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- Sierra Grand Traverse
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The book was published in April 2023.
We have no copie sleft for sale. This page
shows where copies can be purchased in Australia or overseas. The
guide has 224 pages and is printed in colour thoughout, (many
US books are still only
black and white inside) with full colour topographic maps.
The
Sierra Grand Traverse is a 200 mile (320 kilometre) high-level traverse
of the Sierra Nevada
range in
California. The traverse is primarily above treeline and the majority
is off
trail. This
is an area of stunning scenery with hundreds of lakes and many
impressive granite
peaks. The generally warm summer weather of California makes this an
unforgettable backpack. John Muir described the Sierra Nevada as the
'Range of Light' and it is indeed an apt description particularly at
sunrise and sunset where glowing rock faces are reflected in the
numerous lakes. The ideal time for walking this route is from mid-July
through to mid-September. We suggest to allow between 25 and 45 days to
walk the entire route. It is not necessary to walk all of it as we have
described it in five sections with each being roughly a week in length.
The traverse is recommended for experienced walkers as
some
route finding and navigation is required.
To
be clear,, at the start we never intended to write a guide book for the
Sierras. We initially walked the Sierra High Route and while it was a
great trip we were puzzled as to why long sections of it it was not
staying closer the crest of the range. We have walked a number of high
routes eleswhere in the world and all the others followed route that
were as high as possible for walkers. Hoever, that was not what the
Sierra High Rote does. We loved the range so much we decided to
return and do our own walk along the crest of the range. As
always we collect notes and data but most of the time never use the
information. However, this trip was different. It was so much better
than the High Route and we decided to share ur research with others.
While there are many ways that could be done, we decided the widest
audience wuld be reached by producing it as a guide book. Hence we then
put in the 2 years of work thats required to write, draw maps, edit,
revisit some places to check small details etc. We are pleased with the
result. We understand that some local walkers who do not want to share
the range with anyone are upset but also from experience that type of
compalint has happened for every area for which we have written a book
or an article. Some walkers feel that a wilderness belongs to them and
should nto shared with anyone else.The
book is published by The Mountaineers who are the premier
US publishers of hiking guide books and other related outdoor
books. They have published more than 1,000 titles. A basic description
of most of the route on this web page.
Some
sample pages are shown below
Snail Mail Address
John Chapman, PO Box 5042, Laburnum, 3130, Australia
Photographs and text are copyright © 2022-2026 John Chapman.
Last updated : Octover 12th 2026
