Trip Report: HIgh Sierra Route Middle Section

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nsmeier
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Trip Report: HIgh Sierra Route Middle Section

Post by nsmeier »

Middle Section High Sierra Route
Nick, Alan, Cynthia, Dean, Frank, Lawrence
July 17-23

Day 1: Puite Creek Trail Head to Mesa Lake (≈9 miles)
Day 2: Mesa Lake to Merriam Lake (≈7 miles)
Day 3: Merriam Lake to Brown Bear Lake (≈7 miles)
Day 4: Brown Bear Lake to Lower Mills Lake (≈7 miles)
Day 5: Lower Mills Lake to Laurel Lake (≈8 miles)
Day 6: Laurel Lake to Tully Lake (≈3+ miles)
Day 7: Tully Lake to McGee Trailhead parking lot (≈12 miles)

This was a mostly off trail hike. If you are serious about doing this hike you will want to read Sierra High Route by Steve Roper. Our tip follows, more or less, a portion of that route.
This trip was a MeetUp group trip. There were six of us.
Overall this was a very experienced group of backpackers—me being probably one of the less experienced ones! We ranged in age from my 56 years, to late 60s.
While some of the hiking was on the difficult side, the days were fairly short in terms of mileage, and we were usually at camp by early afternoon. For me it was a wonderful trip. It is great if you like the really high country, above tree-line, and lots of lakes al along the way.
While we had a fair amount of rain, and wind, we experienced very few mosquitoes.

For a more detailed description of the hike you can see my blog:
https://nicholasmeier.wordpress.com/201 ... rra-route/

and a full set of my photos of the trip are posted here:
https://www.flickr.com/gp/28740975@N07/GzH60d
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maverick
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Re: Trip Report: HIgh Sierra Route Middle Section

Post by maverick »

Hi Nick,

Thanks for sharing your section hike, and the pretty pictures, really enjoyed the sunset at Laurel Lake, that and the Upper/Lower Mills Lakes areas are some of my favorites in that area.
Professional Sierra Landscape Photographer

I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.

Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member: http://reconn.org
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JWreno
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Re: Trip Report: HIgh Sierra Route Middle Section

Post by JWreno »

We had reservations setup to do this same trip last week of July from McGee creek to North Lake. My work obligations required that I canceled the trip. Hope to do it in the future. I wanted a trip to do a manageable section of the Sierra High route without scaring off my wife who isn't a big off trail fan.

Your pictures show the scenery and vastness of the views that I would expect for this area. Looks like a great trip. We got our permits for McGee creek instead of North Lake because it is a much easier entry pass to get. I will show my wife your trip report and try again for August 2016.
Jeff
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