High Sierra Topix

I'm not sure where you're located but Loon Lake is a nice low elevation (~6,500 ft) trailhead in Desolation Wilderness. It's relatively easy to get permits for this trail and you can go many miles on mostly flat terrain that passes beautiful lakes and rivers.

Hetch Hetchy is at 3800 feet. A very nice early-season (often in May) trip is the walk around the reservoir to camp near Rancheria Falls.

Where do you live? Generally, the further north you are, the more likely you are to find some nice granite destinations below 6,500 feet. Those kinds of places are almost nonexistent once you're as far south as Kings Canyon NP, but there are plenty north of Yosemite. A lot of those passes north of Yosemite are short weekend drives for Bay Area people, but epic drives for Socal folk. By the way, if you live in Socal you can try out a lot of desert or mountain hiking at 3,000 to 7,000 feet during the winter and spring and see how that goes.

I think you should make more attempts at 6k to 7k hikes and see how that goes. The people whom I've taken to 9k or 10k and have consistent problems at that altitude (in spite of good hydration) have always done infinitely better under 7500 feet or so.

Consider moving up your Sierra hiking season a month or two. If you're used to hiking in July and August, try instead going approximately May 1 to July 15 when the lower-altitude locations (3500 to 7500 feet) can be really beautiful once accessible. After early- to mid-July, they will tend to heat up and get dry, dusty and unpleasant.

- Elizabeth

I too have had issues with altitude the last couple of times I went backpacking. I've never had any issues before, but then again I've had opportunity to acclimate. I just visited the doctor yesterday, and we talked about Diamox. He's a young guy, and he's done Whitney before (day hike), and is well aware of what it's used for. I was all ready to discuss about the side effects, but he was well versed and was telling me what to look out for while on it. So I will be carrying it from now on.

I once spent a week working on one of the telescopes on the Big Island of Hawaii, which is at 13,800ft. Of course, I was spending my nights at 9K, so working daily wasn't issue. The regular maintenance crew lived at sea level, and they were saying that most of them took about a month of working there before they felt productive.

jkreuzig wrote:I too have had issues with altitude the last couple of times I went backpacking. I've never had any issues before, but then again I've had opportunity to acclimate. I just visited the doctor yesterday, and we talked about Diamox. He's a young guy, and he's done Whitney before (day hike), and is well aware of what it's used for. I was all ready to discuss about the side effects, but he was well versed and was telling me what to look out for while on it. So I will be carrying it from now on.

I once spent a week working on one of the telescopes on the Big Island of Hawaii, which is at 13,800ft. Of course, I was spending my nights at 9K, so working daily wasn't issue. The regular maintenance crew lived at sea level, and they were saying that most of them took about a month of working there before they felt productive.

Diamox is not the sort of drug that you carry around until you feel you are getting sick, and then you take it. It is far better if you start taking it a day or two before you arrive at the trailhead.

Besides, Diamox has a moderately short shelf life. So, if you have it along, you might as well take it.

lauralai627 wrote:I'm not sure where you're located but Loon Lake is a nice low elevation (~6,500 ft) trailhead in Desolation Wilderness. It's relatively easy to get permits for this trail and you can go many miles on mostly flat terrain that passes beautiful lakes and rivers.

Thank you for the suggestion lauralai627. I look forward to checking out that destination!

oleander wrote:Hetch Hetchy is at 3800 feet. A very nice early-season (often in May) trip is the walk around the reservoir to camp near Rancheria Falls.

Where do you live? Generally, the further north you are, the more likely you are to find some nice granite destinations below 6,500 feet. Those kinds of places are almost nonexistent once you're as far south as Kings Canyon NP, but there are plenty north of Yosemite. A lot of those passes north of Yosemite are short weekend drives for Bay Area people, but epic drives for Socal folk. By the way, if you live in Socal you can try out a lot of desert or mountain hiking at 3,000 to 7,000 feet during the winter and spring and see how that goes.

I think you should make more attempts at 6k to 7k hikes and see how that goes. The people whom I've taken to 9k or 10k and have consistent problems at that altitude (in spite of good hydration) have always done infinitely better under 7500 feet or so.

Consider moving up your Sierra hiking season a month or two. If you're used to hiking in July and August, try instead going approximately May 1 to July 15 when the lower-altitude locations (3500 to 7500 feet) can be really beautiful once accessible. After early- to mid-July, they will tend to heat up and get dry, dusty and unpleasant.

- Elizabeth

Great advice Oleander. I live in socal but I may visit those destinations when i have the time. Great advice! Thank you.

jkreuzig wrote:I too have had issues with altitude the last couple of times I went backpacking. I've never had any issues before, but then again I've had opportunity to acclimate. I just visited the doctor yesterday, and we talked about Diamox. He's a young guy, and he's done Whitney before (day hike), and is well aware of what it's used for. I was all ready to discuss about the side effects, but he was well versed and was telling me what to look out for while on it. So I will be carrying it from now on.

I once spent a week working on one of the telescopes on the Big Island of Hawaii, which is at 13,800ft. Of course, I was spending my nights at 9K, so working daily wasn't issue. The regular maintenance crew lived at sea level, and they were saying that most of them took about a month of working there before they felt productive.

Thank you jkeruzig