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Backpacking Light

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You are here: Home / Places / Photo Essays / Rambling the High Sierra

Rambling the High Sierra

by Ryan Jordan on May 20, 2014 Photo Essays

(photo essay)

Introduction

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.

Let the photos tell the story

 - 1
Mules, horses, and a grizzled packer save us the pain and work of having to haul heavy packs to the high country during the heat of the summer.

 - 2
We made high crossings through endless fields of talus – but with a twist – using ultralight flatwater packrafts for traveling through lake chain corridors.

 - 3
A lot of granite and little tiny patches of tundra make for beautiful, if not somewhat hostile campsites above 11,000 feet. We felt constantly exposed and vulnerable, especially during the mightiest of the many grand thunderstorms we experienced.

 - 4
Atop a 13,000 foot pass that required hours of talus to reach, and hours more of talus to descend. The views were worth it, but the camaraderie gained through suffering was priceless.

 - 5
Paddling a 12,000 foot tarn so as to avoid many more hours of talus hopping. Packrafting was a highlight of this trip, and a unique way to enjoy the enchainment of lake upon lake within a drainage corridor.

 - 6
Caloric supplement.

 - 7
Pitched in a lakeside meadow during a storm, with massive peaks looming, makes you feel small.

 - 8
Tenkara fishing a “lowland” (9,800 feet) stream on our last night in a desperate attempt to have something more than a 2 oz ration of dry beans for dinner.

 - 9
Sierra Golden Trout.

 - 10
Sierra mountain travel via rope, axe, and packraft.


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Comments

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Viewing 12 posts - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)
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  • Author
    Posts
  • May 20, 2014 at 6:55 pm #1317041
    Stephanie Jordan
    Spectator

    @maia

    Locale: Rocky Mountains

    Companion forum thread to:

    Rambling the High Sierra

    May 20, 2014 at 7:31 pm #2104551
    Robert Perkins
    Spectator

    @rp3957

    Locale: The Sierras

    Awesome! Thanks for sharing!

    May 20, 2014 at 8:02 pm #2104561
    W I S N E R !
    BPL Member

    @xnomanx

    Well done.
    I'm buying a packraft in the next year.

    May 21, 2014 at 5:31 am #2104624
    Nicholas Viglione
    BPL Member

    @nicholas-viglionegmail-com

    What a beautiful take on travel Ryan, it certainly paints a wonderfully romantic picture of high country passage!

    May 21, 2014 at 9:54 am #2104708
    Sam Haraldson
    BPL Member

    @sharalds

    Locale: Gallatin Range

    I approve.

    May 21, 2014 at 10:03 am #2104713
    Tony Wong
    BPL Member

    @valshar

    Locale: San Francisco Bay Area

    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

    May 21, 2014 at 1:36 pm #2104811
    Nico .
    BPL Member

    @nickb

    Locale: Los Padres National Forest

    +1 to all of the above posters.

    May 21, 2014 at 2:08 pm #2104833
    Arthur Gazdik
    BPL Member

    @artgazdik

    Locale: Pittsburgh, PA

    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

    May 21, 2014 at 5:58 pm #2104932
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    "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.

    May 22, 2014 at 5:23 am #2105049
    spelt with a t
    BPL Member

    @spelt

    Locale: Rangeley, ME

    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.

    May 26, 2014 at 9:33 pm #2106116
    Keegan D
    Member

    @nageek18

    Locale: Bay Area

    I'm also curious to know where these places are.

    May 27, 2014 at 8:53 pm #2106391
    Nick Smolinske
    BPL Member

    @smo

    Locale: Rogue Panda Designs

    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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