I'm a lifelong Californian, and I've been visiting the Sierra since I was a kid. My parents found out about Virginia Lakes and Mono Lake after the bears were getting too nosy for their tastes around SEKI, and I've spent at least part of every summer for the past two decades out on the Eastside. I'm now up to my 6th summer in the Eastern Sierra plus another on the West Side and by now I have multiple lifetimes of places to explore and check out. Since moving to the Eastside a few years ago, I've come to appreciate just how much more magnificent the Sierra is once you start noticing how the ecology, geology, weather, and people all work together over years and eons to make this such a special place. I've been backpacking on and off predominately in the summer since 2008 and nowadays try to get a weeklong and as many weekend trips as I can before ski season sets in.
3 years ago I finally got my life's priorities in order to set out on the JMT. My route could more appropriately be called a John Muir Trek, since I took 12 major and a few minor side trips off the trail to fly fish, climb, and explore...and that was just between Whitney and Red's Meadow, where I had to bail after injuring myself rock hopping while fishing near Seven Gables. Don't worry, I'll be submitting a proper TR soon enough. I wish I'd known about HST back then, although I had come across giantbrookie's site in my first summers in the Sierra nearly a decade ago. By now I've fished over a hundred backcountry lakes, maybe I'm getting close to being 1/10 the Sierra rambler he is!
Here's to the insufficient thanks I have to give for all the wisdom and beta I've picked up from lurking out here, and to giving back some of my own!
I also have a big agnes sleeping bag that I just bought and I hiked into the North Fork of Big Pine Creek and slept 10 hours!