley between Cloud Can and Colby Lk where you could go up behind the Whaleback and onto that long ridge
toward Elizabeth Pass (the winter skier's High Route), then drop down via Coppermine into Deadman Can. It would make a wonderful loop trip from Roaring River.
That's what I love about SEKI. Plenty of people know of these places, but when you get there there just aren't many people around. Cloud Can rivals anything in
Yosemite.

[John Kasaian]

There will be a lot of little bloodsuckers in the meadows.

As these would have to be National Park Federal bloodsuckers, now I've got the mental image of a bunch of dwarf IRS agents out on a camping trip