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I'm doing some preliminary planning for a 12-night JMT trip next summer (starting at TM, not the valley). Can anyone suggest some good training dayhikes (or one-nighter) loop trails that meet the following criteria:

14-17 miles (per day)
3-4,000 feet elev. gained
Includes at least a little terrain above 10K feet
Is less than 5 hours drive from the Bay Area

I can find plenty of out-and-backs that do this, but it would be nice to do a loop if any meet this criteria.

Thanks!

Trawinski wrote:I'm doing some preliminary planning for a 12-night JMT trip next summer (starting at TM, not the valley). Can anyone suggest some good training dayhikes (or one-nighter) loop trails that meet the following criteria:

14-17 miles (per day)
3-4,000 feet elev. gained
Includes at least a little terrain above 10K feet
Is less than 5 hours drive from the Bay Area

I can find plenty of out-and-backs that do this, but it would be nice to do a loop if any meet this criteria.

Thanks!

You can climb Pyramid, Agassiz and Price in Desolation Wilderness as a loop. Take Lake Sylvia Trail to Pyramid, traverse to Agassiz and then to Price. Descend to Lyons Lake Trail and back to Lake Sylvia Trail, it's longer though- about 20 miles. A former SPer sent me a email on the hike, I will forward it to you.

Or you could cut out Price, the loop would be shorter, not sure of the distance then.

Some of these are longer than your 15-17 mi, but here are some westside/Tahoe loops
(All of which are on-trail. If you wanted to consider off-trail variants let me know- but I figured you'd want to do trail stuff for JMT training)

1) Echo Pass to Big Meadow via the TRT, return via Hawley Grade
2) Buena Vista Pass from Wawona (or Bridalveil Campground) in Southern Yosemite
3) Kennedy Meadows > Kennedy Lake > High Emigrant Pass > Brown Bear Pass back to Kennedy Meadow
4) Glen Alpine to Eagle Lake and/or Meeks Bay in Desolation (Not a loop but you can take public transportation between those 3 trailheads)
5) Snow Creek to North Dome to Yosemite Falls in Yosemite Valley
6) 4 mile trail to Glacier Point to Panorama trail in Yosemite Valley
7) Hetch Hetchy to Lake Vernon to Tiltill Valley loop
8) Kaiser Peak loop near Huntington Lake
9) Echo Lake > Lake Aloha > Susie Lake > Lily Lake > Triangle Lake > Echo Lake

Great one-nighter loop would be Rae Lakes from Cedar Grove. A great dayhike loop would be Alta via Pear Lake from Wolverton (some class 3), return on regular trail.
Great suggestions from fedak!

Thanks everyone! These are great.