Eastern Sierra Weekend Backpacking Trips
The Eastern Sierra is built for short trips. Trailheads start high, the passes are close to the road, and you can be at a lake under 13,000 foot peaks a few hours after parking. The permit system is the part that catches people out, because Inyo National Forest releases its quota in two waves months apart. Here are eight trips that fit a weekend, and how to get the permit for each.
How Inyo National Forest releases its permits
Every Eastern Sierra trailhead here is an entry quota on Recreation.gov permit 233262, and the release is the thing to understand. Inyo publishes it plainly: "During the quota season (May 1 to November 1) 60% of the quota is available starting 6 months in advance of the entry date and 40% of the quota is added to the reservation website 2 weeks prior to the entry date." So a date that looked full in March is not settled, and a second real chance arrives exactly two weeks out.
What that means if you are planning a weekend
The two-wave release changes the tactics for a short trip more than it does for a long one.
- Six months ahead is the only wave you can plan around, and it holds 60% of the quota
- Two weeks ahead is the wave most weekend trips are actually won on, holding the other 40%
- Outside the quota season, November 2 through April 30, permits are not subject to trailhead quotas at all
- Reservations cost $6 per permit plus $5 per person, or $15 per person for the Mt. Whitney Zone
- The group limit is 15 people, and every permit is reserved online at Recreation.gov
Little Lakes Valley, if it is your first time
The gentlest option in the range, and the only Eastern Sierra trailhead in our data rated easy. It is a nearly flat chain of lakes under four 13,000 foot peaks, out and back, 1 to 3 days, starting from Rock Creek above Mammoth Lakes. If you are taking someone on their first backpacking trip, this is the one.
Treasure Lakes, for a quiet night out of Bishop
One ridge over from the Bishop Pass trail and largely ignored because of it. Out and back, 1 to 2 days, rated moderate, from South Lake above Bishop. It is the shortest way to a granite basin that feels a long way from the road.
Golden Trout Lakes, for solitude above Onion Valley
The other trail out of Onion Valley, and almost nobody takes it. Out and back, 1 to 2 days, rated strenuous, from Independence. Its appeal is exactly what makes it unpopular: the basin does not cross the crest and does not connect to anything, so nobody passes through on the way somewhere else.
Duck Pass and Piute Pass, for a pass in a weekend
Duck Pass is the shortest walk from a Mammoth trailhead to the John Muir Trail, with four lakes on the way up and Duck Lake at the top, rated moderate over 2 to 4 days. Piute Pass out of North Lake near Bishop starts in aspens and tops out at 11,420 feet with Humphreys Basin behind it, also moderate, 2 to 5 days. Either one gives you a real Sierra pass on a long weekend.
Big Pine Creek and Cottonwood Lakes, for the longer weekend
Big Pine Creek North Fork climbs to seven numbered lakes below Temple Crag, tinted glacier-blue by the last real glacier in the Sierra. It is out and back, 2 to 4 days, rated strenuous. Cottonwood Lakes near Lone Pine is a basin of golden trout lakes between Mount Langley and Cirque Peak, 2 to 4 days and rated moderate, and it doubles as the standard back way up a 14,000 foot summit.
Kearsarge Pass, the one with real numbers behind it
Kearsarge is the shortest legal walk onto the John Muir Trail from anywhere on the east side, and it is the only Inyo trailhead in our data that publishes distance and elevation: 15.2 miles, 2,500 feet of gain, from 9,200 feet to 11,700 feet at the pass, rated strenuous over 3 to 6 days. It is also the busiest quota in the forest, so it is the one most worth watching rather than refreshing.
Watch the season on Cottonwood Pass
Almost every Inyo trailhead runs the standard May 1 to November 1 quota season. Cottonwood Pass does not. Inyo lists a quota season for Cottonwood Pass and the Golden Trout Wilderness running June 30 to September 15, which is a much narrower window than the trailhead beside it at Cottonwood Lakes. If you are planning around Horseshoe Meadows, check which of the two you are actually booking.
- Cottonwood Pass: June 30 to September 15
- Cottonwood Lakes, from the same road end: May 1 to November 1
- Both are entry quotas on Recreation.gov permit 233262
Tip: no Eastern Sierra trailhead publishes a daily quota
Inyo does not publish a per-trailhead daily number, and any list that gives you one is guessing. Live availability moves, and the same trailhead has been observed with quite different totals on different dates in the same season. Plan against the release schedule instead, which Inyo does publish: 60% at six months, 40% at two weeks.
Conclusion
The Eastern Sierra rewards short trips more than almost anywhere else in California, and the permits are winnable if you stop treating the six-month release as the only chance. Pick a trailhead that matches the days you actually have, note whether it runs the standard season or the Cottonwood Pass one, and be ready at the two-week mark when the other 40% lands.
Common questions
Do you need a permit to backpack in the Eastern Sierra?
Yes. Overnight trips from Inyo National Forest trailheads need a wilderness permit, reserved by entry trailhead on Recreation.gov permit 233262. Reservations cost $6 per permit plus $5 per person, or $15 per person for the Mt. Whitney Zone, and the group limit is 15 people.
When do Inyo National Forest wilderness permits get released?
In two waves. Inyo states that during the quota season, May 1 to November 1, 60% of the quota is available starting 6 months in advance of the entry date and the remaining 40% is added to the reservation website 2 weeks prior to the entry date.
What is the easiest backpacking trip in the Eastern Sierra?
Little Lakes Valley out of Rock Creek near Mammoth Lakes. It is the only Eastern Sierra trailhead in our data rated easy, a nearly flat chain of lakes under four 13,000 foot peaks, walked out and back over 1 to 3 days.
What is the shortest way to reach the John Muir Trail?
Kearsarge Pass out of Onion Valley near Independence is the shortest legal walk onto the John Muir Trail from the Eastern Sierra: 15.2 miles with 2,500 feet of gain, from 9,200 feet to an 11,700 foot pass, rated strenuous over 3 to 6 days.
Do you need a permit in the Eastern Sierra in winter?
Trips beginning in the non-quota season, November 2 through April 30, are not subject to trailhead quotas. Inyo still issues wilderness permits, so check the current requirement on Recreation.gov permit 233262 before you go.
How many people can be on an Inyo wilderness permit?
The group limit is 15 people on Inyo National Forest wilderness permits, and Recreation.gov lists a maximum group size of 15 for the trailheads on permit 233262.
Track these permits
Live availability, current lottery dates, and cancellation alerts.
Track the Little Lakes Valley permit
Rated easy, out and back, 1 to 3 days. The gentlest first trip in the range.
Track the Treasure Lakes permit
Out and back, 1 to 2 days, moderate. One ridge off the Bishop Pass trail.
Track the Golden Trout Lakes permit
Out and back, 1 to 2 days, strenuous. A basin that connects to nothing.
Track the Duck Pass permit
Moderate, 2 to 4 days. The shortest walk from Mammoth to the John Muir Trail.
Track the Piute Pass permit
Moderate, 2 to 5 days, over an 11,420 foot pass into Humphreys Basin.
Track the Big Pine Creek North Fork permit
Strenuous, 2 to 4 days, to seven glacier-blue lakes below Temple Crag.
Track the Cottonwood Lakes permit
Moderate, 2 to 4 days. Golden trout lakes and the back way up Mount Langley.
Track the Kearsarge Pass permit
15.2 miles and 2,500 feet of gain to an 11,700 foot pass on the John Muir Trail.
Track the Cottonwood Pass permit
The narrower season: June 30 to September 15, not the usual May to November.