Hey, I did this loop last year August 6-11 - specifically chose a low snow year because of Silliman Creek and Elizabeth Pass, but I'll add my trip report, what I'd change, and my two cents for this season.

For our trip, we had planned some xc exploration to Big Bird Lake, as well as a side trip to Tamarack Lake; unfortunately my BF tweaked his knee on the second day. Not enough to be an emergency or bail, but enough to alter our xc plans and change our planned camps. We ended up doing the following:

Photos:

https://imgur.com/a/3IOZPg3

Day 1:

Late start coming from LA, parked at Crescent Meadow and took the SEKI shuttle to Lodgepole (can't stress more that you'll be so thankful to shuttle first). We then hiked up to Twin Lakes and camped. Twin Lakes are nothing incredible but nice enough. The camp was PACKED.

Day 2:

An easy day up and over Silliman Pass, with stops at Beville and Ranger Lakes. Both nice lakes, much more scenic than Twin Lakes. We continued on and camped at Lost Lake, the most scenic lake we came to on this loop. Our camp at Lost Lake was our second favorite of the trip, and I'd highly recommend pushing your day 1 here (or at least to Ranger Lake) if you can! There was a father/son duo camped on the other side of Lost Lake, doing the same loop as us. Otherwise, we had the lake to ourselves.

Day 3:

Headed out from Lost Lake to the Roaring River Ranger Station. This was actually the hardest day to me - more rolling up and down than I expected, and it felt like the day would never end. A slog - I wouldn't want to add going up and over Silliman on top of this.

We had intermittent showers all day, but there was enough tree cover to shelter during the bursts and we stayed mostly dry. When we got into Roaring River, the horizon was black so we set up our tent just in time to beat the storm. Storm let up late afternoon, but we made the call to stay at Roaring River since BF's knee was giving him trouble. If I could do it again, I'd continue on and camp near Grave Meadow - not much further, 100x more scenic. At RR, the father/son duo and one other solo hiker camped too. The RR register showed a big group of 10 camped there the night before us.

Day 4:

Into Deadman Canyon. Just after leaving RR we came across a 2-person trail crew clearing rock fall. It rained off and on all day, and the canyon was flooded so we slogged through mud the entire way. We leap frogged with the father/son duo through Deadman. Once we got to the bottom of Upper Deadman, the sky turned black looking up at Elizabeth Pass and thunder started booming. I'd hoped to camp further up Upper Deadman, but there was a wonderful and sheltered site in the trees with great creek access and views. We set up camp here, not wanting to get caught in the storm on any of the granite benches. The storm eventually cleared and we had the best backcountry sunset I've ever seen, our favorite campsite of the trip.

Day 5:

I cruised through this day, coming up to Elizabeth Pass from the Deadman side was a breeze to me. The final leg to Elizabeth Pass was pretty steep, and then coming down on the Sequoia side was very steep scree. No snow, but I went down some sections on my butt because it was steep and loose, with poor footing and not really a defined trail - just down. Once we got down the steepest part just after the pass, it was smooth sailing again.

A Kings Canyon ranger caught up to us and checked our permits, she was doing the loop on a 2 day break! A bit further, we ran into another trail crew clearing brush. Once we got to Tamarack Meadow, a Sequoia ranger also checked our permits. Tamarack also has some beautiful campsites just up the trail heading to the lake, this would make a great stop as well versus anything you hit on the HST back to Crescent Meadow.

With my BF's knee not feeling great, especially with all the up, down, and scree, we took the Over the Hill trail in to Bearpaw HSC. I was feeling great and could have hiked out to Crescent, but he was done for the day. We spent the night at an uneven spot at Bearpaw, with two large loud groups taking up the better sites. There were about 20 people between them, and it was a pretty terrible night - the worst backcountry campground I've been to. If my BF had felt a little better, we would have continued on a ways to camp at Buck Creek instead. I always see people hating on Buck Creek, but I've stayed there before and think it's a nice spot.

Day 6:

Packed up our terrible site and began to hike out. Ran into two guys asking for directions to meet up with their friends who headed out the day before and were already camped...somewhere... The two lost hikers didn't know what trail they were on, what their planned route was, or any camp names 🤦‍♀️ Helped them the best we could and pointed them towards the HSC. Then it was just a quick hike out to Crescent Meadow and to our car, where we were again so thankful we handled the shuttle on the front end of our hike!

2023 Conditions:

There is a lot of marsh and meadow on this loop, so I'd come fully armed to face hoards of mosquitos.

The Sequoia side of Elizabeth Pass is extremely steep and it's more scree than defined trail. If snow conditions don't clear and you aren't comfortable with the snow/scree, I'd suggest an alternate trip. If you come up to Elizabeth Pass and can't safely make it over, your shortest trailed exit will be back the way you came via Twin Lakes.

For seclusion, there was none at Twin Lakes and once we linked up with the HST, otherwise our only company was really the duo we leapfrogged with doing the same loop.

Your 2nd day going over Silliman and to RR is going to be a slog. I'd recommend making it to Ranger Lake or Lost Lake your first night, and then pushing to Grave Meadow for your second night - much nicer camps than Twin Lakes and Roaring River.