Hemlock Crossing to Lyell Fork of the Merced (10 miles, +4400/-1800 feet). I was hoping a cold morning would reduce the bug pressure, but we didn’t really have one. The temperatures only dropped into the high 50s so the little bloodsuckers were more than happy to greet us as we exited our tents. We had…
Category: Sierra High Route
Whitebark, Garnet, and North Glacier Pass
Forest camp above Ediza Lake to Lower Twin Island Lake (9 miles, +3,300/-3,000 feet). Today was extremely gorgeous! We basically spent the whole time circumnavigating the highly photogenic Ritter and Banner Peaks and the lakes below them. I will definitely need to come back to this part of the High Route. To make things even…
Nancy Pass
Devil’s Postpile to forest camp above Ediza Lake (13 miles, +4,700/-2,900 feet). Time for my annual hike with UltraShuffle! Only this time we added two to our party, MixMaster and UltraShuffle’s son Rainbow T. We drove up to Mammoth yesterday to acclimatize and then headed off on a section of the Sierra High Route. Our…
Deer Pass
Duck Lake to Lake George Trailhead (8 miles, +2,000/-3,300 feet). Last night I discovered a new use for my hiking umbrella. The moon was so bright right there on the lake that I actually opened up the umbrella inside my tent to create a moon shade. It worked perfectly! I will definitely do that again….
Bighorn and Shout of Relief Pass
Mono Creek to Duck Lake (16 miles, +5,500/-3,600 feet). Well things have a way of working out. I slept really well last night not only because I found a beautiful flat spot next to Mono Creek, but also because I was deep in the shadow of the woods and away from the bright moon. Wonderful!…
Feather, White Bear, and Gabbot Pass
Merriam Lake to Mono Creek (17 miles, +3,900/-6,300 feet). Today was amazing but also disappointing. I made such good time yesterday that I thought I could bust out 20 miles today, even though a lot of it was supposed to be intense cross country. Well that was obviously not in the cards. I came up…
Piute and Puppet Pass
Sabrina Basin Parking Lot to Merriam Lake (15 miles, +4,500/-2,600 feet). I’ve been backpacking for three years now and I have gotten more and more interested in cross country hiking. I still like trails, but I really love the challenge of route finding and the feeling of solitude I get when I am just a…
The JimmyJam Hiking Club 