sierra nevada

Not to be confused with Roper’s classic Sierra High Route, the shorter SoSHR explores challenging terrain parallel to the John Muir Trail from Bishop Pass to an exit south of Mt Whitney This stretch of the Sierra Crest is the highest and most inaccessibly rugged of the range. 13 of California’s...

This past week, I did a 3-day on/off-trail loop in the High Sierra. I had wanted to return to Bear Lakes Basin, and check out a few places I had not yet visited. It was stormy in the afternoons, so I cut a few of my hiking days shorter than usual. Mileage: ~39 miles Elevation gain: ~9900'...

I wanted to do a Sierra trip out of Mammoth Lakes for the summer of 2023. I was hoping to time the trip such that there would be lots of wild flowers in the high country, patches of snow still receding and mostly dry passes for cross country travel. The record snow fall in California, combined...

I don't have much of a back story for this trip. I try to make it out to the Sierra at least once a year, and the historic snow pack forced me to rethink my summer plans. I'd blocked off a week in October to squeeze in my last big hike of the year, and wasn't sure if I'd head to Colorado, Utah...

7/28 - 8/6/22 (10 nights) Taboose Pass (Inyo NF) I had grand plans for a big loop out of Taboose Pass. A little bit on the JMT and a bunch of cross-country passes over 11 nights. I had lots of time and flexibility, so I could just see how things went. Outline of my plans: Taboose -> Upper...

August 19-21, 2022 The trip started out on a Friday morning when I left my home in Las Vegas around 6:00 AM. The shortest route from my house to the Big Pine trailhead is through Death Valley National Park, but due to recent floods, which closed the highway trough the Park, I had to take a...

This was initially supposed to be a trip to the high country in Yosemite, which I feel has been fighting me for a few years now. The one trip I made there successfully was in September of 2020, starting from Sunrise Lakes, and for 5 of the 6 days the wildfire smoke was heavy and the views...

Hello everyone. It's been a good minute since I've posted anything here so with my return and some free time in the winter I'm going to post some of my (bigger) trips of the year. This was an 8 day backpacking trip in California's Sierra Nevada mountains. This trip was excellent and I was...

After being laid up all summer with back problems I figured it would be a great idea to put in a 48 miler from Onion Valley to Whitney. Seemed like a good idea but having only been backpacking 3 times in the last 9 months mistakes were made. First, I was so worried about not having enough I way...

This one is not on our maps, but we learned about it from an excellent post on High Sierra Topix by BigTubs. And since we had a couple of days free, and we could get a campsite in Hodgdon Meadow, we decided to give it a try. On Thursday we left home for Napa, and the timing was right for...

On an invite from a good friend, I headed out to the Sierra Nevada for the first time in a few years. I was really excited for this one - the Sierra doesn't have quite the "wild" feeling of my usual trips in the GYE or Winds, but the sheer size and beauty of the scenery is hard to beat - and the...

This trip report ended up being way longer than I had anticipated it being. I tried to keep the number of photos down as well but if you do want to see more photos and read less text I've set up a Smugmug account recently and I've got a photo centric report over there. Here is the link to that...

Background Knowing that I was heading out to the Sierra at the end of June, on a whim I decided to look for last minute backpacking permits for the 4th of July weekend. Earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic Inyo NF had moved their permits to all online reservations, and I was able to grab the last...

Background Armed with a new hip and 2 months of obsessive training, I planned to test out my hip on one of my favorite big Sierra hikes, a loop through Evolution Basin and Darwin Canyon starting at Sabrina Lake and ending at North Lake. The route passes through some of the most prized terrain...

Just to the east of Yosemite lies the Hoover Wilderness. When they made Yosemite they probably grabbed as much land as they could without upsetting local landowners. Hoover Wilderness lies just outside Yosemite but it doesn't know it is not a national park. It has some national park worthy...

To my beloved BackCountryPost.. I apologize for my negligence. I haven’t been writing trip reports, nor able to keep up on viewing the beautiful reports that everyone else posts! Since I have been missing the experience of this site, very much, get ready for a long trip report. This summer...

Between Bishop and Lone Pine, California sits the small town of Big Pine. West of town is Big Pine Creek, draining some of the High Sierra snowmelt. The creek canyon gives access to many of the Sierras 14'ers, including the Palisades group. The Creek splits into a South fork and a North...

Hi, and thanks to everyone that provided information to make this trip possible for me. I get about a week a year to do a backpacking trip out west. We've only been at this a short time and we wanted to try some cross country travel, but nothing too nasty. And to get better at finding...

Intro The fabled Bear Lakes Basin has been on my to do list for several years. There's no easy way in between the mileage, elevation gain, and 12-13,000 foot passes. I decided to suck it up and do it as an overnighter. My original plan was to loop back over Feather Pass through French Canyon...

Since I was in Bishop on Sunday for a friend's bday party I took Monday off to take my fur niece, Pika, on a hike. I hadn't been up to Granite Park in a few years, so I took advantage of the cooler fall temps and foliage for a reunion. Route (out/back) Logistics Start/end: Pine Creek...