High Sierra Topix

Instead of a backpacking meet up you should all come out to the annual trail project at Reds Meadow from June 26th - July 7th. Then we can meet, hike the trails, work the trails, all while eating good food and actually having showers and laundry.

The big plan for a trip this year is not the usual, but a once in a life time cruise with the wife around the British Isles in late May. That will eat up all of my vacation time, so any Sierra trips after the cruise will be on my dime.

But I do have plans to done something. Top on the list is the Meet-up in Wallace Basin. I'd like to get there from the western side since I do not visit that area often, and would like to get to know it better. If the western approach is not feasible because of time, then I will check in with Mav to see if there is any space left on his permit over Shepard. If finances and vacation time does not allow that, then a late season trip over Taboose to summit Split Mountain since I did not get it done last year, then do some fishing in and around the Bench lake area.

rlown wrote:who is "signed up?"

Not me. I just jam up there in the am, get a walk-in permit and go.

I'm pretty much going no matter what. I've done various loops and min-thru hikes from the THs in that region (Horseshoe, Portal, Shepherd, Onion), but never end-to-end, thus missing the Wallace area. So here's the perfect opportunity.

I remember a ranger mentioning the spot as one of the GT holy grails. I also recall thinking I would never fish it - too far, too remote, big elevation gain/drop, too everything. After all, it takes 2-3 days of (pretty hard) hiking just to get there - so 4-6 days for transit alone.

However, I'm going to link up the hike with another notable mysto spot that I'm determined to spend at least a few hours fishing this time around.

Since this might be my last full summer vacation for a little while I'm going to make the most of it and make it memorable. The reason why I say this is because I am a student going into my Senior year in my undergraduate studies at Berkeley. I plan on doing Graduate school afterwards. So thus I might not have a full 2.5 months to wander the Sierra for a while. (P.S. If anyone knows a little bit about Sierra Nevada History I find it extremely fitting that I go to Berkeley and have a serious love for wandering the Sierra Nevada mountains every summer. A very large number of early Sierra explorers were Berkeley graduates or even Professors!)

Trip 1: I am an extremely avid photographer and thus a lot of my backpacking focus on making photographs of remote areas or areas that undoubtedly beautiful. So my first trip I have planned for is early June. I want to visit The Minarets region in the Ansel Adams Wilderness in probably 4 days. My plans on are getting some early season shots of the Minarets up against Minaret, Iceberg, and Cecile Lakes. I'll be shooting dry plates using a 4x5 field camera. The plates I coated myself so its' really an opportunity for me to take some shots of the area with a medium that hasn't been seen in that area since Ansel Adams himself!

Trip 2: My next trip is one I've been looking forward to finishing for over 3 years now. My friend and I planned on doing the whole JMT 2 years ago but due to some shoe issues we had to stop at the halfway point. Well this year we are planning on doing the whole thing again. The only reason that might fall through is if he gets a job that won't let him start after we finish. Keeping my fingers crossed that that doesn't happen. This should be about a 23 day trip with excursions into both 60 Lake Basin and the Upper Kern Basin where I hope to do some peak bagging as that has become another interest of mine.

Trip 3: I may be equally excited for this trip as the JMT. This one as of now I plan on doing solo. My plan is to start at Mineral King and go over Sawtooth Pass. From there I plan on trekking into 9 Lake Basin and then cross over into Kaweah Basin via Pyra-Queen Col. From there I plan on exploring Kaweah Basin and heading down towards Junction Meadow (Kern). From there I plan on heading north into the Upper Kern where I plan on peak bag and explore the area. After that I intend on crossing Harrison Pass and make my way to Lake Reflection. From there it's crossing Longley Pass to South Guard Lake where I plan on bagging Brewer and hopefully North Guard. After it's a short trek down into Cloud Canyon. I then make my way up Cloud Canyon to Lion Lake Pass and drop down to Lion Lake. At this point I plan on making the climb up to Lion Rock Pass and into 9 Lake Basin again and back down to the Big 5 Lakes. Then 1 day out via Black Rock and Glacier Passes to Mineral King. The plan is to do it in about 12-13 days. I'd say about 60% of it is cross country. I've been in several of these parts or at least seen them fairly close last year when I did a 110+ Mile loop of Deadman and Cloud Canyons. If you think this trip will be filled with unbelievable scenery and some of the most pristine areas in the Sierra you're absolutely right. That's why I'm so excited to go on it. At the moment I have no one interested in going with me. I haven't set any dates yet because I don't know when I'll finish the JMT but I think it will be late July into early August. PM me if you're at all interested in possibly doing a part of it with me. I don't hike too fast, but I do stop to take photographs.

Happy planning everyone!

My wife went back to college and became a cardiac ICU nurse a few years ago. Before she graduated we were able to do the entire JMT northbound in the heavy snow year of 2011 and had a great time. She now has saved up enough vacation so we are ready to do it from Yosemite to Whitney Portal. Got our permits for 22 days going out of Happy Isles. There will be 3 of us and I plan to do a slower trip of about 23 days. Our previous trips were 18 and 16 days.

This is my 3rd complete JMT so I want to bring my Canon 6D and a 17-40mm and 24-105mm lenses for more challenging photos. Looking for a slightly more weight capacity backpack to help me carry the extra weight. I have used a ULA Catalyst for the last 7 years but don't want to add another 5-7 pounds of camera gear without a more substantial pack. I will probably have my son carry a 2 pound tripod/head combo for the low light photography. Thinking about a Osprey Xenith 85 or an REI Crestrail 70 pack. I will go visit REI when my dividend arrives to see which pack gives me the better fit. I want something comfortable up to 45 pounds. I like my ULA at about 35 pounds or less at the start of a 10-12 resupply leg. I like it a lot better after eating half the food in my Bearikade expedition.

Backpacking is what gets me motivated to lose the weight I seem to gain every winter. I tend to loose half the weight with the training walks and hikes before the trip and the rest on a multiple week trip. Backpacking is the only time I can eat all I want and still lose weight.

I would love to be out multiple weeks each year but our elderly parents live a couple of thousand miles away so we use some vacation time most years to visit them while we can. We Looking forward to doing the PCT after retiring. After that I just want to spend some extended time wandering into parts of the Sierra that I haven't reached yet.

My dad, my wife, and I have recently established a tradition of taking a week long backpacking trip each summer. This year, we're hoping to hike in over Shepherd Pass and climb Mt Williamson and Mt Tyndall. Then we hope to explore the Upper Kern and Milestone Basins before heading south and climbing Whitney. I've climbed it three times before but my wife and dad never have. So I'm super excited for them to have an opportunity.

Other than that, I'm trying to get my mom into backpacking so we're planning a three day two night Tuolumne Meadows to Agnew Meadows trip.

My wife starts med school in Arizona in mid July, but if there's time, I also would love to explore Amphitheater Lakes Basin the surrounding area.

I'm hoping to have a really good year in the Sierra. It's hard to make hard plans until close to the trip dates, but here is how things are shaping up.

The summer will mainly be focused on 2 big trips:
- 5 Day trip to Silver Divide area late July
- 9 Day trip to Bear Lakes area in mid September to hopefully do a trip that I tried and failed last year.

Other than that, here are some smaller trips that I'm hoping to get in as well:
- Memorial Day car camping trip with my 1.5 y/o kid. His first time to the Sierra.
- Day hike up the Whitney trail to Trail Crest w/ Callie. Got a June 9th permit.
- Dayhike up Olancha Peak.
- Overnight in Cottonwood lakes w/ Langley summit.
- Overnight in Big Pine Lakes area.

We'll see how it plays out.

Andymorgosh

That is too much in too short of time for a first backpacking trip for your mom. Make it 4 nights or do something shorter, like up Lyle Canyon, over to Vogelsang area then back to Tuolumne meadows.

Mike

I typically take a couple of short early trips and a couple of short late trips. In between are where the longer trips go, and by longer I mean only 5 to 10 days.

The first trip coming up soon is to do some backcountry skiing in the Tetons where my brother lives. I've not done that type of skiing before and its been about 20 yrs since I did any type of skiing (alpine) so it will be interesting.

One of the early backpacking trips this year will be a loop that includes the Tablelands. I'd like to get in there just as the snow melts but before the mosquito hatch is in full force. I will probably have a partner for this trip.

In June I want to do a section of the High Route. I still have the two north sections to do, but I'm thinking of first doing a southern route from Mineral King to KC Road's End similar to Bill Finch's route. After Glacier Pass and Hand & Knees Pass (or Blackrock Pass) I am considering a "side trip" into Kaweah Basin via Pyra-Queen Col, but might just head east over Pants Pass and bypass KB. After Milestone Pass I plan to cross the Kern-Kaweah Divide at Thunder Pass and travel through Brewer and Sphinx Basins. This is a solo trip so far.

A few weeks or so before the Wallace Lake meetup my brother may come out from Jackson to lead me up the East Buttress or East Face of Whitney. One nearby peak he hasn't done is Lone Pine, so we may do that, too.

For the meetup I'd like to start at Onion Valley and come out at Whitney Portal. The planned route is Kearsarge Pass, Deerhorn Saddle, Harrison Pass, and Russell-Carillon Pass. The route depends on working out a way to spot my car at Whitney Portal and get to Onion Valley. So far this is a solo trip.

Around Labor Day I'd like to do another section of the High Route.

In Oct and/or Nov I will do a weekender or two. I like to wait for Indian summer conditions and head out on short notice. It is pretty when the Sierra has already been dusted with some light storms.
Of course plans are easy to make . . .
-Scott

I'm way behind in my planning this year. I usually have every step planned and mapped out by the end of January.

This year is a bit different because we have a new puppy. He's a lab, so no strenuous activity until he's at least a year old so his joints and hips stay healthy. We'll be working heavily on his camp and trail manners this spring and summer. Once he's done with his vaccinations we'll start taking some 'practice' camping weekends, hopefully out to Bishop to do some climbing and get him used to being out there.

As for me, I'll be leaving the pup with the husband and taking a week or two in the high country. If I can get the additional time off of work so close to a long visit to my family, I'll join the meetup (I have some rough deadlines around then so it might be tough). Or, I might just take a couple of weeks later in August and as balzaccom is also planning, work my way down 395. I'd love to tag a bunch of SPS peaks still on my list. Maybe a few 2-3 day in and out trips. Some friends have exciting trips planned but I have conflicts with weddings and family visits but maybe i can at least meet up with folks before and after trips or somewhere on the trail.

Whatever I do, I'll be playing it much more flexible than usual this year. But I kind of like the idea of loading up my Outback for a couple of weeks and combining long dayclimbs and car camping with a few short backpacks.

Obligatory puppy photo: Mighty Thor, my soon-to-be adventure buddy