High Sierra Topix

Leaving out of Reds meadow Friday night sept 23

You meant July 22.

yes that's what I meant I always have to have some mistake in my posts!

I'm in Maverick! Looks like a great location

I'm in Maverick! Looks like a great location

Alright Bluewater, will be interesting to read all the different routes, that people will be taking to get to the Meet-up location.

maverick wrote:

I'm in Maverick! Looks like a great location

Alright Bluewater, will be interesting to read all the different routes, that people will be taking to get to the Meet-up location.

With so many options it's possible each person may take a different route. I'm looking forward to it!

I may be starting back at Mono Pass to finish up some of the northern half of the SHR and break it up with 2 days at the meetup.

I camped less than 300 meters from the cross hairs this year. My route was: Lyell Canyon, Donohue Pass, Marie Lakes, Rodgers Lakes, Davis Lakes, Clinch Pass (caution: steep and loose), Twin Island Lakes, Bench Canyon, Blue Lakes, Rockbound Saddle, "Harriet Pass", Harriet Lake, Foerster Ridge, Lyell Fork headwaters, Sluggo Pass, Hutchings Creek, Lewis Fork, Bernice Lake, Gallison Lake, "Golden Eagle Pass", Ireland Lake, Lyell Canyon. Names in quotes are unofficial. I came down from Foerster Ridge as the light was fading, and camped pretty much at the first flat spot below the ridge, SW from outlet of lake labeled WL10217T, near some willows.

Here is a link to the map with passes. To turn off labels of the passes, click "Menu" in upper right, and then in right half of the menu click on "Label On". Click on each pass for more description. Reload the page if description is blank.

Added: See photos in a later post in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=13655&start=96#p103895

It seems like the most straightforward and logical route out of Mammoth would be to simply follow the SHR northbound. Depending on mood & conditions, the return could go over Roger's pass to the PCT. However, Roper mentions a loop back to Mammoth by continuing north on the SHR to Vogelsang, cut over @ Evelyn to regain the PCT, and then back south to the TH. Or, just hike to Tuolumne and catch the shuttle back to Mammoth.

Knowing myself, going north on the SHR while enthused & energetic would be the obvious choice. Leaving the the meet-up spot, I'd probably begin to lose interest in any more challenging x-country and want to get home fast, safe & sound. Both Rogue's & Mark's warning about Roger's pass doesn't go unheeded; nor does Roper's general comment:

Straightforward X-country between Blue lakes pass and Tuolumne meadows proves impossible because of the Mt Lyell's group radiating western ridges, most of which harbor steep, snowy north sides unpleasant and even dangerous to the backpacker.

Hmm, I may be dumb but I don't think I'm stupid. LOL. But seriously, think about it for a moment: the dude who stitched together the premier x-country path through the High Sierra decided to route it along a heavily traveled, crowded horsepacker trail from Blue lakes pass to Tuolumne. ??? Well, he states the reason out loud in the quote above.

[Mav, I'm just thinking out loud here trying to jot down some initial impressions. Let me know if this isn't the right space.]

So, my initial thoughts are a loop out of Agnew Meadows (Mammoth). The key (and long) day would be crossing both Glacier & Blue lakes pass to reach the meet-up spot, so I'd want to be camping west of TI lake to get an early morning start.

It's a 6 hr drive to Mammoth from OC, so I could get there by 10am if I left my house @ 4am. If I got going by noon, doing the SHR from Devil's PP to TI would probably take 1.5 days, which would put me below Glacier for day 3. Alternatively, I could just head up the river trail from Agnew on day 1 and get to the west-end of TI for dinner, saving a day & energy.

After hanging out with the HST crew, I'd probably head out for Vogelsang/Evelyn lake after lunch. It looks to be around 20 miles from Evelyn back to Agnew meadows via the PCT, so I'd probably just book it all the way back to the TH.

This route would be an interesting hike, because it combines a very remote area with **the** most heavily trafficked trail during absolute prime time. Hmmm. A possible alternative would be to simply hike to Tuolumne Mdw from Vogelsang down Rafferty creek to catch the shuttle back to Mammoth. But that involves getting there on time, getting a long bus ride (including the side trip to June lake, 'natch), sitting around for another bus ride down Minaret back to the car, then turning around and driving home. It seems like it would be a lot more fun just to walk back, even if it was packed with earnest, overloaded SOBO JMT hikers, rather than deal with planes, trains & automobiles.

Besides, unless we miss this year, we typically go on our annual east side road trip/RV camping extravaganza to TM in June, where I get to do some fun day hikes like this one: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=12987

As I'm typing this and looking through my maps & considering the logistics, I'm beginning to lean very heavily towards Roper's suggestion, which is to stop thinking too hard & just do the (damn) loop.

Karl,

Some miscellaneous feedback on your route questions - (keeping in mind that my feelings about some of these trails is pretty subjective, in part):

Hobbes wrote:The key (and long) day would be crossing both Glacier & Blue lakes pass to reach the meet-up spot, so I'd want to be camping west of TI lake to get an early morning start.

I'm sure you (being a very fast person!) may be able to pull this off in a day, but do you want to? This stretch is what I call the Magical Kingdom section of the SHR. It doesn't get any better than this. It is something to savor. There are plenty of camping options along this stretch. I should mention also that even for a fast person, this section can be very slow going. Top of North Glacier Pass is long slow talus slog; Catherine to the southernmost Twin Island Lake is steep and very convoluted (typical confusing metamorphic landscape); navigation from there to Blue Lakes is not straightforward.

Starting points: You bring up the idea of starting from Agnew or Devils PP onto the SHR, but you don't mention where exactly you would intend to join the SHR. Lots of options here - listed from south to north:

1. Devils PP to Beck Lakes. I haven't done this, but ask around here about Nancy Pass. (Slow?)
2. Devils PP to Minaret Lake. The stretch from Minaret Lake onward is magnificent, of course. However, I don't find the trail to Minaret Lake to be interesting at all. And that's a long trail approach, longer than what's indicated on most maps. (9 miles?)
3. Agnew up the Shadow Creek Trail to Ediza, then join SHR towards Nydiver Lakes. Wonderful all around. The Shadow Creek Trail is beautiful. Crowded till Ediza.
4. Agnew to River Trail to cutoff up to Garnet Lake. Turn Garnet around its north side, to reach the basin west of Garnet and under Banner Peak. (There is a little lake up there.) Join the SHR there. Personally, if my goal was to reach western end of TI Lake by Night 1, I'd probably go this way. You lose the people faster, and you get to see that great basin west of Garnet, and the bump from there into the TI basin is very easy going.
5. Agnew to River Trail to TI Lake as you mentioned.

As for your exit:

I enjoyed the Isberg Pass Trail (which compromises the first ~5 miles of trail that you'd do). I was there during high season (early August) and we did not see one single other person the whole way to Lewis Creek. The trail is narrow and not heavily trodden. Just how I like it. From Lewis Creek to the JMT it is also not very crowded. This is not a super-heavily-trodden area of Yosemite. Mostly just some folks at Vogelsang.

If you then go southbound: Let's say you need to return to Agnew Meadows. From TI Lake, you could take the "High Trail" (the PCT) instead of the River Trail or the JMT. You'd lose the JMT crowds, and get much more spectacular views than on the River Trail.

Rafferty Creek Trail. Plus: Very fast walk out. Minus: About the least scenic trail in Yosemite. Wide, forested, mule poop, etc. etc.

- Elizabeth

Lisa, thanx for the tips & info. I've done bits & pieces of each on the Mammoth side, but haven't connected anything into a single trip. I imagine that since you've been up there two years in row with Mav & crew, you've had a good chance to spec out the highlights.

So you think it would be best to spend two days getting from Glacier to the meet-up spot rather than rush? What would you drop if you had to lose a day? Beck/Nancy pass, the trail to Minaret? The simplest option would be to write-off Mammoth and just hike the PCT high trail from Agnew to the west end of TI in the afternoon after arriving to save time/energy. That would free up a slower pace over a next few days to the meet-up spot in prime back country.

Glad to hear the Isberg/Merced HSC/Vogelsang HSC trail up Lewis creek isn't that busy. Not sure if it's worth shuttling cars or taking the bus from TM if the remainder along Rafferty is like the PCT through the same type of dusty, flat, forested area northbound along Lyell after the Evelyn/Ireland junction. If I did decide to hike back to Agnew, it would be along the PCT high trail as you suggested.

That would mean taking the river trail up to TI - not going up the SHR through Minaret/Cecil/Iceberg means the other option would be northbound on the JMT from Shadow. Just the thought of passing dozens of SOBOs, each expecting a cheerful hello, could turn me into a curmudgeon. I mean, it's fun to run into the random person now & then, but the full onslaught of the JMT in prime time would be a little too much.

The other option is Rush creek, but I've been up that trail enough times to last awhile.

The more I think about this, it seems like if I don't have the extra days to properly do the SHR from Devils PP to Blue lakes pass, I should focus on just getting myself to TI, slow down from Glacier to the meet-up, enjoy the Isberg trail, take the spur to Evelyn, then back over Donohue, and stick to the high line south.

What are your plans on getting to spot X?