relative difficulty of HST?

[balzaccom]

Sorry, but as I read Marksor's post, it doesn't seem very friendly to me. I don't think anyone likes to read a paraphrase of their position as "blah blah blah."

I am sorry the sparkler didn't feel welcome here. I suspect that if we met him or her on the trail, we would become good friends.

[Wandering Daisy]

It is probably not wise to make assuptions about anyone without knowing them. Nevertheless, if you do not wish to invite assumptions, then introduce yourself more completely. A lot of the perceived negative advise was simply due to concern about safety. I agree Markskor's post was a bit testy, but then, the person posting made plenty of testy remarks (seemed way too defensive) well prior to it. Members here gave a lot of good useful advise, for which they spent time thinking about and writing. That should be a bit more appreciated. After many years, I know this forum is very civil and well monitored and most member are well meaning.

[oldranger]

Early on I was going to comment why did the OP ask for advice if he/she was going to respond that everything every one suggested was not relevant to him/her. I read the OP's responses as "You don't know or understand me, so how can you give me advice?" Of course we don't, but we do know the Sierra and we know the type of problems that people with no experience in the Sierra typically have on their first trips. Seems to me whether or not the the OP chooses to follow the advice the gracious response would be "Thanks, I'll consider your advice."

[sekihiker]

Folks on this board have been known to get touchy about what is the proper hiking pace.

Fat and aged 52, I tackled the HST and enjoyed it immensely. I planned the trip as an out and back from Crescent Meadow. The cross country return route I planned to take was blocked by snow, so I hiked out to Roads End near Cedar Grove and partially hitched a ride back to my car. Now that I think about it, it might have been fun to go back the way I came in. The scenery would have been different even though the country was the same. For a trip report see: http://www.sierrahiker.com/HighSierraTrail/index.html

I suggest you visit Leor Pantilat's blog and share his joy in speeding through the Sierra. For a description of his HST trip, go to: https://pantilat.wordpress.com/2012/09/ ... trail-fkt/

[TurboHike]

hi all-

i'm a mostly east coast/AT backpacker and have been thinking about doing the HST this summer. i've noticed many mentions, both by the NPS and others, that 6 days to hike from giant forest to whitney portal is a fast trip for an experienced backpacker.

the full trip, including summiting whitney, seems to be about 72 miles. if i were planning a 72 mile trip most anywhere on the east coast i'd plan for 4 days, possibly 5. but not 6.

some of the days in a suggested 6 day itinerary are, to me, half days at best (8 or 9 miles). this generally leads me to believe that an under 6 day hike across is by no means difficult. that and i note the FKT is under 16 hours.

so has anyone here done it in 4 days? has anyone done it and a lot of the AT and can draw a comparison between them? for instance, i've hiked across the smokies and slightly beyond on the AT in 4 days. would this hike be dramatically more difficult then that? is it more like hiking in say, the white mountains or the maine high peaks?

thanks for any insights.

I did the HST trail in 5.5 days, west to east. To put this in perspective, we stuck to the trail, no side trips or off trail travel. We had lunch at the Kern Hot Spring on day 3, and lounged there for several hours. We also spent several hours atop Mt. Whitney since the weather was very good that day. We probably could have hiked out to Whitney Portal but decided to camp one more night, thus the trip spilled into the sixth day. Overall I enjoyed our pace. Can it be done faster? Absolutely. I've seen several trip reports of 4 days, and I even ran across one ultra-marathoner who did it in less than 24 hours, including summiting Whitney.

I've hiked in both the White Mountains and in Maine. One the toughest marked trails that I've ever experienced is the trail to the top of Mount Katahdin in Maine. It is more like a class 2 climb. The HST is much easier trail-wise, but of course as many have mentioned you need to account for the higher elevation.

I hope this helps.

[c0ryh]

I think the OP was one of the guys the "Stopped hiking the PCT because of toxic MA" girl ran into. He seemed like a dick to begin with. If you read his posts he's pretty condescending.

[maiathebee]

A last consideration worth mentioning is that on any day of the year the weather in the Sierra can take a brutal turn and you might have to sit out Whitney for a day to avoid lightning, or might find yourself doing some serious postholing that can be slow-going. It is unlikely that it would add more than a day, but it certainly could happen. So having that extra day available before flying out is advisable.

well sure, but i would say things like that are true of most backpacking trips to anywhere really worth going to.

The difference with the specific trip that you asked about is that you have to cross the Sierra crest at 13,600 feet to finish your trip. If there are storms, you should not cross unless you like getting struck by lightning and putting SAR teams lives at risk. You might have to spend a whole day or longer around the Crabtree area if warm moist air comes up from the gulf and settles in.

Not sure why you came here to ask for advice if you don't want to listen to it.

[jimmyjamhikes]

Not sure if this helps, but I found the HST to be about the same difficulty level as the PCT.

A buddy of mine who is a former ultramarathoner and I did a 115 mile yo-yo of the HST in August 2016 in 6 days/5 nights:

https://jimmyjamhikingclub.wordpress.co ... rra-trail/

We did an alternate on the way to Whitney shortcutting through Nine Lake Basin, over Pants Pass, and through the Kaweah-Kern basin down to the Colby Pass Trail. On the way back we stuck to the HST the whole way.

I was happy with our pace but I think my buddy could have used an extra day because he had a tougher time with the altitude.

Honestly, my favorite part of this trip was the Kern-Kaweah basin, which isn't even on the HST. But I loved every minute of the trip.

Here's a view towards Kaweah Gap from Pants Pass:

[creekfeet]

It's always enjoyable seeing the debates about the proper length of time needed to enjoy a trail. I started backpacking when I was working in Sequoia, and I'd only ever have two days off to hike. For that reason I was all about seeing as much as I could in as little time as possible when backpacking, and took more of a no stone left unturned approach during front-country explorations. While I've gotten a little better at stopping and smelling the roses, I still rarely do under 15 mile days because I have trouble suppressing the urge to see what lies around the next bend, or over the next pass.

I did Whitney as a loop going out the HST and back on the Colby Pass Trail to Lodgepole in seven days when I was in my absolute athletic prime. I would've preferred an extra day or two or five, but that was all the time I could get off work after much haggling. Even at that pace I managed to swim in just about every single lake of note, picnic in many meadows, work a nap in each day, take side excursions almost every evening, and was even able tonsoak in the hot springs for about three hours (somehow I lucked into having it all to myself for the night).

Regardless of whether you're a first time Sierra traveler, or an old-hand, remain humble out there, don't hike with too much pride, know your limitations, and be open to advice from those that have been down the trail before you.

[Wandering Daisy]

I think I also have "itchy feet" when I backpack! My husband is the opposite. You can guess that our trips together can bring up a lot of conflict. We have resolved this with destinations that have TONS of day-hiking potential. After the initial getting there (for which he swears at me the whole time we are huffing up the hill), he fishes, sleeps, reads books on his I-phone. I explore everything and come back to catch another fish or two if he had not netted enough for supper. We move then to another camp, maybe only 2-4 miles away and do the routine again. Our dog stays with him, but prefers to fish with me, because she loves fly fishing. Herding my line is her favorite activity. She swims out and heards on all those little fish. Spin fishing bores her. One of our favorite areas for our trips is Sabrina Basin, which keeps both of us perfectly happy. Humphreys Basin is another. I never understood why anyone would read a book in the wilderness. He never understood why anyone would want to run around all day. But, we seemed to have settled on a good compromise. Often, when I do a long multi-day trip, he meets me at the end so I can go point-to-point. We then spend a few days trailer tripping up 395 and fishing.