Thru-hike of Roper’s Sierra High Route without resupply

[Adrian Stingaciu]

Hi all,

I just wanted to let everyone know I got back safely from the doing a thru-hike of Roper's Sierra High Route without resupply. 195 miles and most of it is off trail. I finished the route in 11 days 13 hours and 17 minutes. I stated on Sunday July 8 at 7:43am with 12 lbs of organic raw vegan food (sun-dried fruits and nuts) and less than 5 lbs gear, for a total starting pack weight of 17 lbs. I climbed 5 peaks along the way, and hiked from 12 to 14 hours per day. I had a beautiful journey, and saw 2 bears, lots of deer, one spotted fawn, rabbits, ptarmigans, grouse, mice, pika, marmots, and lots of flowers, and pristine meadows and lakes on the x-country route. I finished the route last Thrusday, July 19 at 9pm in Twin Lakes above Bridgeport, CA.
This was an experiment in minimalism while maximizing on the energy of raw vegan foods. No bear canister, no tent, no stove, no water filter, no soap, no mosquito repellant, no problems !!!

peace&love,

Adrian Stingaciu
[email protected]

[Ryan Faulkner]

hey Adrian,

its good to hear your sucess on the SHR. the sierra high route has been a trail i have been looking to do in the future.

another trail you might be interested in is the Tahoe-yosemite trail. THe trail is not completely offtrail. but does has some off trail wanderings.

the route is outlined in a book written by thomas winnet. I completed it last summer, and from reading about the SHR, it seems like a similar idea, just it runs through the northern sierra between lake tahoe and into yosemite national park.

your trip is another sucess of the SUL philosiphy :)

[John S.]

Congrats Adrian. Don't tell me you did it with the zilch pack : ). Which pack did ya carry?

[Adrian Stingaciu]

Yes I used the Zilch pack by ZPacks. The pack is only 2.7 ounces and it carried 17-18 lbs of food, gear and water at the beginning. I was worried that the stitching would come undone with such a heavy load, so for a couple of days I carried my food on my head, but after that I put it back in the pack and watched the stitching closely. The pack lasted all the way to the end without problems. I didn't have a sewing kit but didn't need one. My first aid kit was a few strips of duct tape and sports tape, nothing else.

[Adrian Stingaciu]

pictures
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/astingaciu/album/576460762405066592

trip report
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/boac_socal/files/Trip%20Reports/

Adrian

[Adrian Stingaciu]

If the links above don't work shoot me an e-mail.

Adrian Stingaciu
[email protected]

[JW]

Adrian,

Yeah man, great job! I heard wind of you on Glen Pass on July 25 or so from a guy named Taylor hiking the JMT with his 13 year old son. They mentioned an emaciated guy doing the SHR on only 10oz. of food or something a day. I think they ran into you earlier in their trip.

I just did 100 miles of the JMT and Whitney with a slow hiking friend and heard lots of cool stories about the SHR. I'm a vegetarian and did the no-cook thing. Worked out great. Not quite ready for all raw yet.

Thanks for the cool photos. I'm a socal resident too, maybe see you on the trail someday.

PS. Do you have a gearlist for your trip?

Peace,
Jhaura

[Adrian Stingaciu]

Some more details…
Adrian

ACTUAL ITINERARY:
Day 1 – Road’s End (5,035ft) to N of Goat Crest Saddle @ 11,200ft
Day 2 – Over Red Pass @ 10,700ft
Day 3 – at 11,800ft before Barrett Lakes
Day 4 – to Muir Pass (11,955ft) Hut
Day 5 – to Puppet Lake at 11,200ft
Day 6 – overlooking Upper Mills Creek Lake from 11,200ft
Day 7 – just past Izaac Walton Lake at10,400ft
Day 8 – Reds Meadow at 7600ft
Day 9 – over North Glacier Pass around 10,600ft
Day 10 – below Vogelsang Pass at around 10,200ft
Day 11 – north side of Maul Lake at 10,250ft
Day 12 – to Twin Lakes, 7092ft

FOOD LIST
Calories/oz per oz Total calories
Walnuts (2.375 lbs) 7030 cals 185 cals
Mango (2 lbs) 3632 cals 113.5 cals
Black Figs (2 lbs) 2557 cals 79.9 cals Turkish Figs (2 lbs) 2724 cals 85.125
Raisins (2 lbs) 2752 cals 86
Goji Berries (1 lb) 1489 cals 93.07
Cocao Nibs (0.5 lbs) 1280 cals 1280 cals

Total = 11.875 lbs or 190 ounces 21,464 cals for 190 oz
average 113 cals / oz

Estimate of calories consumed
2000 cals per day for normal activities, or 24,000 for 12 days
Plus 100 cals per mile, or 19500 for SHR
Plus 400 cals per peak, or 2000
Estimated 3792 calories per day (at 16.25 miles and peaks)
From food = 1130 calories from food per day
From body = 2662 calories (0.76 lbs) from body fat and muscle each day

Total = 45,500 cals needed (would = 25.2 lbs of food at 113 cals / oz)
Actually used 18,752 cals from food (10.285 lbs at 113 cals/ oz) – finished with ~1.5 lbs of food

---

26,748 cals deficit (from body fat and muscle)

I actually lost about 10 lbs on the trail. Since I used about 10.3 lbs of food or 18,752 calories and lost 10 lbs or 35,000 I can say that my total calorie consumption was 53,752 for the Sierra High Route and the 5 peaks climbed but ignoring the few leaves I ate which are insignificant in calories anyway. That means I used about 4,674 calories per day, a lot higher than I estimated. For comparison I used only about 3,884 calories/day on the John Muir Trail.

GEAR LIST

Backpack Zilch Micro-pack (1700cu in) 2.7oz

BEDROOM
Groundsheet Gossamer Gear Polycryo 0.98oz
Bivy Montbell Breeze Dry-Tec 6.3oz
Tarp Bozeman Mountain Works poncho 6.08oz
Sleeping Bag North Face Propel 40F 18.88oz
Emergency Bag Emergency Space blanket 2.5oz
Mattress Gossamer Gear ThinLight 2oz

KITCHEN
Water Filter None
WaterBag Platypus 2.4L (pillow 4 lumbar) 1.2oz
Water bottle 1/2 liter plastic bottle 0.3oz

BATHROOM
First Aid Kit none
Soap none
Oral Hygiene Toothbrush, floss 0.5oz
CLOSET
Sweater Under Armour long sleeve 6.72oz
Thermal Pants Cycling pants (medium weight) 6oz
Rain Pants GoLite Reed Gore-Tex Pants 5oz
Wind Jacket GoLite Helios silnylon jacket 3.52oz
Socks 2 double-layer 3oz
Cap Fleece baclava (thin) 1.44oz
Headnet Mosquito head net 1.44oz

OTHER STUFF
Bug Juice none
Suntan Lotion 45 SPF (three 1oz bottles) 3 oz

Total = 71.56oz (4.47 lbs)

ITEMS CARRIED OUTSIDE THE BACKPACK

Shoes Montrail Highlander Shoes 24.0oz
Trekking Poles Gossamer Gear LightTrek carbon 5.12oz
Camera Canon 410 digital 8oz
Batteries 4 extra AA (lithium) 3oz
Journal Pen (use map paper) 0.5oz
Suntan Lotion 45 SPF (1oz bottle) 1 oz
Lip Balm Chapstick 30 SPF 0.5oz
Shorts REI nylon with mesh 4.96oz
T-Shirt North Face Flight Series 4oz
Socks GoLite Classic (polyester) 1oz
Hat REI Really Cool Cap 1.44oz
Compass REI mini compass/thermometer 0.3oz
Watch Timex Ironman Watch 2 oz
Glasses Prescription lenses 0.5oz
Water bottle 1/2 liter plastic bottle 0.3oz
Knife razor blade 0.1oz
Flashlight Photon X-Light Micro 0.4oz
Washcloth Cotton bandana (1/2) 1oz
Duct Tape Waterproof Tape & duct tape 1 oz
Map Kit Topo maps (reduced size) 1oz
Wallet Cash, Credit Card 0.16oz

Total = 60.28oz (3.77 lbs)

Skin-out weight = 131.84oz (8.24 lbs)

[Jack H.]

Awesome time dude! I started the SHR on July 25th intending to do the whole thing in under 17 days. Got as far as Dusy Basin on the morning of the 4th day. Similar speed to you, but for me it was too much. Doing that many passes per day, I had had enough of being exposed to injury (falls) for so many hours per day. Lost the mental game. Great hike though. I had no intention of pushing through for any time of record. Heading up tomorrow to do the section north of tuolumne.
Again, I'm impressed.

[Dave T]

.

[Adrian Stingaciu]

This summer I learned from a friend of mine, Karl Wilcox, that he was out there as well on the Sierra High Route in 2007 a month before I started.
Karl did the route in June with re-supply and plenty of snow. He said he met a guy named Doug on the route, an ex-pro swimmer from Oregon, who was doing the route without resupply with a 60-lb pack in June 2007. Karl later got an e-mail from Doug saying the he had finished the route without resupply. So kudos to Doug for being
the first person that I'm aware of to thru-hike the Sierra High Route without resupply.

[Author]

Posts