I climbed Whitney over the summer after some training in the spring. Next year I'd love to find a great trans-Sierra route. Any suggestions on route? Ideally would be ~30-40 miles. Thanks!

I've done several Trans-Sierra Day Hikes (TSDH). None are even 30 miles, though.

The biggest issue is transportation to/from the trail heads. On each one I did, we hiked in two groups, trading cars before the hike, and meeting in the middle and trading car keys. That way, our car was waiting at the end of the hike so we could drive home.

Here's what I have done:
Onion Valley to Roads End in Kings Canyon
Rock Creek (above Tom's Place/Crowley Lake) to Edison Lake
Devils Postpile to Clover Meadow
Tuolumne Meadows to Yosemite Valley

Granted the one in Yosemite isn't really Trans-Sierra, and technically, the Devils Postpile crossing isn't either. But they are all fun, and are more like about 20 miles.

I even did a Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim day hike with the same car-swap / key-swap several years ago. Definitely makes for a fun trip.

How about Bloody Canyon to Yos Valley?

What is the trail head or access point to Bloody Canyon?

I believe Bloody Canyon originates near Lee Vining and connects with Mono Pass trail.

The Bloody Canyon trailhead is accessed by Oil Plant Road, which is a few miles south of Lee Vining, off Highway 395. Follow the dirt road (ok for 2wd) until you come to a locked gate to a private fishing resort. You can park below the gate (access to hikers ok) and then hike on up toward Bloody Canyon.

The trail takes you over Mono Pass (the more Northerly one) and then on down to Highway 120 a couple of miles from Tuolumne Meadows. The approach to Mono Pass is strenuous and rocky. Nice campsites on the other side of the pass, and a few old miners cabins.

From Tuolumne Meadows take the John Muir trail down into Yosemite Valley, via Bear Valley (well-named, because it is the migration route for Ursa).

I did this hike several years ago, as a two-day into Tuolumne Meadows.

Thanks Bob. I found it on Gmap4. Here's the link.

A friend in Bishop saw this thread and suggested the Middle Fork of the Kings River. Start at South Lake out of Bishop, hike south over Bishop Pass, down to the JMT. South on the JMT 2-3 miles, then south down the MF Kings River. South through Simpson Meadow, southwest into Tehipite Valley. Here's where it gets difficult: The trail then climbs out of Tehipite Valley through Crown Valley eventually reaching a road. ...or what I've always wanted to try is descending down the canyon off-trail until it reaches the road near Yucca Point in Kings Canyon N.P.

I keep missing the chance to explore up that canyon in the fall from Yucca Point, to see just how difficult the descent would be.

If I ever pull off this hike, it will definitely be way more than a day-hike.

In 2013, I met a couple in LeConte on that 2-3, running up this route W-E, definitely a day hike for them. Vests and hydration, shorts and trail runners, They carried a message from me to the LeConte Ranger who was in Dusy that day, which led to helping another hiker I had been with the day before. Interesting route for sure.

Saltydog, are you saying they started at Yucca Point that day and were already on the JMT? What month was that? What time of day?

The reason I am asking...

   Yucca Pt:     3400 elev
   Kings R:      2300'
   JMT jct:      8000'
   Leconte:      8700'
   Bishop Pass: 12000'

10k vertical gain with many miles (8 or 9) of off-trail stream channel hiking. OMG!!!

August 16-18, 2013, about noon. Mile or so South of the LeConte Ranger Station. Not sure where they started, but definitely doing a daytime trans-Sierra over Bishop.

Anyway, Ranger got the message, and got the lady transported out by pack train later that day or the next.

Thanks for the responses so far. To the extent anyone with ideas could post more details on the possibilities I would appreciate it such as a map or a webpage link. I'm looking for something specifically in the 30-40 mile range and is truly Trans-Sierra.

It's kind of difficult to keep throwing out ideas for you without much participation from you. Are you truly interested in a 40-mile DAY hike? Are you an ultrarunner or marathon hiker or what? How many passes might you be able to do in this "day" hike? Mt Whitney is 22 miles -- how long did that take you?

What means would you have to arrange transportation? Do you have two cars and a friend to drive one to the exit point, or someone who will drive to the opposite side while you hike the route?

Those sorts of things are a bigger deal in planning such a hike than actually hiking the route.

My favorite online map site for planning is gmap4 (mappingsupport.com). Here's a link to the gmap4 map with the cross hairs on the Onion Valley trail head. If you want 40 miles, hike over Kearsarge Pass, take the JMT north over Glenn Pass, and descend to Roads End via Rae Lakes and Woods Creek/Paradise Valley. That route is part of a 40-mile ultra-runner loop out of Roads End. (Roads End in Kings Canyon is named "Kanawyers" on the map.)

I went from Onion Valley over Kersarge and down Bubbs Creek to Roads end in Kings Canyon. Paved road to paved road and back in 23 hours. 42ish miles I think and you get the challenge of having the biggest climb during the second half. Zero logistics since it's an out and back, yet looks completely different each way due to time of day.

It took me 9.5 hrs to do Whitney (https://www.strava.com/activities/630277781) so I was thinking that I could probably manage 40 miles in 16 hours assuming there was slightly less elevation. I could arrange transportation so any option works (out and back, loop or point to point).

Thanks for the suggestion from Onion Valley. I will do more research.

Thanks very much for the suggestion. Will do some research.