High Sierra Topix

I liked the Sea of Cortez. It is beautiful in its own way like the sierras. I hauled the boat for hurricane season in either San Carlos or Guaymas. I would slowly cruise from San Carlos down to La Paz starting in November. Exploring all of the off the beaten path anchorages along the way. In the spring I would head back up to San Carlos. I had a mooring in Puerto Escondido for several years. There are so many neat places to explore that it was sometimes hard to decide where to go.

I liked the Sea of Cortez. It is beautiful in its own way like the sierras. I hauled the boat for hurricane season in either San Carlos or Guaymas. I would slowly cruise from San Carlos down to La Paz starting in November. Exploring all of the off the beaten path anchorages along the way. In the spring I would head back up to San Carlos. I had a mooring in Puerto Escondido for several years. There are so many neat places to explore that it was sometimes hard to decide where to go.

Sounds like fun.

Hello High Sierra folks. I've been a hiker for decades, but only got into backpacking in the last few years. I think I was always intimidated by it, but I went on a great 5-day excursion through the Yosemite High Wilderness, and I just love it now. Hoping to go back this next summer, wish me luck with the permits. -_-

ianwestc - welcome !
We'll be looking forward to hearing about your adventures; hopefully your quest for permits will go smoothly

Hi all, new to the forums and before I post a request for opinions on seki loops I’m considering, figured I should stop by here first.

My first Sierra trip was 3 years ago and I am fully bought in. I’ve only carved out one week of the year for it (late July between work and the start of school for the kids), but it’s a week I look forward to all year. So far have done the Rae Lakes and Red Peak Pass loops, then one out of mineral king to the HST, little/big 5 lakes, and Sawtooth pass. All of them spectacular.

Now off to post for input on the next trip!

Hello ebfm,

Welcome to HST!

Thanks for creating/hosting/supporting such a great site! I have been reading trip reports here for a bit to get ideas. I grew up in the midwest and I still recall seeing the mountains for the first time -- WOW, this exists?! I backpacked in the 80's a little and then returned to it in 2008, filling in for someone that cancelled on the big 50th bday trip of a friend who had planned for years to see Marie Lake. We did.

I'm inspired by Kim Stanley Robinson's High Sierra, A Love Story -- shows me how much I have yet to do. I do a few Sierra trips each July-September, with friends, with the dog, solo. I have to go pretty light for my back and enjoy gear reports (big fan of UrSak, Arctic Blast, Big Agnes, and not embarrassed to say I really enjoy freeze dried desserts like Creme Brulee ;-) Planning is definitely half the fun. I am doing Pine Creek North Fork for the first time this year and Robinson Creek TH in Hoover Wilderness plus one more, TBD.

Hi marthasellers,

Welcome to HST!

grampy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 01, 2025 7:21 pm ianwestc - welcome !
We'll be looking forward to hearing about your adventures; hopefully your quest for permits will go smoothly

The quest for permits DID go well, but boy did it take a lot of work. I had to basically write an automation tool for recreation.gov that would log me in, select a date and group size, and then hit "page down". All of this to save about 3-4 seconds of clicking when 9am rolled around and the post-lottery leftover permits appear. I ended up getting the Lyell Canyon (Donohue Pass eligible) permit that way, though it looked, when I clicked in, that almost every day of the week had some leftover permits for this highly-sought-after route.

So the permits are finally set and I can get to one of the more enjoyable parts of a trip -- planning the trip and selecting the route.
Here's hoping that the mosquitoes won't be too bad in mid-June.

Hi all, been hiking (mostly in CA) all my life, and have always wanted to get into backpacking. I finally decided to just go for it, in no small part to share it with my kid. I'm in Sonoma County but am really looking forward to exploring the Sierras as much as I can.