Sierra High Route thru-hike – 12.5 days

[Austin Lillywhite]

I've been a huge fan of the BPL forums for a long time, and I finally became a member. I figured a good first post would be a trip report of my recent thru-hike of Roper's Sierra High Route on Aug 3rd-15th. A buddy and I were able to get a window of about 12 days to hike it; we had read Manfred and Andrew's top-notch trip report doing it in that timeframe a few years ago, so we decided to go for it. Huge thanks to those two for the inspiration. I definitely have to agree with Manfred and Andrew–calling the SHR the trip of a lifetime doesn't feel like any overstatement. The vistas were consistently the best I've ever experienced, the sense of remoteness from walking off-trail was incredible, and the subalpine and alpine terrain was so spectacular. It was definitely life-changing. I put together a wordpress site with the photos and trip report: https://austinlillywhite.wordpress.com And a YouTube video of our trip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S44ImnInamg

[Aubrey W. Bogard]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

[Kiel Senninger]

Nice report! I missed you guys out there by a couple weeks. I really like the pictures and the list of passes you crossed each day.

[jscott]

Terrific report! Interesting to hear your experiences route finding. this is beautiful country; I wish that I'd done it! You covered a lot of ground in 12.5 days–this country is tough and exhausting–and it's easy to get lost. Roper isn't exactly the most detailed writer when it comes to passes–although it sounds like he served you well. Hey, I'm your neighbor (on the Arlington)…if you want, ask for Jeff at Pegasus Books on Solano, where I work. I'm too old to keep up with you guys but I've covered some of the same terrain in years past. Always happy to chat about backpacking. Or skiing…

[Kenneth Keating]

Great write up plus the photo's turned out fantastic. Those were taken on the Samsung Galaxy, correct? plan on doing the SHR and would like to ask some questions regarding the more difficult passes. I tried to PM you but you haven't set this up. Please PM me. Thanks, Ken

[Austin Lillywhite]

Jeff– Thanks so much for checking out our trip. Elijah and I get coffee on Solano every week or two, so we'll definitely have to stop by Pegasus and say hi, chat about backpacking etc. Cheers

[Austin Lillywhite]

Kenneth– Thanks for the comments. Yeah, photos are on a Samsung Galaxy S6 (it's my very first smartphone, and I got it with the camera in mind for this trip). I'd be happy to answer any questions to help your planning. I'll set up the PM now.

[Kenneth Keating]

Austin: Sent questions a few days ago but no reply. Please contact me at ken.keating at stantec.com. Thx, K

[Trevor Wilson]

Awesome trip report! Thanks for sharing! You guys covered some ground…impressive!

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