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Describe your trip: location, days, mileage, difficulty, what you want to see. Siligo will match you with 3–5 routes.
Ten-plus named lakes with minimal elevation gain starting at 10,000ft just outside Yosemite's east entrance. The lake-lover's loop almost nobody knows about.
Three days on the John Muir Trail crossing Donohue Pass and Lyell Canyon. The best JMT sampler without committing to 211 miles.
Five days into Yosemite's northern backcountry ends at a sandy beach that has no business existing in the granite Sierra.
Glacial-flour turquoise water beneath the southernmost glacier in the United States, with Temple Crag looming over camp.
Seven miles from South Lake to Bishop Pass at 11,972ft, then down into a granite playground of tarns and massive peaks. The fastest way above treeline in the Sierra.
Lassen is California's most underrated backpacking park: active hydrothermal fields, cinder cones, pristine lakes, and almost no one around.
Cathedral Peak reflected in the lake is one of Yosemite's most iconic views, and you can do the whole thing as your first backpacking trip.
Henry Coe is vast, empty, and surprisingly rugged for a park an hour from San Jose. An off-season destination for Bay Area backpackers and great place to get your feet wet with backcountry trips.
The trailhead starts at 10,000ft, the grade is gentle, and the lakes are alpine. The Sierra's best beginner trip, and not an insult to say so.
A compact wilderness with a dozen swimmable lakes and an easy call-ahead permit, no lottery required. The right step-up trip after your first one or two overnights.
The Trinity Alps' most dramatic lakes sit in granite cirques that could pass for the Sierra, and you'll likely have them entirely to yourself.
Free permits, no quota, 113,000 acres just north of Yosemite. While everyone else fights the lottery, you're already on trail.
Named lakes at 11,000ft, endless granite, widely considered the most beautiful stretch of the entire John Muir Trail.
Four glacial cirques, granite lakes, no permit lottery, and almost nobody on the trail. NorCal's best-kept secret.
The scenic approach to the Four Lakes Loop trades Long Canyon's traffic for better views, real solitude, and two passes that earn the lakes on the other side.
Yosemite's other grand canyon: deep, wild, and almost nobody goes there.
Giant sequoias to the highest peak in the contiguous US. The trans-Sierra classic that requires a real plan and pays off in full.
Cross Piute Pass into a vast open granite tableland at 11,000ft with dozens of unnamed lakes and Mt Humphreys looming overhead.
A vast alpine lake studded with granite islands on the most accessible approach in Desolation. The right intro to Sierra wilderness near Tahoe.
The full Desolation Wilderness experience: the quiet western lakes most visitors never reach, plus the PCT highlights, all in four days.
Seven named alpine lakes in under four miles from the highest trailhead in the Eastern Sierra. Maximum scenery, minimum suffering.
No road reaches this stretch of California coastline. Just black sand beaches, the King Range in fog, and tide windows you actually have to plan around.
Crosses the Great Western Divide twice, passes Precipice Lake, and rivals any route in the Sierra with a fraction of the people.
Henry Coe's more difficult trip for when Coit Lake isn't enough. More remote and more challenging. Great option for spring trips before the mountains thaw out.
The highest peak in the contiguous US done right: acclimate at Trail Camp, summit at sunrise with a light pack instead of grinding 22 miles in a day.
Glen Pass drops you into a turquoise lake basin beneath jagged peaks. The bucket-list Sierra loop that earns the crowds.
Same Rae Lakes basin, different entry. Kearsarge Pass from the east side adds miles and drama and is often easier to permit than the west-side lottery.
The quieter sister to the Bishop Pass area, on the same road from Bishop. Equally stunning alpine lakes, less competition, better pie nearby.
Ride the world's largest rotating tramway from desert floor to 8,500ft, hike through pine forest, and summit the second-highest peak in SoCal at sunrise.
When Cathedral and Young Lakes permits are gone, Ten Lakes Basin often still has availability. The scenery doesn't apologize for being your backup.
Banner Peak reflected in Thousand Island Lake is the Sierra's most iconic image, and you can see it on a three-day weekend from Mammoth.
Classic Sierra lake country on short daily mileage. The right first backpacking trip if you want scenery without suffering.
Granite islands, wind-sculpted pines, and Dicks Peak looming behind Fontanillis. One of the best weekend loops in Desolation.
A rarely-traveled loop out of Green Creek that ducks into Yosemite's back door via an unmaintained pass. Wildflower-choked canyons, an abandoned mine, and near-total solitude.
Yosemite's most dramatic high-country loop crosses multiple passes above 10,000ft in terrain that feels like another planet.
Alpine lakes, gushing waterfalls, and granite bluffs that make you understand why Muir called this the Range of Light, all in one loop from the Valley floor.
A quieter alternative to Cathedral Lakes with a bigger granite bowl, less permit competition, and a summit scramble if you want it.