Think I can get 50 miles out of West, Middle, and Amethyst?

[Parma]

How difficult do you think it would be to get a 50 miler out of exploring the West (Kermsuh Lake), Middle (Ryder and McPheters Lakes), and Amethyst (Ostler and Amethyst Lakes) Basins?
I'm thinking of making each basin a stop and doing some day hikes in each basin too.
50 miler worthy?

 

[Mike K]

I've been to those areas and my gut tells me (without looking at a map) that it would be tough to get 50 miles out of that area. Maybe if you bag 4 or 5 peaks! =) We'll see what others say...

 

[Parma]

ya, the more i look at it, 30 miles seems more like what it would end up.

 

[Devo]

ya, the more i look at it, 30 miles seems more like what it would end up.

I once went from Amethyst to Kermsuh and then out. I think it was between 20-25. Throwing in Ryder and a peak bag and I think you could get 40.

 

[WasatchWill]

Agreed. It would be a challenge to string together 50 miles up there without retracing a bunch of footsteps. I've only done Middle Basin. Hiking up to that saddle west of Ryder gets you an amazing view of both sides. You can bag Hayden Peak from there. I plan to do it next time I get a chance to get up there again. Apparently there's a route that can get you into Middle Basin from Highline TH by going straight up to that same saddle from the west side that shaves a ton of mileage from the traditional Christmas Meadows TH approach. I'm hoping to hit up Naturalist Basin this June and get up on the ridge above there to have a look down into Middle Basin and see what a route in/out of Middle Basin would look like. If you could extend a loop going over one of those ridges from Middle Basin and back into Middle Basin with the other, taking in Naturalist Basin and Scudder lake in between, you could then probably get closer to 50 miles out of it.

 

[Devo]

Agreed. It would be a challenge to string together 50 miles up there without retracing a bunch of footsteps. I've only done Middle Basin. Hiking up to that saddle west of Ryder gets you an amazing view of both sides. You can bag Hayden Peak from there. I plan to do it next time I get a chance to get up there again. Apparently there's a route that can get you into Middle Basin from Highline TH by going straight up to that same saddle from the west side that shaves a ton of mileage from the traditional Christmas Meadows TH approach. I'm hoping to hit up Naturalist Basin this June and get up on the ridge above there to have a look down into Middle Basin and see what a route in/out of Middle Basin would look like. If you could extend a loop going over one of those ridges from Middle Basin and back into Middle Basin with the other, taking in Naturalist Basin and Scudder lake in between, you could then probably get closer to 50 miles out of it.

^^^ good idea, you may even be able to skip Kermsuh and still get 50 doing this. Depending on how much of Natural basin you did.

Mostly just thinking out loud for myself but Grandview to Christmas Meadows would be an awesome point to point as well! That shortcut from Highline to to Middle basins looks pretty mean with a pack on, but I know its very popular so must not be too bad.