Thinking of doing something in the range of 4-5 days outta SEKI. Some nice high elevation would be great but I know that you get more of that from the eastern approaches ie Shepherd, Kearsarge, etc. I really don't want to start out at Roads End as the starting elevation is 5,000 and that is too low. Help!

Think positive, things can only go up! :)
Duane

I did about 85 miles in 4.5 days. Might be a little much, but it was a great hike.
Start at Wolverton (about 7200 ft?) on Lakes Trail, over Elizabeth Pass, Deadman Canyon to Roaring River, then up to Colby Lake and over Colby Pass, down to Junction Meadow. Junction Meadow, up Big Arroyo Canyon to the pass, then back down past Hamilton Lake back to Wolverton.
SEKI High Pass Loop

Edited by Winterland76 on 03/03/2013 16:04:09 MST.

There isn't a huge number of great trailheads on the west side. You can start from Mineral King and get into trouble quickly. Plus, it is kind of hard on your vehicle to get there to start. I found it to be decent.

You can start from south of Giant Forest and go east on the High Sierra Trail. There you will have a moderate day before you get into trouble.

You can start from Lodgepole, head north, then east over Silliman Pass. I don't remember that as being tough.

You can start from near Montecito-Sequoia and drive east. There are a number of horse trailheads in there. You can get to Roaring River and back.

We will skip the Roads End and Cedar Grove trails.

You can start from Wishon Reservoir (outside the park) and go east, then you have the choice of entering Kings Canyon or stay in the Blackcap area.

For that matter, you can start from Florence Lake (outside) and go east to the Kings Canyon border in a day.

Any farther north, and you won't be hitting Sequoia or Kings Canyon.

--B.G.--

You can hike into this area either from Lodgepole or Rowell Meadows...and then wander across a fair amount of territory, including Silliman Pass and beyond. Lovely stuff.

You can't go wrong with any of the above great suggestions, but I gotta stick up for Road's End. Despite the embarrassingly low elevation nearly all of the trails there get you into the good stuff within the first half day. Copper Creek gets you to high elevation more quickly than most would prefer... :)