High Sierra Ramble

[GreenNDark Timber]

Damn...retirement looks good on you!

 

[mtwarden]

Thanks guys!

Great write up and pics-

Soo- where was this wide buck at and did you see more- lol

we did see one other buck, a little nicer than the one I got a pic of- both pretty safe in King's Canyon National Park

 

[Geronibro]

Man I enjoy the adventure recaps you post
My wife and I are headed to southern Utah this month for hiking in Zion and Bryce Canyon.
Can you tell me which pants you wore for this trip? I don’t have a clue which hiking pants I should wear. I want something light weight that I can layer underneath for chilly mornings/evenings.

 

[mtwarden]

Man I enjoy the adventure recaps you post
My wife and I are headed to southern Utah this month for hiking in Zion and Bryce Canyon.
Can you tell me which pants you wore for this trip? I don’t have a clue which hiking pants I should wear. I want something light weight that I can layer underneath for chilly mornings/evenings.

Thanks! I was wearing Outdoor Research Ferossi pants- very lightweight, dry fast and while certainly not the most rugged pant out there- never got a tear/rip scrambling through all that talus and scree.

Definitely glad I didn't wear shorts- I would have been burned to a crisp!

 

[Geronibro]

Thank you for getting back to me. I’ll check them out.

 

[DBAshland]

Looks like an awesome adventure! Thanks for sharing. That was my old turf as a backcountry ranger back in the 1980s, and man did those photos kindle some great memories!

 

[CRJR45]

Great pictures , looks like fun .

 

[lifeisgoodsteve]

Gorgeous, big country! Talk about a lot of granite. Were you late enough to avoid the mosquitos?

The Sierras are an amazing range I definitely want to explore more. Some of the deer tags aren't too many years to draw up there, so would be fun to do an extended trip on which could hunt too.

Cheers

s

 

[mtwarden]

Thanks Gents.

We lucked out and no mosquitoes, evidently they can be a little rough at times

 

[Zhem]

Awesome write up, thanks for sharing.

I live in the Sacramento area and, while this state has a lot of issues (too many to list here), there aren’t many places you can wake up early in the morning and head to the mountains to go skiing or snowshoeing, head down and get some fresh water fishing or water skiing in, then finish the day with a sunset surf session, shore fishing, or just enjoying a beer and an ocean sunset.

The real question is, is the juice worth the squeeze…..cause some days the squeeze is pretty painful.


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[passinggas33]

Looks like there was a variety of shelters. Any of them stand out? Was really curious about the Tarptent Moment. I’m wanting one just don’t see as much about it many places.

 

[mtwarden]

Thanks Guys!

I think everyone was pretty pleased with their shelters. That was the first chance I got to see the Moment- pretty nice shelter. My buddy who has is 6' 2-3" and said he has plenty of room. It did really well one night when we had high winds, but he thought it would do even better with two more guys- there are tabs at the upper portion of the tent near the hoop to run two more guys.

 

[trogers861]

Any chance you have your rough route marked on google earth or something similar? I'm only a few hours away would be very interested in a similar route next year. I've kicked around in that area a bit. Sure, I can link up the landmarks you mentioned (and will), but thought I would ask first! Great write up!

 

[Zhem]

Any chance you have your rough route marked on google earth or something similar? I'm only a few hours away would be very interested in a similar route next year. I've kicked around in that area a bit. Sure, I can link up the landmarks you mentioned (and will), but thought I would ask first! Great write up!

Yes, this would be awesome!!!


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[mtwarden]

Any chance you have your rough route marked on google earth or something similar? I'm only a few hours away would be very interested in a similar route next year. I've kicked around in that area a bit. Sure, I can link up the landmarks you mentioned (and will), but thought I would ask first! Great write up!

Yes, this would be awesome!!!


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I don't have the route mapped any longer, BUT we started at the Kersarge trailhead and then eventually joined the JMT, up and over Glen Pass then we went off trail Rae Col and dropped into the 60 Lakes Basin; eventually up the west basin of 60 Lakes and then over the 60 Lakes Col into the Gardiner Basin (they show an old trail higher, we found it looked best to drop straight down into the basin- mildly sketchy)- there is little left of any trail in Gardiner Basin, we went down stream and then up the next basin for Gardiner Pass. There is a bit of use trail here and there, but best to have the trail downloaded in your gps and roughly follow it. Gardiner Pass looks pretty intimidating, but look for a use trail and it will wind you through and save a bunch of bouldering. The use trail peters out pretty quickly once over the top, they show a trail to Charlotte Lake, but it's really hit and miss. From Charlotte Lake you drop down and join the JMT again and head up Bubbs Ck to Forester Pass. Pay attention to the weather, Forester Pass is definitely not a place you want to be with a storm brewing. Drop over Forester Pass and into the upper Tyndall Ck Basin descending down the basin; you'll see on the map you don't have to travel all the way to the trail junction and can go off trail over a ridge (Mount Torchbearer) and join the trail to Lake South America. We explored the upper reaches of the Kern River Basin (trailless) and then eventually rejoining the trail below Casper Lake (definitely consider Casper Lake as a camp spot- gorgeous lake and full of trout ). Grab the Upper Kern-Tyndall Cutoff trail as you get closer to the junction you can see an easy way to go off trail and shave a mile or two- heading for the Shepherd Pass trail. Join it and through Shepherd Pass and then down to the trailhead. You'll obviously want to two vehicles- one dropped off at the Shepherd Pass trailhead and the other to Kersrage.

We saw a few folks on the JMT/PCT stretches, but in the trailless basins no one person! Definitely an A+ route. There are some good alternatives too. From Lake South America you can head over Ericsson or Milly Foot Passes, dropping you into East Creek Basin (they show some trails to these passes, we never saw them, but you can easily navigate to both passes). Lots of other options as well.

What I found impressive is the number of trailless basins, dozens of them! You want to get away from folks, those are the places to be

 

[beachbunny]

Looks like retiremint is going pretty well