Originally Posted By: Steve C


Jennifer,
I want you to look long and hard at that BSL (Big SeKi Loop) hike. It has some less attractive features that you should consider. The person posting that hike is a hard core hiker -- a one-percenter type. Her description completely minimizes the problems on that hike. Note her base weight of 12 pounds, with 1.5 lbs food per day. They are super-ultralight hikers!

Her "least interesting 5-8 miles on either side ... the first half day" is a major understatement. Copper Creek starts at 5000' elevation, and immediately climbs to 10,300' (before Granite Pass) in ~8 miles. THAT is no half-day! It's a killer whole day in reality.

It's true that once you get up to that first pass, the next miles would be fine, cruising in the 9k range, but then it drops to 6k again at Simpson Meadow. Next day is a steady climb to the JMT at 8,000', and then the Golden Staircase brings the JMT up to 10.5k and the Palisade Lakes.

If you go south out of the same place, Avalanche Pass (10k) is almost as bad, only it isn't a sun-baked south facing slope. If you ask me, that Roads End location is a rotten place to start the loop. Rather, it would be an outstanding resupply location, at the Cedar Grove Visitor Center, five miles down the road. The area is full of campers so hitch hiking should work ok. Mid-trip, a 5k climb wouldn't be as tough as starting the trip.

Another statement by the author: If "you can't complete the loop without exiting for resupply, we would not choose this particular loop." THAT reveals much! The loop is equivalent to doing most of the JMT with no resupply. Pretty much all JMT hikers do at least 3 resupplies -- several are easy, and several others require mailing buckets, hiring expensive mule packers, or taking 1+ day side trips. Most places on this Big SeKi Loop would require 2 days for a resupply -- one out, and one back in.

Ok, enough carping.

Consider some lighter options: Start on the east side at horseshoe meadows (just off the BSL map, lower right side. You could then do Whitney on the third day, then cover the Colby Pass - Cloud Canyon section, resupply at Cedar Grove, then head back up Paradise Valley to the JMT, visit Rae Lakes, resupply (or not) over Kearsarge Pass, then continue south back to Whitney. You could either exit at Whitney, or head back out at Horseshoe Meadows.

More ambitious, but easier: Start at Onion Valley (Kearsarge Pass), do that big northern half (or shorten at Paradise Valley), resupply at Cedar Grove, and continue south.

There are lots of alternatives. I just think starting at Roads End is not the best idea. And including one or two resupplies makes the trip less severe.

Now, if you really are in great shape and are truly ultralight hikers, then please accept my apologies for suggesting an easier plan. I am sure you will have a great Sierra experience no matter what part of the loop you do.

By the way, here's a link to my favorite mapping website, gmap4. The center of this map is at the Roads End trail head. You can zoom in or out to see the terrain, and switch between several maps. Best is T4, but Google Terrain and Satellite view are sometimes useful. The T4 map shows all the trails of the BSL. Note that elevation contours switch from feet to meters depending on the area of the map.


Hi Steve!

Thanks for the advice and the link to the topo map - that is very helpful!

Yes, I had gone through all the comments on that page and saw some of the same concerns raised by others - and, to be honest, I had some trepidation about it for those reasons too. But, I discussed quite a bit with my partner and we think we should probably be able to manage if we train up enough. We are really hoping to avoid resupply if at all possible, although I did see there was the option at Kearsarge Pass, so we may consider that.

We are planning to take the shorter variation of the BSL, over Colby pass, which is only 131 miles (plus side trip to Whitney), and we are planning to bring enough food for 12-13 days. Last year we did the haute route in the swiss alps, involving about 110 miles distance with 40000 ft of elevation change, in 10 days. A few days we did 6000-6500 ft ascent. Most days we finished hiking within 5-6 hours and our longest days were 8-8.5 hours, including breaks (and getting lost a few times smile ) so I believe we could have gone a bit further most days, if necessary. We didn't have to carry a tent, but we carried a lot of extra stuff, electronics, extra clothes and shoes, etc., that we won't take on this trip, and our packs were around 30 lbs. We are really trying to optimize our gear, and I think we can manage to stay down around 40-45 lbs each for this one, so we will not be ultralight, but I think doable - and our packs will obviously get lighter over time as we consume food and fuel.

I was thinking we would try to camp at Cedar Grove for a few days before to do some acclimatization hikes and to warm up our climbing legs, knowing the first day would be quite tough. But we will take another look at the alternatives you mentioned too and see if they make more sense for us. I definitely appreciate the advice and the topo map, that will help us a lot with planning.

Maybe we will end up planning to try to do Whitney as a separate day hike prior to tackling the loop, that way if we have to bail off at Rae Lakes or something we won't feel like we are missing out smile

Thanks so much for taking the time to look into this for us!

Jennifer