Sierra High Route -What sectin would you recommend

[daniel B]

I have a 10 day window this summer/fall in which I'd like to use to hike the Sierra High Route. I purchased the "Sierra High Route" by Steve Roper and have been looking at the Dusty Basin to Lake Italy portion. Its approx 40 miles long. What I don't want to do is finish to early and have to plan other routes. I'd like to find something that takes 9-10 days on the SHR.

dan

[Manfred]

Dan,

At first glance 4 miles per day seems sort of short for a 9-10 day trip along the SHR. May be you plan extra time for peak bagging along the route or you like to fish for lunch and dinner? It also seems like you didn't count getting to the SHR and back in your total milage. Assuming that you will be starting at South Lake and ending at Pine Creek I think your total is closer to 60 miles than 40 miles. Out of those 60 miles you would backpack less than 20 miles off trail (from Evolution Lake to Lake Italy). All the rest would be on trails. To me the beauty of the SHR is being off the trail. It seems to me that given the miles you spend on trails you could cover more of the SHR. How about starting at Roads End and going from there to Lake Italy? That would increase the length of your trip by roughly 20 miles (~46 miles from Roads End to Evolution Lake compared to ~26 miles from South Lake) for a total of roughly 80 miles. In case something slows you down you can decide in French Canyon (before the climb up to Merriam Lake) to take French Canyon back to Pine Creek and cut rougly 10 miles miles from your itinerary.

Manfred

[Anonymous]

"I'd like to find something that takes 9-10 days on the SHR."

How about from Paiute Pass to Roads End? Or vice versa? N to S over Snow Finger Col and out to Roads End, with bailout points along the way at Bishop Pass and Taboose Pass if you get bogged down or find you don't like the off trail stuff.

[Robert Perkins]

I'm assuming you mean Dusy Basin to Italy Pass area. I have heard this is one of the harder sections of the HSR, as it includes Snow Tongue Pass. Are you experienced in x-country travel? This year should be a great year for doing the SHR if you don't want to fight the snow, but there is a lot of talus and boulder hopping that goes along with the no-snow scenario as well.

Are you planning on coming in from the East side? If so, we did a nice trip that started at Onion Valley going over Kearsarge to Roads End, starting the HSR and going out at South Lake coming out of Dusy basin. It was a fantastic hike, and I want to finish one of these years! We didn't see a soul while on the HSR x-country sections of our trip. It would require two cars to pull off the shuttle, or a friend or hitch-hiking.

[daniel B]

Sorry that I did not follow up on this thread right away. My plans are to start at roads end up copper creek trail and end coming out at Piute pass. I'll be doing this solo unless I find a hiking parter?? Ive been pouring over topo maps the past month and this really looks like a great trip. I'd like to hike the middle fork river also but that will have to be another trip.

[kevin smith]

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=52801&skip_to_post=449325#449325

hannes hiked the entire route last summer i dropped him off at roads end on day one

im sure if you pm him he will be able to help with any info you need i think he has a blog with pics of the trip but not sure he said it was a fantastic trip

might hit him up

kevin

[P. Larson]

I would highly recommend Skurka's map set and datebook he has on his website.

[Steve S]

I hiked this section last yr, and it was superb, and quite spectacular. It would be a fantastic section to hike. If you need any other details, drop me a pm

[Andy Duncan]

Daniel, I'm doing a similar section of the SHR from Roads End to Dusy Basin leaving September 15th. I sent you a pm.

[Mateo Action]

Dan – a ten day window means something different to each person. For me and my abilities it means I can go from Road's End to Red's Meadow but only while re-supplying directly in Dusy Basin via a friend. This also includes minimal peak bagging. For someone like Skurka it means doing the entire route in 10 days!!

The portions you've chosen are superb…Road's End to Dusy Basin has minimal route finding challenges if you're well versed in x country travel and have scoured the topos and Roper's book. To me, the most visually pleasing section and lonliest, is from Humprey's basin through the Bear lakes, bagging Seven Gables along the way. Bottom line, you can't go wrong attempting any section of the SHR solo or with a partner. Enjoy!!!!

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