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Nellie Lake is the only site for established camps along this loop.

DAY 2 (Nellie Lake to Deer Creek Trailhead, 10 miles): From Nellie Lake, retrace your steps eastward to the Kaiser Loop Trail. Turn right (south) to descend under dense stands of red fir and lodgepole. The trail briefly parallels Home Camp Creek’s western branch before veering southeast below Peak 8403.

Continuing, the trail descends a viewless stretch into the Billy Creek drainage and reaches a junction where an eastbound trail joins the Kaiser Loop Trail (7270´).

SHUTTLE ALTERNATIVE

If you have two cars, a possible alternative to the 21-mile loop trek is to leave one car at the Deer Creek Trailhead and the other at the Upper Billy Creek Trailhead, 150 feet south of the junction with the eastbound trail and the Kaiser Loop Trail (7230´; 11S 302413 4124099). In doing so, it will bypass the next 4.5 miles, turning this loop into a 16.5-mile shuttle.

Turn left and head east along the Kaiser Loop Trail, traversing the densely forested slopes above Huntington Lake. Look for the red cones of snow plant, a saprophyte that obtains its nutrients from forest litter instead of through photosynthesis; it protrudes from the dense layer of downed debris on the forest floor. Farther east, the forest changes from dark, shady fir stands to more open Jeffrey pine stands that allow views southward across Huntington Lake and into Dinkey Lakes Wilderness.