High Sierra Topix

bookmarked and add it to my buck list. Thank you!

Bookmark the area, but my route was not the most efficient way to see it! Going over Sphinx Pass rather than back to the Avalanche Pass trail is by far more scenic and shorter too! Unfortunately, weather forced my choice of routes. And going between Big Bird Lake and Colby Lake is more scenic via either Copper Mine Pass or Lake Josephine (if you are up to that difficult travel).

Nice report, thanks. I started my Kaweah Basin trip out of Crescent Meadow when you did on September 14 with an original expected exit date of something between the 23-24th. I saw one questionable weather report predicting snow as early as the 19th and so decided to go faster and change my route so I would at least be on a trail if caught in snow, and hike a last 12-hour day to exit the night of the 20th, just before you got hit with the cold and snow the next day. The strange thing is that everyone I met on the HST told me that it was going to be blue skies for all the week. Seeing your report, I am very happy that I stuck with my plan and got out of there! TR to come, I promise.

Regarding comments about the drive from LA to SEKI, yes it is an extra pain, especially with the road closure, and it is easier to just do trips out of 395. But I entered through SEKI trailheads twice this summer and was struck by how much more rich the flora and fauna are on the western vs the eastern Sierra. As a partial compensation, the River Inn motel in Three Rivers is less expensive and better than all the dive motels in Bishop, and a dinner at the Gateway and/or a breakfast at Antoinette's are nice experiences that somewhat mitigate the extra driving. There are also some decent amenities in Exeter, Visalia and, surprise, Bakersfield.