Andrew and Manfred - What day did you leave from Roads End. What did you carry your food in. I did the 1st section with another BPL member this past September.

Daniel,

We started at Road's End on August 31.
For our food storage we used a Bearikade Scout (27 oz).

Manfred

Manfred and Andrew, that was indeed the trip of a lifetime and a very good trip report to boot - although I think your downplaying your achievement somewhat - I know this because I left Roads End a couple of days ahead of you on the 29th and also completed the route inside of 12 days, so that butt slide mark that you probably saw on the backside of Stanton was mine;) Amazingly my itinary from Reds onward was exactly the same as yours. By a very wide margin that was the most mentaly and physically demanding hiking I've ever done. I can't believe you found the time to catch all those fish!

Hey Andrew- I take it you were by yourself? Despite both of our plans to initially do the SHR solo Manfred and I agreed during the trip that it would be much more challenging that way. That takes some mental fortitude to keep yourself going at that pace for 12 days! Got any photos of your trip?

Manfred and Andrew,
Thanks for the wonderful trip report and pictures!! Such an awesome hike!!

Andrew, yes it was solo, I imagine that going with a well matched partner would be a plus, possibly a big plus, with an incompatible partner not so much. I will be putting a TR in some form out there at some point soon hopefully, I have about 800 pictures I've just started sorting out and a lot of other stuff going on. But here's one for now...


Upper Mills Creek Lake after descending Gabbot Pass.

Beautiful photo... Seeing pictures makes me want to do it again.

Andrew,

Thanks for sharing the photo. Like Andrew F. It makes me want to go out again. Looking forward to your TR.

Manfred

Manfred, we should probably just do it again next September... :)

Would you do anything differently if you did it again? At the time, I thought it would be nice to go a little slower so that we could hang out in the beautiful places for longer. But everywhere was beautiful, and looking back now I enjoyed that we got to see so much in such a short time.

In terms of gear, I don't think I would change anything. I would bring a Tenkara rod though :) I would definitely bring less food, 1.5 ppppd instead of 1.7. And I would bring about half as much TP, sunscreen, etc. Those two things would probably have saved me 3 lbs coming out of Road's End.

These are the first photos I've ever seen of the Sierra High Route and they are beautiful. More, they are inspiring.

Europe's Haute Route in the Alps can't hold a candle to the SHR in terms of sheer beauty.

Thanks again for this trip report. It is threads like this that make BPL so worth it.

Eric,

I'm glad you enjoyed the trip report and the photos of our SHR trek. I recently uploaded a 3 minute slideshow with photos of the SHR. You might enjoy that too.

Best Regards,

Manfred

Edited by Orienteering on 02/19/2013 14:53:25 MST.

"it is threads like this that BPL worth it."

absolutely!

This photo journal moved me to finally crack open the Sierra Club Totebook by Roper. It has been on the shelf for many years. I have the 15' quads as well but the guidebook takes some focus and real concentration. Although the study is fun and becomes a virtual trip in itself, I wonder if the later edition offers any advantage to planning the hike??

John,

I bought the newest edition of Roper's book and haven't seen older editions. Thus, I can't answer your question directly. But may be it helps to look at the parts of the new edition that Amazon makes available online. By looking at the the preview you might be able to see how much of a difference there is.

I hope that helps,

Manfred

Edited because link didn't work. Here it is:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Sierra-High-Route-ebook/dp/B001I45ZCK/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1362004008&sr=8-2-fkmr1&keywords=above+timberline+roper+sierra#reader_0898865069

Edited by Orienteering on 02/27/2013 15:34:47 MST.

I really enjoyed this. Plus, did not know some of that high country was so nice. I know a guy from Reno who has done the SHR solo in 10 days, I don't think I could do it in 15 with all the passes to go up and over.
Duane
PS: I was going thru my gear closet and organizing a little and I have an old Roper's book my neighbor gave me 15 years ago or more. I'll have to look it over some now. He and his son did numerous bp trips to Yosemite in the 80's or so.

Edited by hikerduane on 02/27/2013 21:18:43 MST.

Manfred,

Thank you for the link. I downloaded it to my Kindle and fell asleep reading the introduction/preface. It appears substantial changes have been made to this later edition. I haven't compared the route description yet to the old. Am enjoying the history and development and the input by the numerous folks that have hiked and input their description to the route. Your thread plus the book is giving me a good case of cabin fever. Thanks again,

John

Manfred, just stumbled across this in a google search. Great trip and I really enjoyed your pics. I'm looking forward to several planned trips starting in June.

Are you still going to Scotland?

Awesome pics Manfred. I asked you about the route at the last GGG and I enjoyed hearing about it. It's something I will definitely do when I get some more experience in the high sierras. It looks like the ultimate sierra adventure.

Just think how exciting it must have been to travel along the Sierra Nevada Range over a hundred years ago, before the John Muir Trail. Think about Solomons, who was pioneering the way. Lots of those guys traveled with a pack mule, though. I'm guessing they didn't go ultralightweight, or at least the mule didn't.

--B.G.--

It must have been treacherous taking a pack mule over some of those unexplored passes and scree fields.