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I'm looking for suggestions for a short overnight backpack in the Goldentrout Wilderness with my two oldest kids, aged 5 and 7. I'm picking that area since it's close to a cabin we own in the area and can easily bail if needed. My ideal trip is a gentle one mile hike to a nice creek or glade where we can camp. Apart from camping in the backyard, this will be their first night in a tent where mom isn't ten yards away inside the house. I know many on this site aren't super familiar with the Goldentrout area, but any suggestions are most welcome. Thanks.

Do you need to start/finish your hike near your cabin? Because a common access point is from the Horseshoe Meadows TH, but I would guess your cabin isn't up there.

From Horseshoe there are easy a doable short loops, like over Trail Pass and around to Mulkey Pass and back. Those would be nice, but challenging.

That was fast. Thanks.

It would be much easier if it was near the cabin, which is in Camp Nelson, by the northern portion. I was thinking around the Clicks or Mountaineer Creek trailheads, etc. My concern is that too much time in the car will make them restless and less psyched for the hiking portion.

From Horseshoe Meadows TH I've taken the family to the John Muir Widlerness border. It's relatively easy, close to Cottonwood Creek (with at least 2 crossings) and the kids can play on the nearby rocks (with adult supervision of course!)

I'm not too familiar with the north end of the Golden Trout.

I took my 7 and 5 year old boys on a short bacpack to Round Valley on Mt San Jacinto. It's less than 2.5 miles in with maybe 500 feet of gain. Not quite the solitude of Golden Trout, but close to home. We took the tram up from Palm Springs ($50 total with AAA discount). The kids loved it.

dpsiebert wrote:I took my 7 and 5 year old boys on a short bacpack to Round Valley on Mt San Jacinto. It's less than 2.5 miles in with maybe 500 feet of gain. Not quite the solitude of Golden Trout, but close to home. We took the tram up from Palm Springs ($50 total with AAA discount). The kids loved it.

That's actually not a bad suggestion in the event we don't get a chance to do anything in the GT. Thanks.

You might be able to drive down to Lloyd Meadows Road and then up to the Freeman Creek grove of sequoias, I figure there might be some decent opportunities to do a really short hike there, find a camp site and hang out.