SHR from Onion Valley

When are you guys going?

I'm doing the full SHR starting 7/13 from Road's End and finishing up at Mono Village/Twin Lakes on 7/31.

Curious if I'll see your group when I'm there.

Have fun. Sounds like a nice route. I've never been to the Sierras, so my suggestions probably wouldn't be too helpful.

Headed out their in Mid to late August.

Anybody with cool side trips/ secluded alpine lakes/crags/valleys worth exploring while taking that route. Will more than likely have 8 days to do the 70-80 or so miles between kearsarge and bishop pass.

Would anyone be able to convince me of heading north from Bishop pass area to Mammoth? Is the SHR as scenic as what I am tentatively planning?

Highly recommend you look at the trail damage done by a windstorm last Nov. Many, many miles of sappy bushwacking over downed trees from Island Pass to at least as far south as Muir Pass. No info on points south of there yet:

http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/inyo/home/?cid=stelprdb5355082

I have a party of 6-7 JMT SOB starting 6/28 down Lyell Canyon and I'm not looking forward to a trail through a sawn timber forest. It'll smell good for the first quarter mile…

I suspect that some areas of the SHR will not be passable, at least not pleasantly for a good long while, perhaps not even this year. The good news is that the SHR is mostly above the tree line.

I have yet to see any trail reports through SEKI yet. I keep an eye on the PCT Assoc. and the SEKI report:

http://pcta.org/planning/during_trip/current.asp
http://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/trailcond.htm

No longer relevant, but the snow report is good to watch while spring thaws:

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/snowapp/sweq.action