High Sierra Topix

As the recent Sierra dusting has (almost?) closed the curtain on another successful backpacking season, perhaps time to again reflect.
Some keep score by numbers of peaks bagged, others by miles trod, some even by fish caught...
whatever.
I rank my seasons by the number of Sierra nights spent out in a sleeping bag.
Not as many as years past - only 32 this year.
It was a late season though.

Zero, none, nada, 0.

2010 was to be my year to catch up from too many days at work and spend lots of time in the mountains. Apparently karma is working against me as just the opposite occurred.

Thank goodness for HST, as least I can enjoy the TR's, photos and stories from others.

I was going to say not nearly enough with 24 days, but after Shawn I'd better
be happy for every day that I got!
Hope you make up for it next year Shawn.

24 in the backcountry, with a few more nights in a sleeping bag counting walk-in campgrounds and car camping. Probably will end up with a couple more before the season is over. This is substantially more than years past, but then I'm still relatively new to this game.

And Mark, you forgot one of the big ways that backcountry fishermen keep score: lakes fished! I'm up to 91 different backcountry lakes fished this season, only three of those repeats from seasons past. Gunning for 100, and should break triple digits after next weekend.

Matt

Well, when i look at backcountry Sierra nights i get a disappointing 10. But when i add nights in the truck, i get a generous 41 nights out of doors and 7 states covered! No wonder this feels like a hard year to get back to work and give way to these rainy days.

36 in the mountains and 6 car camping. Primarily on one long trip, therefore I really feel like I did not get out enough. Two new grandchildren were born this year (june and august). Previous grandchildren had the good sense to be born in the winter! Granny-duty days exceeded backpack days!

not sure how "bag nights" translates to quality time out there. for me it's more about the mission i'm on and how well that goes.. Some bag nights are kinda bad.. Markskor?

total nights out doing things leading to hiking... 37. If I include coastal trips, base camp/dayhike stuff, search and rescue trainings... and I usually do. Any day out is better than staying home. Probably going to be 45 nights by Dec 31 if I get my way.

ETA: Just added up the miles. 586 for this year. No wonder my trail runners are looking a bit torn up.

ok.. for most.. pick a spot and go.. "bag nights" mean nothing.. Just to be out there is enough. Yes, I have 14, but that means nothing.. it's about the adventure..For me it's about the fish.. So, we're all different..

To be sure, we all quantify and qualify our seasons differently. If we're talking only about how we go about "counting" each season, then I probably go by trips: every time I leave my car and then come back to my car, either that same day or several days later, counts as one trip. By that measure, I've taken 18 different trips this season.