Backpacking Guides and Trips
Trips
My last Sierra hike of the 2011 season was retracing a fondly-remembered, gorgeous overnighter to Minaret Lake, and from there the plan was to follow a popular cross-country loop to Cecile and Iceberg Lakes.The first day to Minaret Lake was smooth and uneventful: permit pickup in Mammoth Lakes, obligatory gawking at the Minarets from Mammoth Pass, then drive to Devil's Postpile and start hiking. For a trail which gains 2,500 feet, the Minaret Lake trail is surprisingly...
A spectacular high-altitude trip to mark the end of the summer hiking season.I started later than expected from the Mono Pass trailhead (9500') since I apparently had a hard time reading the shuttle bus schedule. The Mono Pass trail starts out in forest but within a few miles you are getting open views, contrasting the multicolored metamorphic peaks of the Sierra Crest to the east with the more familiar whitish-gray granites of the Tuolumne Meadows region to...
Along Highway 108 there's a relatively gentle route to the High Sierra that starts in the arid rain shadow and leads up to the alpine crest. The last time I visited here, in early July, the trip was gorgeous but the bugs were terrible. So for 2011, I decided to avoid the bugs and go in mid-August, normally a safe time. But 2011 has been different.The Leavitt Meadows trailhead, at 7,100', is at the base of...
July trips - at least my July trips - never quite work out as planned. The high country's usually just finished snowmelt and so things are waterlogged, or buggy, or you can't get as far as you want. This July trip was no different: I arrived at the ranger station, told them my plans (to go over Silliman Pass between Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks), and the rangers were direct: forget...
This is probably the best 5 days of hiking I've ever done, followingthe south end of the John Muir Trail from Onion Valley all the way tothe top of Mount Whitney. It's such a good hike, I've done it twice.We started the hike by dropping our car at Whitney Portal and taking ashuttle to Onion Valley campground, where we had a campgroundreservation for the night. On Monday morning we started up theKearsarge...
This was an easy family outing to a popular campsite at Point Reyes, perfect for a 3-year-old hiker and his parents. The early-morning rainstorm just added to the delight.Point Reyes National Seashore has a bunch of "mid-country" campgrounds. While they all require a not inconsiderable walk (1 or more miles), they also have water faucets, bathrooms, and trash service (!), amenities I never associate with "backcountry" camping. The short hiking distance and...
Early in 2010 I ran across an old Backpacker article describing a loop through southern Yosemite's Clark Range circling Merced and Triple Divide Peaks. The trip included high passes, enough mileage for a weeklong trip, and a distinct dearth of people -- what's not to like?So I sent in my permit application and started training.This hike proved to be a Sierran classic: granite-rimmed lakes, thick forests and open meadows, fields of talus...
The hike to May Lake is a delightful and easy way to experience theYosemite high country. It's great for a first-time backpacker,regardless of age.This hike is NOT a way to experience solitude (there is aHigh Sierra Camp and accompanying crowds at the lake). It is NOT a wayto have a true "wilderness experience" (there is running water and aflush toilet(!) at the backpackers' camp, plus there's thataforementioned High Sierra Camp). You MIGHT...
A wonderful weekend excursion to the High Sierra. (I didn't own a GPS then, so the track line is approximated.)I had always wanted to re-visit Thousand Island Lake after a stopover on the Muir Trail but the most obvious route there always seemed to be via Agnew Meadows, which is really a 3-day trip, and 3 days together was hard to find. Then one day I looked at the map and went...
Lyell Canyon - Vogelsang Loop
Yosemite National Park, California, United States
Backpacking | 20 miles
Backpacking | 20 miles
The Yosemite High Country in July... creeks full of snowmelt, meadows full of flowers, mosquitos full of blood. This hike is remarkably gentle and relatively easy for all that it climbs high into the high country. Of course, the presence of one of the High Sierra Camps (hotels in the backcountry) should tell you that. It goes "up" Lyell Canyon (which is perhaps the flattest 6 miles I've hike anywhere), following the...
It's spring, and spring means waterfalls and flowers and green in Yosemite. What better way to spend a spring weekend than gawking at all of these things, especially on a backpacking trip?Hetch Hetchy is the fraternal twin of Yosemite Valley, drowned in the early 20th century to provide drinking water for the San Francisco Bay Area. As a result, it's much less visited than Yosemite Valley, and you can even go backpacking...
An easy getaway off of I-80.After realizing that our Labor Day weekend was consumed by various kid things, I moped around until my wife threw me out of the house. Since it was too late to take advantage of the full 3 days, I did a quick drive up I-80 to CA-20 and then to the Bowman Lake Road. The hardest part of this hike is getting to the trailhead on a...
This trip was not a good idea.That is not the fault of the hike (although it's not the best hike, see below), but because I was completely out of shape when I did it and because the only weekend I had available was when it seemed most of the Sierra was on fire and filling the air with smoke. But that was the weekend I had, so I went.The hike itself is...
This was my first backpacking trip in over a year and what a reintroduction. Life witth a 2-year-old is many good things but not terribly conducive to backpacking on a regular basis (at least, not my 2-year-old). My wife gave me a free pass, though, so off I went to Pinecrest on a Friday afternoon.The way to the trailhead is on a twisty maze of dirt forest roads, seemingly all alike. (This...
Escape from the hustle and bustle of Tuolumne Meadows into the Cathedral Range! The first part of this hike is a moderately steep trudge through the forest on a good trail to Elizabeth Lake, where you finally break out of the trees and are rewarded with a great view of Unicorn Peak and other parts of the Cathedral Range.Then you continue onwards on a good use trail up towards the crest of...
Cluster Lakes Loop, Lassen Volcanic National Park
Drakesbad, California, United States
Backpacking | 0.0 miles
Backpacking | 0.0 miles
I wanted a mellow backpacking trip and this perfectly fit the bill. Drove up the night before, crashed in the Southwest Walk-In Campground, picked up a permit the next day, and set off from Summit Lake after oohing and aahing at Mount Lassen itself. Spent the night at Silver Lake and headed out the next day.The hike definitely has ups and downs but they are not that bad -- mostly you are...
