Lurkers Please Introduce Yourself =)

[reneekramer]

HI I am a level three hiker. My main outdoor adventure has been rafting. I was up in the high sierras in 82 and finally revisited it with my husband in 2021. We did an 7 day trip exploring the Minarets Minaret lake, Cecil, Icebery, Ediza , Badger Lake and Davis Lake and went out the High trail to Agnew Meadow. Loved it. I hike near my home regularly such as hikes off hwy 88 such as Showers Lake etc. Hiked areas off of hwy 4. Fond of Utica lake for paddleboarding. I want to do a section hike every August. I want to explore lakes out of Darwin's Bench. I want to do a stint in Humphrey's Basin. Our first next adventure will be west to East trip. Colby Pass from Marvin Pass TH/ Sugar Loaf over Forester go west on Bubbs creek then head off to
east lake for heading back over Kearsarge Pass to Onion Valley.

I do watercolors, my husband plays harmonica but not within earshot of other hikers. He is a geologist- a plus for me.

I am not sure where to post this.

As you can see we want to do a west to east traverse and going north to go over Forester Pass. We want gradual acclimation, so we chose not to start at Roads End avoiding Avalanche pass before getting to Roaring River. We decided to start at Sugarloaf trailhead going to Marvin Pass and seeing Mitchell Peak on down Clouds Canyon to Colby lake- Colby Pass. Then head on up and probably not take High Sierra trail to jmt/PCT but keep going north then about a mile and follow Tyndall creek to the Jmt/pct. My question is. We at one time thought to come in Shepherds Pass head over Forester go out Kearsarge.

Which is more strenuous or worse to do Shepherds Pass or Colby Pass.
From what I have read there is skree with both passes.... I am intrigued with Colby pass

How I found you. Googling stuff to see and HST came into my life in 2021... The information was amazing and perfect for navigating Minaret lakes.
I got some great insight on Darwin's bench. Someone had presented an itinerary for 3 days. And so many of you gave this person advise not to do that long loop from North Lake to Lamark col to evolution valley over Piute pass and to North Lake Th again. Instead people submitted sound advise not to skip Evolution Basin and lake spend day 2 exploring etc. Drop the pack make a base camp Yes I agree it is a slog through evolution Valley.

[maverick]

Hi Reneekramer,

Welcome to HST, and thank you for the introduction.
Any question you may have about routes, please post in this section of the forum, as a new, separate post.

[LHoiland]

OK, I'll post and not just lurk....

I'm 65, so I qualify as a geezer too. I started backpacking with the Boy Scouts, continued with my older sister and then with friends as a teenager. I was a wilderness ranger from 1977-1981 in Kaiser and John Muir Wilderness areas. I've been on backpack trips every year since I 16 years old, mostly in the Sierra Nevada, but also in the mountains of northwest California (Trinity, Russian, Marble), in Oregon, Britain and Central Africa. I backpacked the JMT when I was 55 and the High Sierra Trail when I was 60. I'm a trail, and class 2 (occasional class 3) cross country guy and try to keep my base weight to about 12lbs.

I'm on HST to scope out some more Sierra trips! I love the High Sierra. I'm looking at some loops that are on my bucket list including Lakes Basin/Dumbbell lakes, upper Goddard Canyon/Ionian basin, Miter Basin, and Bear Lakes/Gabbot Pass, to name a few. I'm still trying to come to grips with the much more frequent summer rainfall in the Sierra in the last decade.

LH

[maverick]

Hi LH,

Welcome to HST, and thanks for the into. Please feel free to post any TR’s from previous trips. We have a section for places beyond the Sierra, where a TR to Central Africa would fit very nicely.

[crutherford]

Hey Everyone, my name's Colin. I joined a few months ago after some urging from a friend who is part of this community to post a TR on an off-trail hike a few of us did earlier in the summer. I've been going to the sierra's since I was a kid, mainly the King's Canyon Cedar Gove area, as my father and grandfather went there when they were children. I've done quite a few of the longer trail hikes around there over the years (my favorite is Rae Lakes Loop by far though). I stopped hiking for a while when I moved out of state but now that we're back in CA for good I've been trying to do a trip year...which has been difficult with the fires, small children, etc. But we've been able to do Langley, Whitney (day hiked that one in the snow... I do not recommend it), part of the Sierra High Route, plus a few others.

This community is great as it's incredibly supportive and gives really good trail recommendations, especially for the more obscure routes that I've been day dreaming about these long winter months. I'm happy to contribute and learn from everyone!

-Colin

[maverick]

Hi Colin,

Welcome to HST, and welcome back to California!

[jalfp]

Howdy,

I'm a Midwesterner by birth and at present a Pacific Northwesterner. I've grown quite fond of old-growth temperate rainforests and Cascade volcanoes and the bears and berries that abound upon their flanks, and there's still lots more to explore up in this corner of the country (especially in the Olympics and the North Cascades), but after a few trips to the Sierras over the past three years, I've concluded that I probably need to take at least one long walk in the Sierras annually for the foreseeable future.

My first backpacking trip was in Yosemite in 2009, but then—inexplicably—I didn't make a point of getting back for a there until a friend told me about the Rae Lakes loop, which we did in 2020 (with Thousand Island Lake as a warm-up and Mount Langley as, well, a quite dusty bit of dessert). Sitting at the foot of Lake 10840 in the Sixty Lake Basin and looking at the granite steps up to Sixty Lake Col and Gardiner Basin, I realized then I needed to return, so in 2021 I came back and did the Big SEKI Loop and in 2022 the Northern Loop in Yosemite. This year I'm hoping to push myself a bit further and do some off-trail adventuring, which is what's brought me here. I've got my eye on a long Southern Loop in Yosemite with some time for the headwaters of the Lyell Fork of the Merced and any and all basins I pass in the Cathedral Range. After that, maybe a loop through Humphrey's Basin–Granite Park–Goddard Canyon–Evolution Basin–Lamark Lakes, or back to SEKI for a trip through Deadman Canyon–Mineral King–Big Arroyo-Tablelands. My GF insists that for her peace of mind I might need more company than just my inReach Mini, but I've not yet been able to coax or cajole any of my friends into cosigning on these ambitions, so maybe the community here will even supply a bit of camaraderie in a pinch.

I've gotta say, getting reacquainted with the Sierras is both a blessing and a curse: there's so much to daydream about in the long winter months, and it's so easy to imagine ambling cross-country wherever the heart desires, that it's crowding out my other ambitions—the Tetons and the San Juans and the Beartooths and the Bob are calling my name too, if I could just get John Muir's paeans to the Range of Light off my mind for a minute.

—Jason

[maverick]

Hi Jason,

Welcome to HST! Yes, so many beautiful places, but so little time, but being stuck with the Sierra is a good thing.

[jbinsb]

I created an account here a couple of years ago but am not sure whether I ever wrote anything. I'm 67 now, native Californian, grew up spending summers at my father's summer camp in Mammoth, and hiking and riding horses all over the place. Don't really do much off trail because none of my friends want to. And I don't want to do that kind of thing solo now. I come on here a lot to look at reports about the more difficult passes on the SHR and the KCBHR. Did most of the JMT solo last summer. Silver Lake to Thousand Island, them up through Ediza and the Minarets and down to Reds and on. Noticed a definite difference in the vibe of through hikers vs those out (suffering) for a weekend. Dodged the Rae Lakes hordes and stayed at Arrowhead. Lovely and empty. Got chased out at Onion Valley when I hiked out for a resupply and that monsoon deluge of Aug 1 rolled in. Could have kept going but it was going to be wet and miserable. It did make me rethink my rain gear. Def going to get a lightweight Goretex jacked and Dyneema skirt. Planning to do the Miter Basin loop this summer by way of Cottonwood Pass, probably, to give myself a few days to acclimate. Makes all the difference for me. Failed 100 feet from the top of Langley two years ago on the second day of our hike; too much elev. gain too fast. But last year, just about jogged over Muir Pass and Glen Pass after more than a week of acclimation. I had about 30 years when I didn't really backpack, then got new gear and then replaced it all with UL stuff. So nice to leave for five days with food and a liter of water and weigh less than 25 pounds.

[williegoat]

Hi all. Trail name Willie Goat. Grew up in the CA flatlands, SF Bay Area. Third generation enjoying the High Sierra. Did lots of hiking and car camping growing up and a little backpacking. I now spend a mix of time backpacking solo (or with friends if I can recruit any) or car camping with the family.

I love Emigrant and enjoy some of the trip reports here. My favorite trip was a Sierra Club Outing in Humphreys Basin a couple summers ago. I also like Desolation. Planning a Mammoth to Ediza to Thousand Island for late season this year. Figure that will give a bit of time for snow to melt and bugs to chill out (I got lucky with a Shadow Creek/ Agnew Meadows permit).

I go outdoors to camp versus hike and sometimes peak bag. I don't mind miles, but would rather set slowest known times and enjoy the sounds and changing light.

I write about some of my trips on a personal blog spiritbleach.com. Happy to add more trip reports here.

Thanks for letting me join!