Tuesday July 28, 12.6mi/20.3km

Lee Vining Creek (176.5/10,080ft) to Horse Creek Pass (189.1/10,680ft) (CA)

I knew today would be a ton of elevation change, so I have myself extra time and started at 6:30am. Sunrise on the mountains!

Less than an hour later, I was on Conness Pass. I think that is Greenstone Lake on the right.

The view of pointy North Peak was impressive, and I had a preview of the route, the green ramps to the right.

The descent off the pass was very exact, if I didn’t follow the instructions I would be stuck looking over a cliff. This photo is looking back what I came down, the shaded gully in the left-center.

I could see Cascade Lake just ahead, and my climb up to Sky Pilot Col, the low point just right of the center mountain.

Cascade Lake was very reflective in the morning light.

The climb up to Sky Pilot Col is interesting. The first half is on a trail, which ends at Secret Lake.

The next part ascended the talus field behind the lake. The final part is “a short but steep scree slope that most hikers will find offensive”, according to the guidebook author.

Sky Pilot Col is named for this blue-ish flower that blankets the pass, and only grows at high elevations. I think this is it.

I arrived at the top of the pass sweaty, and it wasn’t hot out. Maybe the scree scamper can be a new fitness fad! The view back to the Saddlebag Lake, Cascade Lake, and Steelhead Lake was cool.

And the view ahead was worrisome, seeing all that talus!

Fortunately, about a third of the descent was on snow, which was alot of fun.

But eventually the snowfield ended, and there was SO MUCH talus.

I was so happy to arrive at Shepherd Lake, where the talus finally ended.

From there, it was a nice easy two mile jaunt downhill thru open forest, all the way down to Virginia Canyon.

I saw a rare flower, the Mariposa Lily.

I had a long lunch in the canyon, swimming in the river and eating most of my remaining food. The climb up out of the canyon want by quickly, as I was endlessly entertained by the granite peeling off (“exfoliating”).

At the top of the 1400ft climb was Soldier Lake, the last lake on SHR. So of course one last swim.

The climb up to Stanton Pass was easy at first, and I had a close view of pointy, red Virginia Peak.

Up at almost 11,000ft/3300m, there was still snow.

The final bit of climbing to the pass was confusing, as there were three notches in the ridge that all looked like “the” pass. Eventually I got over to the left notch, the correct one that allows a safe descent. I earned these views!

Looking down into Spiller Valley:

The descent was steeeep. The “class 2-3” descent involved many 5th class moves, which was very slow.

An hour later, I had dropped 300 feet and was now in easy meadows! The final pass of the SHR, Horse Creek Pass, is in the distance.

I got to Horse Creek Pass at 5:30pm and made camp.

And I made a fun dinner, my last one on the SHR.

I didn’t cover much distance today, but the 5344ft/1600m of elevation gain was tiring!

Monday July 27, 17.6mi/28.3km

Rafferty Creek (162.3/9510ft) to Lee Vining Creek (176.5/10,080ft) (CA) + 3.4mi for Tuolumne

I was moving down the trail at 7am, excited for some town food at the Tuolumne Store. It’s a convenience store with an attached small takeout restaurant, and I was looking forward to a breakfast burrito.

As I got closer, I started seeing signs of civilization.

I joined the PCT for just over a mile. These markers always make me smile.

The meadows were full of hungry deer, already enjoying their breakfast. I had one more mile to mine.

I think one of those mountains is Cathedral Peak.

I arrived to the store at 9am. Not only were they not open, it looked like they hadn’t been open in a few years. What a sad sight.

I didn’t want my extra 1.5 miles to be wasted, so I went Dome-spotting. Lembert Dome:

And Puppy Dome:

No sign of the popular Stately Pleasure Dome, though.

Hungry and disappointed, I walked the 30 minutes back to the trail, and distracted myself with beautiful surroundings.

I got to the Dana Fork River, fearing a raging river. The map suggests an alternate route to avoid this “deep ford”. I stepped across on stones, and it never looked more than ankle deep. Maybe in early season?

A minute later, I crossed the only pavement on the entire SHR, the Tioga Pass Road/Hwy 120.

The good trail continued, uphill towards Gaylor Peak (right).

After achieving timberline elevation, the trail faded and I had a sublime xc stroll.

I passed Lower Gaylor Lake, forgetting about swimming since it was getting windy.

I walked along Upper Gaylor Lake for a bit, and because of the wind there were no bugs.

I climbed up, leaving the lakes behind. At the top of the ridge, at 10,800ft/3300m, there were some old mining buildings!

I went inside the “doorway”, and it looked pretty solidly built.

There were other smaller buildings as well.

And even an old mine shaft. It was terrifyingly deep.

I continued on across the ridge, noticing that the geology of this side (eastern) of the Sierras is very different. No more granite, mostly shales I think.

I came across a hidden valley with a little snowmelt stream, what a cool surprise. Definitely not on my map!

An hour later, I dropped down from the ridge to Spuller Lake.

It smelled weird, so I kept going. The next trio of lakes looked much nicer! Green Treble Lake, unknown, Maul Lake:

After a nice swim in Maul Lake, I headed down to the valley to camp in the trees.

The tallest point on the left is Mount Conness, tomorrow morning I climb the pass on the right.

Sunday July 26, 16.7mi/26.9km

Meadow under Peak 11210 (146.3/10,400ft) to Rafferty Creek (162.3/9510ft) (CA) + 0.7mi to lake

It was a cold morning, only 45F/7C on my thermometer. I was able to move quickly thru easy terrain and stay warm.

This tree seemed out of place.

And then after only twenty minutes, I was on a trail!

It switchbacked all the way down to the Lyell Fork Merced River, which I had to ford. Brrr.

Once across the river, I could look back and see where the trail came down. How fortunate to have that ramp, everything else was cliffs.

The scenery started changing to typical Yosemite granite slabs.

And typical Yosemite trail construction.

I was down low all day, it was a nice change to be in a forest surrounded by green.

I cruised along all morning on easy trails, it was nice not having to focus on navigation.

Just before I dropped down into another river valley, there was a viewpoint, I could see half dome!

When I got down to the river (Lewis Creek), there was a trail junction. I forgot about the Yosemite style trail signs, they must be so hard to make.

I walked upstream along Lewis Creek for an hour, by now it was late morning and hot. The mist from all the various waterfalls felt nice.

And the occasional shady cliff helped too.

It was a pleasant hike, and before I knew it, I had climbed 1000ft/300m and had left the river. I was now up in the meadows.

I stopped for lunch next to a little creek.

After lunch my objective was Vogelsang Pass, an easy 700ft climb on a nice trail.

The view from the pass looking back. Gallison Lake is on the left, Bernice Lake on the right.

Gallison Lake, with the trail’s stone steps in front.

Up ahead was Vogelsang Lake, which looked good for swimming.

Yup, it was good for swimming.

The trail was very easy to follow in this area.

The outlet end of the lake had a neat view. Just the tip of Half Dome is visible.

A mile later, I had an unwelcome surprise of civilization in the middle of the wilderness.

Vogelsang Camp looked mostly abandoned, probably not used in a couple years. I moved on thru the labyrinth of trails in the camp, and came out the other side at the coolest square cairn.

I saw a sign for Booth Lake! I had to go see my namesake body of water.

Only a half mile off my route, it was worth it.

Swim #2, and with a sandy beach!

Thunderstorms were forming as usual, so I got back on the main trail. It descended slowly thru open meadows down to Tuolumne valley.

I had to stop and camp early, as camping is not allowed within 4 miles of Tuolumne Meadows. So I hit the 4mi boundary and found a spot. It was only 4:30pm, so I had plenty of time to watch the marmots nearby.

I read a book for a few hours, and it rained lightly outside for a little while. Nice relaxing day.

Saturday July 25, 8.7mi/14.0km

Lake Catherine (137.6/11,040ft) to Meadow under Peak 11210 (146.3/10,400ft) (CA)

Expecting a puzzle of slabs and cliffs, I started early at 7am. The sun was already up over the mountains.

The terrain was very complex, and I had to constantly keep checking my guidebook and compass to make sure I wasn’t heading for a dead-end.

After 45 minutes, I made it down the first 400feet of elevation, and I could see my objective in the distance, the Twin Lakes.

The next part of the descent was a little more obvious, which was a grassy ledge traverse.

This connected to a grassy gully, the difficulty being choosing the correct gully.
There was some scouting and trial-and-error involved there.

Finally, I arrived at the promised grove of trees, and had a nice break and 2nd breakfast. It was 8:30am and I had covered a mile.

After the break, I went to the cliff edge to scout the upcoming terrain. Good views!

The next mile to Lower Twin Lake proved to be simpler navigation, and I made it over there by 10am.

The route crosses the outlet of the lake, or rather the foot of the lake itself.

It wasn’t too deep.

After the crossing, I had a good view back to the terrain that I had descended this morning. It looked so improbable.

I hiked on up to Upper Twin Lake, which had a cool tiny island. The trees looked like bonsai trees.

As I traversed around a ridge, paying close attention to the navigation, I noticed some of the rocks had little fossils in them!

The next objective was to descend to Bench Canyon. I stopped for lunch first, in case there were mosquitoes down in the lush valley.

The descent was fun, it was mostly on grass and easy smooth slabs.

Walking thru Bench Canyon was quite nice, it was very verdant, and no bugs at all.

It also has nice walking with lots of little rock slab waterfalls.

The walking was easy and straightforward, all the way up to Blue Lake.

It seemed Blue Lake was aptly named.

Upper Blue Lake was less windy, so I decided to go for a swim.

It even had a little sandy beach!

Yes, my feet are much whiter than my legs.

The climb up to Blue Lake pass was simple, and mostly on grassy ramps and some talus.

The view behind me, to the Blue Lakes.

And the view ahead, and down into Yosemite National Park!

I made it down to that small tarn 30 minutes later, and the usual monsoonal weather pattern was happening.

I had flat walking for two miles across easy terrain, aiming for a pointy peak (“Peak 11210”).

I made it down into a grove of trees by 4:30pm, and quickly setup my tent before the rain started. The storm raged for an hour, then the blue skies came back!

Tomorrow I should be able to cover much more distance, since most of the day will be on trails, which I’m looking forward to.

Friday July 24, 10.7mi/17.2km

Nancy Pass (126.9/10,240ft) to Lake Catherine (137.6/11,040ft) (CA)

The morning view from my tent was one of the best ever.

I easily found a way down from Nancy Pass and ambled across a nice meadow, and fortunately it was still too cold for the mosquitoes.

The first lake was Minaret Lake, and it was quite hidden on all sides by mountains.

I walked along the southern shore, following a rough use trail.

There was a group of three people sledding down a snowfield on their foam sleeping pads. It was pretty entertaining to see!

By the time I walked to the other end of the lake, I had a cool view of this pointy peak.

And also of the entire Minaret Lake.

I climbed up to an unnamed pass to get to the next lake, Cecile Lake. There was one short technical “class 3” section, climbing up thru a rocky slot.

Lake Cecile was very deep.

It took me a while to find a spot where I could access the lake to swim.

Feeling refreshed, I tackled the steep descent down to Iceberg Lake. Lots of loose scree.

I made it down to the lake easier than I thought, halfway down I found an old use trail. The view from the other end of the lake, looking at the talus/scree field I had just descended.

And then I was on a real, maintained trail! Only for a half mile, but it was exciting.

I had a long gradual climb up to Whitebark Pass, thru huge alpine meadows. It reminded me of the North Cascades.

I stopped for lunch at the top of the meadows, and had a great view of Mount Ritter (left) and Banner Peak (right).

I continued my trek up to the pass, traversing the Nydiver Lakes along the way.

Finally, I reached Whitebark Pass, it was easy, just a long slow hike up. It had a unique view down to Garnet Lake, which I’ve seen from another side on the JMT.

With thunderclouds forming, I quickly scurried over to the next unnamed pass a mile away. It had a view down to Thousand Island Lake, which I’ve also seen the other side from the PCT/JMT. The route goes down the strip of land (isthmus) on the left side.

Walking the isthmus was pretty great, as far as isthmus walking goes.

Before I left the lake I took one last photo, it shows all the little islands.

Then, up to Glacier Lake Pass! I hiked along the Middle Fork San Joaquin for a mile to it’s headwaters.

At the very top, there was even some snow left.

The view from the top of Glacier Lake Pass is just rocks and Lake Catherine.

I had a quick descent to the lake, since it’s only 100 feet. I did spy one little spot of greenery, a determined little patch of flowers up here at over 11,000 feet.

The traverse around the lake wasn’t quick. Thanks, talus.

It was almost 6pm so I was looking for a campsite, but it was talus everywhere.

I searched around for 10 minutes, and what a great surprise, someone had cleared out a little tent spot! It’s like Christmas!

So I made camp by the outlet of Lake Catherine.

As I was finishing dinner, a group of three people came by. I was very surprised, since this spot is 3-4 hours from a trail in either direction. I met Cypress, Blanc, and (?) who are out here for two weeks doing a backcountry route thru the northern Sierras.

They said it took them over 3 hours to navigate up here from Twin Lakes (only 2 miles away) due to the maze of slabs and cliffs. Hmmm… tomorrow’s puzzle!

Thursday July 23, 12.7mi/20.4km

Mammoth Pass (114.8/9360ft) to Nancy Pass (126.9/10,240ft) (CA) + 0.6mi side trail

The morning went by quickly doing some last errands in town. I got the 11am bus up to the trail (10:30 bus was full), and I was on trail at 11:30.

It was a nice wide trail all the way to Reds Meadow.

As I got closer to Reds Meadow, I had a nice view of the upcoming mountains, thanks to the flattened forest.

It was a well used trail, some equestrians even rode by!

The Devil’s Postpile National Monument is on the trail, it’s a neat volcanic formation near Reds Meadow.

Basalt columns are visible, and some have broken off.

Most of the columns are hexagonal.

Another angle of the Postpile.

There is a trail going to the top of the Postpile as well, but I already hiked that one when I was here in 2015 on the PCT. So, I continued onward across the Middle Fork San Joaquin River.

I followed the JMT for another mile before splitting off. This is one of those rare spots that the PCT and JMT are not the same trail.

I walked along on a trail all afternoon, slowly climbing.

As I got higher, I met a group that was hiking up to the same lake, and one woman had done the SHR seven years ago, so we swapped stories for a bit. They were taking a long meal break, so I continued on.

As I got closer to Superior Lake, I kept crossing a little creek with many waterfalls.

The lake itself was shallow and marshy, but I had a view of the pass ahead.

I left the trail and started finding my way up the pass. About halfway up, I found a hiking pole! Weird.

It was a short climb, but rocky and sustained uphill.

The view looking north from the top of Nancy Pass.

It was 6:30pm, and good weather, so I decided to camp on the pass.

Tomorrow I figure out how to get down the pass…

Wednesday July 22, 0.6mi/1.0km

Mammoth Pass (114.8/9360ft) to Mammoth Lakes Town (114.8/8060ft) (CA) + 0.6mi side trail

I was in my tent until 8am, updating my blog. I packed up and hiked the easy half mile to the trailhead.

I waited awhile for the first bus to arrive at 9am, and entertained myself reading all the interpretive signs.

The bus was cool, it was a old trolley style, and it had open sides for better ventilation.

I got to town at 9:30am and went straight to the grocery store, since I can’t check-in to a hotel this early. It was an amazing sight, I was craving fruit!

After that errand, I ate breakfast #2 at Basecamp Cafe, and had lunch #1 at Jimmy’s BBQ.

Pulled pork is a food group! I caught up with friends and family on the phone, and enjoyed several ice creams while doing so. I had to make up for lack of birthday ice cream a few days ago!

Tomorrow morning, I catch the bus back up to the trail and continue on, six more days to the finish!

Happy birthday Katie!

Tuesday July 21, 14.9mi/24.0km

Fish Creek PCT Jct (99.9/9540ft) to Mammoth Pass (114.8/9360ft) (CA)

The first 6mi/10km of today were on the JMT/PCT, so it was easy walking. I started with an hour of uphill switchbacks and motivating music.

At the top of the hill was Lake Virginia, which was very calm in the early morning.

I’m sure I was here in 2015, but I don’t remember the lake, so I took another photo.

The descent was nice, it was fun to hike on a smooth trail thru talus, watching it fly by.

The next lake was Purple Lake, I don’t remember this lake either from 2015.

It even had bridge! Fancy trail.

I was right at about 10,000ft/3000m, no fires!

The trail junctions had consistent signage in this section, which was nice. I left the JMT/PCT and went onward, to Duck Lake!

The climb up to Duck Lake was entertaining, with the view to the Cascade Valley, thousands of feet below.

Duck Lake!

I crossed paths with a woman hiking the other direction, from the town of Mammoth. It’s a long way from the trailhead, so I asked her what time she started hiking. Her reply… “at the quack of dawn”. I should’ve asked for a phone number, ha!
I climbed up along Duck Lake for an hour, watching the lake get smaller below me.

The view from Duck Pass was interesting, I could see ahead to my next (unnamed) pass. This was the first time the SHR is on the Sierra crest (most of the crest is too steep or technical).

Sooo many purple flowers in that alpine meadow.

From that pass, I was passed by a trail runner going my direction, down to Deer Lakes.

I hiked by two of the Deer lakes, swimming in the first one, and having lunch at the second one.

The final climb for the day was up to Mammoth Crest.

The view from the crest was incredible, I could see north to the Ritter range.

And south, to a neat ridgeline topped by a single row of trees.

Much like the hike to Mt Whitney, the ridgeline was occasionally punctuated by “windows” to the valley far below.

It was an epic ridgewalk day, so different from the usual pass/valley sequence.

The view of Mammoth mountain, with it’s ski lift apparatus on top.

If there’s a fork in the road…take it!

The rocks in this area are mostly volcanic, I’m not sure why.

I could see down into the town of Mammoth Lakes, and see the lakes for which it’s named!

The descent off the ridge was interesting. I’ve descended on snow, on talus, on scree, but never on pumice.

It’s a weird volcanic rock that is lightweight (floats in water), and my feet sank deeply. It was fun to surf it downhill!

I ended the day at McCloud Lake, and swam and ate dinner there.

The trailhead is only a half mile away, I could’ve headed into town tonight, but I want to take a zero day tomorrow, and Mammoth is an expensive town to spend two nights in. And the weather was great for camping!

Monday July 20, 13.4mi/21.6km

Lower Mills Creek Lake (86.5/10,860ft) to Fish Creek PCT Jct (99.9/9540ft) (CA)

Morning hiking is the best, good temperatures, no bugs, and views like this.

I had a steep xc descent, which basically meant walking down slabs next to a waterfall.

It was easy hiking, but still very engaging given the feeling of exposure.

The view from the bottom was unique.

After an hour of descending slabs and meadows, I happily joined a trail thru a flat forest.

When I got to Mono Creek, it looked like I was going to have to ford it.

Wet shoes are no fun, so I scouted a bit and found a makeshift bridge! Log walking is fun.

I followed the popular trail alongside Mono Creek for a few minutes, then split off up to Laurel Lake. It was a steep climb.

The steep climb ended and I was rewarded with easy meadow walking!

There was even a faint trail most of the way.

I got to Laurel Lake, which was really more of an alpine pond.

The guidebook instructions say to walk around the lake, and start climbing the pass at the two huge boulders. I easily found the boulders, and had first lunch in the shade of one of the giant rocks.

Bighorn pass is next to the dead tree in the photo. I climbed up the left grassy ramp, right to the top.

At the top, I could see down to Rosy Finch Lake.

And see that the clouds were gathering….time to move on. The next pass was less than a mile away, Shout-of-Relief pass. It was an easy contour around the basin, to the notch on the right.

I was at the next pass 45 minutes later, gave the obligatory yell, and descended down before thunderstorms started.

Near the bottom of the pass, I saw yet another marmot. I’ve seen so many I’ve started giving them names to distinguish them, this is Steve.

There were acres of fully green meadows…and then this one red flower. So strange.

I walked by many small lakes and tarns, mist without names. Cotton lake was one of the larger ones, and it had a unique view looking off into the thunderstorm clouds.

For an hour, there was frequent thunder, and rain for maybe 15 minutes of umbrella time. But it was enough to get the ground wet. Descending on wet slab, yuck.

By the time I reached the lower meadows, the sun had returned. This was called Horse Heaven meadows, probably because of all the grass. I called it mosquito hell.

After a mile of furiously swatting and killing mosquitos, I left the meadow and joined the JMT/PCT again.

It’s such a well built trail!

I camped a minute away, and will do the big climb up to Lake Virginia tomorrow.

Sunday July 19, 14.1mi/22.7km

French Canyon at Merriam Jct (72.4/10,010ft) to Lower Mills Creek Lake (86.5/10,860ft) (CA)

It was a surprisingly easy hike up the 1000ft/300m to Merriam Lake, it started on a faint trail, then became easy xc.

Looking north past Merriam Lake.

The shores had crazy patterns in the sand.

The view looking behind me over the lake was like a postcard.

It was only 8am and too early for swimming, so I continued climbing. The notch on the right (below the two jagged spires) is Feather Pass, my objective for the morning.

There were more tiny alpine lakes along the way, and with a better view of the pass.

There was even some snow left, hiding against the north face of a cliff.

The final climb to the pass was on easy slabs, it’s like a slanted sidewalk.

The top of the pass was very windy, so I didn’t stay long. The view looking ahead, into Bear Lakes Basin:

A very short part of the descent was on snow, and I was excited to finally use my microspikes for real.

Looking up what I had just descended.

The first two lakes in the basin were Bearpaw Lake and Ursa Lake.

I swam in both, this one is Bearpaw lake.

The trail also passed above Big Bear Lake, which I think was the largest bear, but inaccessible due to cliffs.

Next, I traversed over to Black Bear Lake and made sure it was swimmable…Yup. I continued up the hill, this is the view of it behind me.

On the climb up to White Bear Lake, there were tons of chattering marmots.

White Bear Lake was the highest one.

I accessed the lake thru a break in the cliffs, and walked down a nice grassy ramp.

The melting snow made the swim extra refreshing.

I left the lake and walked over to White Bear Pass, and could see all the way down to Brown Bear Lake. There was a ton of talus to hike thru.

I had lunch and a swim at Brown Bear Lake, this was the warmest bear yet.

It was hot, so I stayed until a cloud came by to continue hiking. When I had my shade, I walked on, passing the final bear-themed lake, Teddy Bear Lake.

I left the bear lakes basin and had a nice xc walk for an hour. I arrived at Lake Italy, which is a huge lake, and very windy. I think it was almost three miles long.

After the lake, some storm clouds came in. I waited to see if a thunderstorm was developing, but fortunately it was just a lot of wind and sporadic raindrops. So, I continued up to Gabbot Pass, the last pass over 12,000ft on the Sierra High Route.

The view behind me looked very dark and stormy.

The view ahead looked promising.

I descended the pass and there was a short patch of snow, with red stuff growing on the surface. It made strange red footprints when I walked on it.

I hiked down past Upper Mills Creek Lake.

I saw a wolf! (I think, it was a large grey canine with pointy ears). I stopped for the day at 5:30pm, at Lower Mills Creek Lake.

Watching the sunset from my tent was a great finish to an awesome birthday of bear-themed lakes, swimming, and alpine wildlife.

The alpenglow was intense. Amazing!