The weather is generally fine and mild and explains why so many US tents are very lightweight and mainly fly-mesh. Some even sleep cowboy style - namely under the stars or just use a light tarp. Having no tent is fine for short trips where you have a multi-day weather report but I would not advise that for an extended visit. In early to mid-summer mosquitos can be a significant problem so I suggest a lightweight tent is ideal. Also when the odd thunderstorm or rain period does happen you will stay much drier.
Some have asked about water. While California and the Sierras
is
suffering from drought, the huge numbers of lakes means that there is
plenty of water on the Sierra High Route. However, you do need water
bottles as it can be several hours between lakes. It is strongly
advised to treat ALL water. We used a water filter and pump through all
our needs for drinking water for the next day. We noticed many using
tablets, they would have a drink, refill their bottle, add a tablet
and would then have to wait the required time before using. The outdoor
shops in Mammoth Lakes have
multiple water systems so pick the one you prefer. We did not treat
water that was being boiled for meals as boiling is one of the
recommended
treatment options. On our second trip, we used a Steripen to sterilize
water by using UV light. As the water is always clear, that did work
well.
Note that Giardia and other pathogens are present in many of
the
water sources, including those at the highest elevations. Why is this?
First,
native animals such as bears might be polluting water supplies but we
suspect that much of it is from humans. This is because there are no
toilets in the back country of the Sierras (well not quite true - when
we were in 2015 at Woods Creek, the first toilet on the John Muir Trail
was
being constructed but was closed when we passed through in
2019!) and there are campsites everywhere. On some tracks
you will be amazed at how much
effort has gone into track construction. An example are metre wide
zig-zagging tracks on a 45 degree slope of large scree such as in
Bishop Pass - amazing
construction. However, unlike Australia they spend all the effort on
track construction and forgot about toileting and the problems this
causes for water supplies. Local walkers told us that twenty years ago
you could drink the water
but not now. To summarize, dont risk it, treat all drinking water.
The one and only guide book which is essential is 'Sierra High Route: Traversing Timberline Country' by Steve Roper. While its an interesting read, nearly half the book is history etc and to save weight some cut out the route description pages and carry only those. Even the route descriptions are full of 'extras' and sometimes there is a page of writing to skip over to the next actual track note. If you make a summary of the notes, copy his exact wording as sometimes subtle hints in the writing are important. The writing is understated - if Roper suggests something, he means thats the only way to go. If adding in other areas and walking lots off-track, then the book 'The High Sierra, Peaks Passes Trails' by Secor is helpful as it briefly describes many of the passes.
All of the US survey maps are available on-line and can be
downloaded for free. However they dont show the Sierra High Route (its
not a track as
such) and it is not
always obvious where it goes, even after reading the guide, its not
great as a guide! The
descriptions sometimes make more sense when you are on the route but
that does not help if you dont know where the pass is!
Fortunately
some walkers have created map sets that show the approxiamate route of
the SHR and many would consider them essential. At the website, On
the Trail you can download a set of detailed
topo maps where the SHR is marked by a red line. An alternative is to
download and pay a fee for the mapset prepared by Andrew
Skurka which also shows the routes location.
The US survey maps come as PDFs. With Acrobat we then exported
the map
as a
TIFF Image (you could also use JPEG but the output is not as good
particularly if you are cutting them up later). Then using
any image editing program, we then cropped each map into 7 x 5km
rectangles (saved each one as a new file) and then printed each piece
on an A4 colour laser printer. That gave us good detailed maps at
1:24,000.
We printed the maps as double
sided, first week one side and second week on the reverse etc. That cut
the paper down. A general
note on maps, while the US still uses miles, the maps all use the
universal world wide grid system which are 1km squares. Hence the maps
have a 1km grid on them and are very easy to use if used to km. Some
maps have contours in feet, some are metric, the US has not really
decided which system they should use.
Its also a very good idea to carry more general maps. We found
the
Tom Harrison maps to be ideal. They are topographic maps printed on
waterproof paper and show all tracks and cover a wide area so you can
take alternative routes if needed. They are ideal for planning as well.
The maps we used are 'Kings Canyon High Country', 'Mammoth High
Country', 'Mono Divide High Country', 'Yosemite High Country' and
'Hoover Wilderness'. We also got the 'Kearsarge Pass Rae Lakes Loop'
map as the above mapset skips a small section of the Kearsarge Pass
track but the tracks there are so well signposted you dont really need
it for just 5km of track. I suggest to get the maps and guide book
together thus saving on postage costs. The maps and guide book can be
ordered on the web from Amazon etc.
1 | Over Kearsarge
Pass to Kearsarge
Lake, 5 hours |
2 |
Slow climb to camp
at tarn
before Glen Pass, 3.5 hours |
3 |
Over Glen Pass to the pretty Rae Lakes, 3 hours |
4 |
Descend to Woody Creek Bridge, 4 hours |
5 |
Steady climb to small tarn before Pinchot Pass, 5.5 hours, lovely sunset and sunrise views here |
6 |
Over pass to Bench
Lake, 4.5
hours |
7 |
Collect food
from Taboose Pass
Track, up valley to Upper Basin, 3 hours, thunderstorms and heavy rain
overnight |
8 |
Meet the SHR,
follow JMT
for one more day to camp above Palisade Lake, 4.5 hours |
9 |
Over Mathers
Pass in morning rain to
camp above Palisade Lake, 4.5 hours |
10 |
Over Cirque and Potluck Pass, camp near Barrett Lakes, 5.5 hours, thunderstorms surrounded us |
11 |
Leave SHR, over
the more difficult
Thunderbolt Pass to Bishop Pass and camp at Bishop Lake, 7 hours |
12 |
Descend to
Bishop South Lake,
collect food drop, stayed in cabin at Parchers Resort, 3 hours |
13 |
Climbed back
over Bishop Pass to
camp in the very scenic Dusy Basin, 5.5 hours |
14 |
Descend into Le
Conte Canyon
to join JMT, followed JMT to camp near Big Pete Meadow, 5 hours |
15 |
Over Muir Pass to
camp at Lake
Wanda, 6 hours, scenic spot marred by thick smoke from fires |
16 |
Short day to the
very scenic
Evolution Lakes, 3 hours, great sunset location |
17 |
Leave JMT, climb to
Darwin Shelf
then up to camp at last lake under Alpine Col, 4.5 hours, Suggest camp
at the more scenic Darwin Shelf |
18 |
Over Alpine Col
then very
rocky route to Lake Muriel, 5 hours, next day was a rest day here, lots
of
smoke |
19 |
Over to Piute Pass
to collect a
food drop then across alpine meadows to Puppet Pass and camp at Lake
Paris, 4.5 hours, pretty sunrise at campsite |
20 |
Descended into
French Canyon
then climb to tarn above Lake Miriam, 3.5 hours, scenic site |
21 |
Over Feather Pass
to camp at
Black Bear Lake, 5 hours, the Bear Lakes are pretty, you could spend a
whole day exploring this area, we had lots of smoke around so views
were not ideal |
22 |
Descend the very
steep White
Bear Pass then along Lake Italy and over Gabbott Pass to camp at Upper
Mills Creek Lake, 9 hours |
23 |
Down Second Recess
then climb to
camp at Laurel Lake, 6 hours, hot day, campsite very pretty |
24 |
Over Bighorn and
Shout of Relief
Pass to camp beside tarns above Tully Lake, 4 hours, small tarns on
shelf near
Cotton Lake are very scenic |
25 |
Leave SHR with
brief descent
down gully to
Tully Lake then follow tracks to Tully Hole, join JMT to Duck Lake then
leave JMT and over Duck Pass to Lake Barney, 7.5 hours |
26 |
Descend to Lake
Mary, 2.5 hours,
use free bus into the town of Mammoth Lakes, collect food drop and stay
overnight in hotel |
27 |
Took bus to Reds
Meadows,
followed tracks to Minaret Lake, 5 hours, note we skipped the SHR from
Duck Lake to Minaret Lake as reports stated it was not the
most scenic section of the route, some parts had been burnt, some of
it lacked views and overall is less interesting. |
28 |
On SHR, past Cecile
and Iceberg
Lakes, sidetrip to Lake Ediza then over easy passes to Garnet Lake, 6
hours, very scenic area |
29 |
Over easy pass to
Thousand
Island
Lake
then over North Glacier Pass to camp 500m past Lake Catherine in
hidden side valley, 5 hours |
30 |
Continue west
following pads to
Twin Island Lakes, 4 hours, could have easily gone further but we had
spare time |
31 |
Continue to Bench
Canyon and
Blue Lake, 4 hours, had a very long lunch watching a snake devour a
fish, very scenic area |
32 |
Over Blue Lake Pass
and west to
Isberg Pass Trail, follow track to camp at creek 3km past Lyell Fork, 7
hours |
33 |
Follow track over
Vogelsang Pass
to camp at Boothe Lake, 7 hours, lake very pretty. Note you are not
allowed to camp within 4 miles of Toulumne Meadows so Boothe or
Vogelsang Lake are ideal camp sites |
34 |
Followed tracks to
Toulumne
Meadows, 3.5 hours, collected food drop from post office. With a
wilderness permit, camping in the designated walkers area is allowed (a
small fee applies). This
place has a cafe with burgers etc and a general store with some food
supplies |
From there, due to
fires etc, we
left the SHR and followed the JMT back to Mammoth Lakes. With several
extra days we were off-track a lot following a zig-zag route and
explored higher lakes etc
hence
our times are not very relevant or useful to other groups |
1. Allow 40 to 45 days for the Sierra High Route. Adding in a
few
days at
the start to buy/pack food plus to acclimitise, makes it a 45 to 50 day
trip.
2. Acclimitize first before getting onto the Sierra High Route. One way is to allow 4 to 5 days walking at the start. If you plan to walk all of the SHR, then I suggest use part of the JMT to acclimitize. One way is is to start at Taboose Pass. First night camp before the pass, next night over the pass to meet the John Muir Trail and on the way hide a food drop for 4 nights in a bear barrel. Then follow the John Muir Trail south for 5 days to Kearsarge Lake near Kearsage Pass, the trail goes up and down a lot providing good acclimitization. A sidetrip over Kearsarge Pass to the road to collect a food drop then follow Bubbs Creek west to Kings Canyon. Start the SHR with the 6000 foot climb up Copper Creek Trail. Cross Basin Lakes and descend Cartridge Pass to the JMT then to Taboose Pass to get your hidden 4 day drop then continue north as normal..While its possible to place and a food drop in Kings Canyon, its an extremely long drive of 10 hours plus from Mammoth Lakes to Kings Canyon. NOTE - do not place food drops in the bear boxes, they are provided for cars to temporarily store food for the day and rangers regularly clear out any contents.
Another acclimitization alternative is to do a series of one
day
walks first to as high as possible, maybe visit Yosemite Valley (not
very high!), do
some walks from Toulumne
Meadows to the north (you can get there by the YARTS bus), and then
maybe climb Mt Whitney (if you can get a
permit). You could then start from Kearsarge Pass and descend direct to
Kings Canyon to the start of the SHR.