SPRING HORSE DRIVE
Inyo National Forest/LADWP Land
4 days
June 13-17, 2025
$2100 (including fees)
Independence to Rock Creek
Space is LIMITED to 25 guests
Join us in herding the horses and mules from winter pasture in the Owens Valley to the high elevation Pack Station.
... more info
You do not have to be an expert rider but should have some time in the saddle.
For a more detailed description of the Spring and Fall Horse Drives click here
DAVIS/HILTON LAKES TRAIL RIDE #1
John Muir Wilderness
4 Days
June 19-22, 2025
Start and End at Rock Creek
$1300 (including fees)
Be among the first of the season to enjoy the beauty of nearby Hilton Lakes.
... more info
On this four-day trip we camp near Davis Lake, the largest lake in the area, or near Lake #2. There will be time for you to explore the upper lakes and the meadows below the Basin.
For a detailed description of the Hilton Lakes Trail Ride Itinerary click here.
PARENT/CHILD TRAIL RIDE
John Muir Wilderness
3 days
June 20-22, 2025
June 27-29, 2025 (CottonwoodPack Station)
July 4-6, 2025
July 11-13, 2025
July 18-20, 2025
$975 (including fees)
Start and End at Rock Creek
We invite you and your child to join us for three days of riding, fishing and camping.
... more info
Learn how to care for your horse and enjoy comfortable camping. A wonderful experience for those who enjoy meeting others with similar interests.
Click Here for a map of the area
For a detailed description of the Parent/Child Trail Ride click here.
PROFESSIONAL PACKING SCHOOL #1
Packing Fundamentals
6 days
June 23-28, 2025
$2100 (including fees)
Meet at Rock Creek Pack Station
Backcountry itinerary at Tamarack/Hilton with emphasis on mastering hitches, packing techniques
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and
management of livestock and people to minimize impact on wilderness.
For a more detailed description of our Professional Packing School courses click here.
GOLDEN TROUT TRAIL RIDE #1 and #2
Horseshoe Meadows to Horseshoe Meadows
5 days
June 23-27, 2025 and
July 7-11, 2025
$1500 (including fees)
This trip is operated by Rock Creek Pack Station dba as Mt. Whitney Pack Trains.
Ride to a remote camp deep in the Golden Trout Wilderness. This is a loop trip
that explores the expansive meadows and forests of the Kern Plateau.
... more info
On
layover days, we explore Little Whitney Meadows, a trip up Kern Peak and a ride
to Templeton Meadows. We finish the loop with a ride back over the Mulkey
Meadow Trail. .
The majestic views, streams, forests and meadows are here, but the trails are not
as steep and rocky as other parts of the High Sierra. It is a rider's paradise.
Excellent fishing for Golden Trout.
We will terminate at Horseshoe Meadows.
See a full itinerary and description HERE
General information on the Golden Trout Wilderness
HOOVER WILDERNESS TRAIL RIDE
John Muir Wilderness
4 days
July 17-20, 2025
$1400
Begin and end at Virginia Lakes Pack Outfit
This trip is operated by Virginia Lakes Pack Outfit.
Riders will depart from scenic Green Creek, and return there. Ride to East Lake. Enjoy great fishing and the secluded wilderness. The Hoover Lakes Basin is known for its beautiful lakes and unique Eastern Sierra landscape.
DAVIS/HILTON LAKES TRAIL RIDE #2
John Muir Wilderness
4 Days
June 26-29, 2025, 2025
$1350 (including fees)
Start and End at Rock Creek
Be among the first of the season to enjoy the beauty of nearby Hilton Lakes.
... more info
On this four-day trip we camp near Davis Lake, the largest lake in the area, or near Lake #2. There will be time for you to explore the upper lakes and the meadows below the Basin.
For a detailed description of the Hilton Lakes Trail Ride Itinerary click here.
PARENT/CHILD TRAIL RIDE
John Muir Wilderness
3 days
June 20-22, 2025
June 27-29, 2025 (CottonwoodPack Station)
July 4-6, 2025
July 11-13, 2025
July 18-20, 2025
$975 (including fees)
Start and End at Rock Creek
We invite you and your child to join us for three days of riding, fishing and camping.
... more info
Learn how to care for your horse and enjoy comfortable camping. A wonderful experience for those who enjoy meeting others with similar interests.
Click Here for a map of the area
For a detailed description of the Parent/Child Trail Ride click here.
PROFESSIONAL PACKING SCHOOL #2
Advanced Packing in the Wilderness (section 2)
6 days
June 30-July 5, 2025
$2100 (including fees)
This trip is operated by Rock Creek Pack Station dba as Mt. Whitney Pack Trains.
Meet at Horseshoe Meadows to begin your six day traveling educational pack trip into the Golden Trout Wilderness
Emphasis on moving camps,
... more info
wrangling and feeding livestock on the extended wilderness pack trip.
More information on the Golden Trout Wilderness
PARENT/CHILD TRAIL RIDE
John Muir Wilderness
3 days
June 20-22, 2025
June 27-29, 2025 (CottonwoodPack Station)
July 4-6, 2025
July 11-13, 2025
July 18-20, 2025
$975 (including fees)
Start and End at Rock Creek
We invite you and your child to join us for three days of riding, fishing and camping.
... more info
Learn how to care for your horse and enjoy comfortable camping. A wonderful experience for those who enjoy meeting others with similar interests.
Click Here for a map of the area
For a detailed description of the Parent/Child Trail Ride click here.
FOURTH OF JULY SPECIAL
John Muir Wilderness
4 days
July 3-6, 2025
$1400 (including fees)
Start and End at Rock Creek
Celebrate the 4th of July by starting out on a four-day trail ride to Davis Lake or Lake #2. Fishing is great, and there are day rides to Turk Meadows, Lower Hilton Creek and the Upper Hilton Lakes.
For a more detailed description of Fourth of July Special Trail Ride click here.
MULKEY MEADOWS TRAIL RIDE
4 days
July 3-6, 2025
$1400 (including fees)
Horseshoe Meadows to Horseshoe Meadows
This trip is operated by Rock Creek Pack Station dba as Mt. Whitney Pack Trains.
Explore the Golden Trout Wilderness with a loop heading over Trail Pass into the meadows and stringers of the Kern Plateau. This is a secluded wilderness area with vast meadows and trails to explore.
... more info
Day 1: Cottonwood Pack Station to Kern Peak Stringer
Day 2: Layover - ride to Little Whitney Meadows
Day 3: Layover -ride to Templeton Meadows
Day 4: Out to Cottonwood.
For a detailed description of the Mulkey Meadows Trail Ride click here.
More information on the Golden Trout Wilderness.
PARENT/CHILD TRAIL RIDE
John Muir Wilderness
3 days
June 20-22, 2025
June 27-29, 2025
July 4-6, 2025 (CottonwoodPack Station)
July 11-13, 2025
July 18-20, 2025
$975 (including fees)
Start and End at Rock Creek
We invite you and your child to join us for three days of riding, fishing and camping.
... more info
Learn how to care for your horse and enjoy comfortable camping. A wonderful experience for those who enjoy meeting others with similar interests.
Click Here for a map of the area
For a detailed description of the Parent/Child Trail Ride click here.
DAVIS/HILTON LAKES TRAIL RIDE #3
John Muir Wilderness
4 Days
July 10-13, 2025
$1300 (including fees)
Start and End at Rock Creek
Be among the first of the season to enjoy the beauty of nearby Hilton Lakes.
... more info
On this four-day trip we camp near Davis Lake, the largest lake in the area, or near Lake #2. There will be time for you to explore the upper lakes and the meadows below the Basin.
For a detailed description of the Hilton Lakes Trail Ride Itinerary click here.
COTTONWOOD LAKE TRAIL RIDE
4 days
Two Dates:
July 12-15, 2025 and August 7-10, 2024
$1500 (including fees)
This trip is operated by Rock Creek Pack Station dba as Mt. Whitney Pack Trains.
Depart from Horseshoe Meadows
Meet at Horseshoe Meadow and travel to our camp at Cottonwood Lake.
We will have day rides from the camp. Return to Horseshoe.
OUTSTANDING GOLDEN TROUT FISHING.
More information on the Golden Trout Wilderness
PARENT/CHILD TRAIL RIDE
John Muir Wilderness
3 days
June 20-22, 2025
June 27-29, 2025 (CottonwoodPack Station)
July 4-6, 2025
July 11-13, 2025
July 18-20, 2025
$975 (including fees)
Start and End at Rock Creek
We invite you and your child to join us for three days of riding, fishing and camping.
... more info
Learn how to care for your horse and enjoy comfortable camping. A wonderful experience for those who enjoy meeting others with similar interests.
Click Here for a map of the area
For a detailed description of the Parent/Child Trail Ride click here.
WINCHESTER TRAIL RIDE
Join those who enjoy riding and angling for Golden Trout on this loop throughthe Golden Trout Wilderness.
July 19-24, 2025
6 days
$2500 (including fees)
Horseshoe Meadows to Horseshoe Meadows
This trip is operated by Rock Creek Pack Station dba as Mt. Whitney Pack Trains.
Explore meadows and streams during the peak wildflower season.
... more info
We camp near creeks that comprise the native habitat of the golden trout, providing ample opportunity for anglers to catch these beautiful fish.
Day 1: Cottonwood Pack Station to Kern Peak Stringer
Day 2: Layover
Day 3: To Little Whitney Meadows
Day 4: Layover
Day 5: To Big Whitney Meadows
Day 6: Out to Cottonwood Pack Station
TRIPLE PASS TRAIL RIDE
6 days
July 20-25, 2025
$2700(including fees)
Rock Creek to Mammoth
Experience the beauty of countless streams, lakes and
meadows carpeted with wildflowers.
... more info
Route covers a portion of the Pacific Crest
Trail and crosses Mono, Silver and Duck Passes. Opportunity for trout fishing -
mornings, evenings and two layover days. Side trips planned to Hopkins Lake and
Grassy Lake.
MT. WHITNEY TRAIL RIDE
Sequoia National Park/John Muir Wilderness
6 days
July 20-25, 2025
$2900 (including fees)
This trip is operated by Rock Creek Pack Station dba as Mt. Whitney Pack Trains.
Horseshoe Meadows to Horseshoe Meadows
Pack your tackle for the ultimate Golden trout fishing adventure.
... more info
Experience the subalpine beauty of
Sequoia National Park with camps at Tyndal Creek, Wallace Creek, Crabtree Meadows and Rock Creek.
Planned itinerary:
Day 1: Horseshoe Meadow to Lower Rock Creek
Day 2: Layover
Day 3: Lower Rock Creek to Guitar Lake
Day 4: Option to climb Mt. Whitney and back to Crabtree/Sandy Meadow
Day 5: To Rock Creek
Day 6: Out to Horseshoe Meadow
More information on the Golden Trout Wilderness
YOSEMITE WILDERNESS TRAIL RIDE
-A Yosemite High Sierra Camp-
4 days
3 dates:
July 24-27, 2025
August 9-12, 2025
August 13-16, 2025
$1590 (including fees)
Yosemite National Park
Start and end at Virginia Lakes Pack Outfit.
This trip is operated by Virginia Lakes Pack Outfit.
... more info
Experience the beauty of Yosemite National Park from a quieter, less travelled perspective. Yosemite's High Sierra camps like Vogelsang, Merced Lake and Sunrise are only available to a limited number of individuals, by lottery.
Let us offer you the opportunity to enjoy that same quiet and picturesque experience. Leaving Virginia Lakes Pack Outfit, we travel over the Summit to our base camp on Return Creek.
Our camp on Return Creek is permitted for campfire use.
Detailed Itinerary : Riding time will be about five hours a day. Some prefer to rest on layover days. Guests rate this is a moderate to difficult ride. There are some steep trails and rocky sections.
Day 1-Virginia Lakes to Virginia Canyon -10 miles
The trail heads past Blue Lake, Cooney Lake and Frog Lakes before reaching the Summit. There are expansive views of the Hoover Lakes Basin. Descend down through lodgepole forests and meadows to camp alongside Return Creek.
Day 2: Ride to McCabe Lakes - 9 miles
Riders head down canyon to join the Pacific Crest Trail. Travel up through the Forest to McCabe Lakes. Good fishing and time for a hike or relaxing lunch.
Day 3: Ride to Miller Lake -11 miles
The trail heads up alongside of Spiller Creek before reaching a saddle with spectacular views. Miller Lake is fairly shallow which makes it a good swimming lake.
Day 4: Head back to Virginia Lakes. 10 miles
KERN RIVER GOLDEN TROUT HERITAGE TRAIL RIDE
7 Days
July 26-August 1 2025
$3150
This trip is operated by Rock Creek Pack Station dba as Mt. Whitney Pack Trains.
This seven-day pack trip provides a unique opportunity for both novice and experienced anglers to enjoy some of the best fly fishing the High Sierra has to offer. Guests travel by horseback into remote areas of the Golden Trout Wilderness and Sequoia National Park to fish for isolated species of Golden Trout and Kern River Rainbows.
For detailed information please click HERE.
YOSEMITE TRAIL RIDE
Rock Creek to Tuolumne
11 days
July 27 - August 6, 202
$4500 (including fees)
Rock Creek to Tuolumne Meadows
Explore over 100 miles of the John Muir-Pacific Crest Trail through wildflower-blanketed valleys, alpine lakes and forested campsites.
... more info
Opportunity for Golden, Rainbow and Brook trout fishing. The wildlife, glaciers and majestic peaks over 13,000 feet made this John Muir's favorite backcountry, his range of light.
We will ride over Mono Pass and join the John Muir Trail before crossing Silver Pass.
Continuing on past countless lakes, we skirt the mammoth Divide, permitting stirring views of Cascade Valley and Fish Creek, to descend to the base of the Minarets.
Journey past Mt. Ritter and Mt. Banner before climbing to Donohue Pass, the entrance to Yosemite National Park. Our last camp is in the Lyell Canyon. We explore what some call the most
majestic meadows in the Sierra in our last day's ride.
More information on the Yosemite Trail Ride.
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SIERRA NEVADA
Golden Trout Wilderness
5 days
July 28-Aug 1, 2025
$2050 (including fees)
Start and end at Cottonwood Pack Station
This trip is operated by Rock Creek Pack Station dba as Mt. Whitney Pack Trains.
Immerse yourself in the Natural History of the Sierra Nevada.
Join Fulbright Scholar and retired National Park Ranger Dr. Nancy Muleady-Mecham for a once in a lifetime
chance to learn all about these mountains and the nature within them.
... more info
We will explore the night sky in the truly dark skies of the backcountry. We will learn about animal adaptations, birds and mammals;
Sierra geology, glaciation, and weather; dendrochronology (the science of tree-ring dating), the mixed conifer and alpine
forests, wildflowers, fire ecology; and indigenous people through time. Bring binoculars,
cameras and your sense of wonder.
Look here for trip details.
VIRGINIA LAKES TO TUOLUMNE MEADOWS TRAIL RIDE
Starts at Virginia Lakes Pack Outfit ends at Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite
6 days
August 2-7, 2025
$2800 (including fees)
This trip is operated by Virginia Lakes Pack Outfit.
Explore the unseen Yosemite during the peak wildflower bloom. Join others that share a love of the backcountry, fishing and sharing stories around the campfire. A unique opportunity to experience secluded wilderness and ride through the majestic meadows of the Park.
... more info
Virginia Lakes to Virginia Canyon
Virginia Canyon to Miller Lake
Miller Lake to McCabe Lake
McCabe Lake to Glen Aulin
Out to Tuolomne Meadows
More information on the Virginia Lakes to Tuolumne Trail Ride.
LABOR DAY TRAIL RIDE
John Muir Wilderness
3 days
August 30-September 1, 2025
$922.50 (including fees)
Start and End at Rock Creek
A leisurely trail ride to the lakes and streams of the East Fork of Rock Creek.
... more info
Our camp at Dorothy Lake provides easy access to Catherine, Buck, Francis,
Deer and Dam lakes. The Tamarack Basin provides alternating forest, meadows and streams - ideal for those seeking wilderness seculsion without a long ride to camp.
EVOLUTION VALLEY TRAIL RIDE
John Muir Wilderness
10 Days
Sept 2-11, 2025
$4500 (including fees)
Ride the John Muir-PCT on this ten-day loop going south to King's Canyon National Park, over Mono Pass, Selden Pass, Evolution Valley, Muir Pass to LeConte Canyon and out via Bishop Pass. Many feel this is the most complete representation of all zones of the High Sierra. This trip is designed for those who enjoy a lot of riding. Layover days at Bear Creek, Evolution Valley and LeConte Canyon provide acess to some of the finest Golden Trout fishing in the High Sierra.
PROFESSIONAL PACKING SCHOOL
John Muir Wilderness
6 days
September 6-11, 2025
$12100 (including fees)
Start and End at Rock Creek
Master packing, outfitting, and wrangling skills.
... more info
In this a six-day pack trip into Mono Creek you will spend time mastering your packing and outfitting skills. Emphasis on wrangling and moving camp daily to improve packing skills. This fall session will be an ideal course for those who have completed UC packing courses, Backcountry Horseman seminars and introductory packing clinics.
For a more detailed description of our Professional Packing School courses click here.
FALL HORSE DRIVE
Inyo National Forest/LADWP Land
4 days
September 13-16, 2025
$2100 (including fees)
Rock Creek to Independence
Space is LIMITED to 25 guests
Join us in herding the horses and mules to winter pasture in the Owens Valley.
... more info
You do not have to be an expert rider but should have some time in the saddle. Beautiful time of year to ride.
For a more detailed description of the Spring and Fall Horse Drives click here
FALL COLOR TRAIL RIDES #1 and #2,
Start and End at Rock Creek
3 days
September 20-22, 2025 (#1)
$1100 (including fees)
A leisurely trail ride to the lakes and streams of the East Fork of Rock Creek.
... more info
Our camp provides easy access to Catherine, Buck, Francis,
Deer and Dam lakes. The Tamarack Basin provides alternating forest, meadows and streams - ideal for those seeking wilderness seculsion without a long ride to camp.
ROAD SCHOLAR PROGRAMS
Please go to the ROAD SCHOLAR website to see the trips offered by Road Scholar and supported by
Rock Creek, Cottonwood and Mt. Whitney Pack Trains.
A l.ist of dates is shown below:
June 8-12, 2025
July 13-17, 2025
August 24-28, 2025
September 7-11, 2025
MT. LANGLEY TRAIL RIDE
August 2-6, 2025
See wildflowers and fish for golden trout on this trip into the Golden Trout Wilderness.
5 days
$1900
Horseshoe Meadows to Horseshoe Meadows
This trip is operated by Rock Creek Pack Station dba as Mt. Whitney Pack Trains.
Layover days provide ample opportunity for anglers to catch golden trout, or explore the beautiful meadows filled with wildflowers.
Day 1: Cottonwood Pack Station to Big Whitney Meadow
Day 2: Layover
Day 3: To Upper Rock Creek
Day 4: Layover
Day 5: Out to Cottonwood Pack Station
