sh3phard wrote:Ooooh, so even though we would decide to go to Washburn lake, on the 4th day, we would still go to Sunrise Lakes from Washburn Lake on the 5th day?
It would be a 23km hike (14 miles), +989m (+3280f) : would it be realistic to do that in one day?
No, from either Washburn or Bernice, whichever, you go ONLY to either Echo Valley or #5. From Bernice to Echo Valley, just under 9 miles...and except for that big descent, all pretty much flat and forested. From there, add roughly 2 more miles up to #5, making it an 11 mile day total. From Washburn to #5, about an 8 mile day. Again, all but about those last 2 miles are the same flat terrain in the trees. I'm not just pulling these numbers and expectations up, I know the route and I'm sitting here referencing my map to verify what's in my head for the actual distances.
So, from either Echo Valley or #5, to get to Sunrise Lakes, you're looking at a 9 mile day from Echo Valley, or about a 7 mile day from #5 up to the lakes. Breaking it down, you have 6.1 miles up the Echo Creek trail alone from the junction of the footbridge in Echo Valley to the JMT, then another 0.9 miles from where that trail hits the JMT to the Sunrise HSC, then another roughly 2 miles up and over to Sunrise Lakes. You aren't allowed to camp within a 1 mile radius of the HSC, so to cut distance, you only have the choice of camping at the group backpackers area of the HSC itself. Or you push up and over to the lakes for your own dispersed site. You go past the JMT at long Meadow Creek, and those are your only legal camping choices left. Zoom in on your map and look at it closely.