High Sierra Topix

Whitney CAN be done in under 20 miles. Go up the Mountaineer's Route (5 mi) and come down the main trail (11 mi) or come down the MR. And if you have the energy, you can bag Keeler Needle, Crooks Peak and Mt Muir on the way down. That is one of my favorite hikes.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/181 ... 2921uXVSzY

The blue line is the North Fork Lone Pine/Mountaineer's Route, then follow the Whitney Ridge and bag the others on the way down.

So many other favorites, they're all good!

snownymph:

Thanks for the tip! I'm getting excited about hiking Mt. Whitney (glad I asked this question here, as I never had an interest in Whitney before).

Here's a shot of the MR from Lone Pine:

http://community.webshots.com/photo/173 ... 6497BnsFZk

Wow! Nice shot. Impressive route. Just a thought though. As a day hike doesn't the altitude gain result in ?

For me its better to acclimatize for a day, do the hike and get down before I . I always feel better coming down. The year we did the 4 peaks I felt great! Some days the altitude kicks my (_!_) and other days it doesn't.

This is one warm-up/ 6 - 8 mile/acclimatization hike; I first did it when starting out some major hike originating from Tuolumne Meadows. (This hike also has the added possibility of a bit of fishing too.)
I offer:
At the Cathedral Lake/ Budd Lake trailhead, follow the trail straight up to Budd Lake. - Then after the lake- (very beautiful btw) -, up and over the ridge saddle left of Cathedral Peak and then down x-country to first Upper, then Lower Cathedral Lakes - finally either down the main trail or the waterfall/ fisherman's trail at the Lower Cathedral outlet, coming down just between Tenaya Lake & Pywiack Dome on highway 120. Take the free shuttle back to your Tuolumne Campground.
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=11&n= ... ayer=DRG25

The last few times I've been to Lower Cathedral Lake, I haven't seen any signs of trout so have been wondering if it is yet another Yosemite rainbow lake gone barren due to poor spawning. The upper lake and stream down to Echo Lake does have fish. There is a better way to descend to the highway than those steep lower lake outlet granite friction slopes. Way shorter than any other route and used by the YNP backcountry rangers. A well used climbers trail that is not shown on the topo routes from Virgin Dome to Medlicott Dome. The crux of the trail is however hard to follow for newbies where it goes across granite at the cliff band.

...David

Just an observation...

I know that most of the people here hail from southern California or the Bay area, so proximity plays a part in preference. But a big part of the Sierra Nevada range does lie north of Tahoe, and IMHO, the best part. Granite Chief Wilderness, Lakes Basin of Plumas County, Bucks Lake Wilderness, Middle Fork Feather River, and a host of other locations are great destinations that have far fewer visitors.

And as mentioned earlier, head up any trail a couple of miles and turn 90 degrees. You don't cover as many miles in a day cross-country but you find a lot of solitude and pristine meadows and lakes without a sign of previous use.

Dave:

Thanks for the suggestions. I too am partial to N. Cal. Most of my journeys in the Sierra have been between Yosemite and the Mokelumne Wilderness. Further north has been in the redwoods and coast.

From suggestions that have been offered it is obvious there's a lot more out there to see.

sierranomad wrote:Dave:

From suggestions that have been offered it is obvious there's a lot more out there to see.

Geologically the Sierra Nevada range ends between the town of Greenville and Lake Almanor in Plumas County. North of that is the Cascade range and its active volcanic history. Northeast is the high desert steppes of the Great Basin and the Modoc Plateau. The Warner Mountains of extreme NE CA is part of the Nevada Basin and Range complex.

This is getting farther away from the population centers but the area is interesting and very sparsely settled. A lack of crowds even on major summer weekends.

But this site is about the Sierra Nevada, so I will refrain from additional commentary. Besides, I don't want to tout my favorite haunts too emphatically. They may get 'discovered'.