In August 2013, my teenage son and I joined two friends on a two week saunter through the Central Sierras. Our mission was simple and focused highly on entertainment value: we'd take ropes, ice axes, packrafts, and tenkara fishing gear. When we found a steep snowfield, we'd use an ice axe. When we encountered steep rock, we'd use a roped belay. When we found high lakes rimmed with interminable talus, we'd paddle packrafts. And when we found water (and boy, did we find water!), we'd fish. And fish. And fish some more.
These photos represent a small bit of an epic expedition that involved travel by foot, horse, and packraft via trail, talus, and tarn. We carried packs that weighed about 45 pounds apiece, traveled overland most of the day (with one layover day spent day hiking and fishing) and supplemented our anemic calorie plan with fresh trout. We camped off grid, encountered few people, and enjoyed Sierra solitude our way - away from the beaten path of the JMT - a high route where light, storm, and granite meet human soul and suffering.
ARTICLE OUTLINE
- Introduction
- Let the photos tell the story
# WORDS: 410
# PHOTOS: 11
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Discussion
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Companion forum thread to:
Rambling the High Sierra
Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Well done.
I'm buying a packraft in the next year.
What a beautiful take on travel Ryan, it certainly paints a wonderfully romantic picture of high country passage!
I approve.
Love these types of reports….pictures show all we need to know with just a few carefully worded captions.
Please have more articles like these.
Better to be inspired to actually get out on the trail vs. spending all of our time researching gear.
There is only soooo much gear porn that one should have in their life. :)
Tony
+1 to all of the above posters.
Ryan:
Please provide a summary of your route. I spend a week or two every year rambling in the Sierra and am always interested new ideas. Was the pack raft needed to make the route viable?
Thanks, Art
"I'm buying a packraft in the next year."
An excellent antidote for endless talus, not to mention a great way to fish some of the larger lakes.
This was very good. How cold are those lakes? I know people swim in them (briefly) but have never heard of anyone swimming across them as a planned strategy.
I'm also curious to know where these places are.
Wow, what an amazing trip.
I'm mostly curious about those hand paddles. Are they MYOG? Looks like a great idea.
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