High Sierra Topix

Hi Vplane,

Welcome to HST! Thank your for your intro! Same question as above, do you have a website you would care to share.

maverick wrote:Hi Marty,

Thanks for taking the time to write an intro! Do you have a website to peep at your photo's?

Greetings!

I've placed a link in my signature, I hope it works. Check out "Image Galleries" if you have a moment, see you on the trail!

http://www.martinchristianphotography.com

Thanks Marty, really like the Valley shots.

Hi there. Look forward to contributing to the site with trips reports as often as possible. Been backpacking the sierras for about 20 years now. Love to climb, snowboard, backpack, flyfishing, generally be outside as much as possible. I am an RN in a Trauma ICU in Southern California. I have a great schedule for recreating in the mtns. Thanks for the good I for so far, thinking of going to rae lakes over kearsage this week. I'll report if I do.

Hi Mtnfly75,

Welcome to HST! Looking forward to reading your TR from the Rae Lake trip.

First of all I just want to thank everyone else on here for all their posts and trip reports! It's been so helpful in planning my trips, and fun to read when I'm procrastinating work

I'm 32 and currently reside in Santa Monica, CA. I grew up in the countryside of PA and NY so was always outside doing lots of camping and exploring the woods but never backpacking. I moved to Philadelphia for college and stayed a while for work (I'm an architect) so there wasn't as much wilderness at my fingertips. My first "backpacking" trip was the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, not sure how much that counts since you don't carry your tent/food But it made me want to do more. My husband and I tried to incorporating hiking into any vacations we took but never got another backpacking trip in. Then, 3 years ago, we moved to Santa Monica and now we are always out in the mountains! We doing a lot of car camping and day hikes in the mountains around here, but most of our backpacking trips are done in the Eastern Sierras (entering Kings Canyon from the west side or John Muir from the east) we try and keep it to a 4 hour drive from home. Other hobbies include: yoga (I occasionally teach YogaBarre classes), skiing, sailing, snorkeling, traveling and eating lots of food.

Some of our trips have been:
Starting at Lodgepole and hiking over Stillman Pass, spending the night at Ranger Lake and then hiking to The Sequoia High Sierra Camp to finish with some "glamping" (for our anniversary).
Taboose Pass
Sawmill Pass
Kearsage Pass (Day hike)
Alta Peak
Baldy
San Jacinto Peak via Marion Mountain Trail
Almost every trail in Zion NP (gone there 4 times now...)
We most recently completely the Rae Lakes loop over Memorial Day weekend (I plan on posting a TR soon)

Looking forward to participating more on this forum and gaining some incite and ideas from the rest of you!

Ps. I post lots of photos from our trips on my Instagram so feel free to take a look! user name: jcipperly

Hi Jessica,

Welcome to HST! Thank you for the great intro! Looking forward to the Rae Lakes TR. Have visited the Subway in Zion yet? Nice places to spend your anniversary, did you get a chance to visit beautiful Lost Lake while on that trip?

First of all I just want to thank everyone else on here for all their posts and trip reports! It's been so helpful in planning my trips, and fun to read when I'm procrastinating work.

Hello High Sierra Topix,

I'm posting here at the suggestion of maverick (and thank you for the nudge). I found this board by googling "sierra mosquito report" while preparing for a recent trip, and lo here you are, and here am I.

I grew up vacationing in the Sierra, and have lived in the central Sierra off and on for the last 15 years. I am lucky to have recently returned full-time to the Yosemite area. My Significant Other and I got distracted from backpacking in recent years (okay, I'll spill: Golf is sooooo much more fun than I can conscientiously justify), but now that I'm living near Yosemite again (and have a new job that allows for vacation), we are planning to double down for the 2015 season.

My S.O. and I are both finicky about mosquitoes -- we routinely carry Bug Shirts, and we always carry nasty DEET, and we have found the added weight and chemical ickiness to be well worth it for trips that we would otherwise have terminated early -- so I sincerely appreciated finding the HST's Mosquito Report. Hopefully I can share some trail beta and some love in return.

With enthusiasm,

Packrat

Hi Packrat,

Thank you for taking the time to write up an intro!

I've hiked in various parts of Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, and most recently, California. I did the entire JMT (North to South) in 2009 and go back to the Sierras as often as possible. Now that my partner and I have a furry baby (a wonderful but anxious German Shepherd), we're looking for places to take him hiking with us.

Great to see this vibrant community! I wish I had known about it before some of my hikes that presented unexpected challenges (from mosquitos to downed trees)!