sequoia national park Archives - Page 2 of 3

Moraine Lake Morning View

High Sierra Trail Day 4: Moraine Lake to Kern Hot Spring

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:August 23, 2009
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:5 Comments

Today was a planned half-day of hiking, about seven miles down down down into Kern Canyon towards the Kern Hot Spring. The Kern river is a nice place to relax and fish, so we were looking forward to our afternoon off and started off the morning at a leisurely pace. I think we were the last ones to leave Moraine Lake. The one big concern about the day was rattlesnakes. It’s not common to find rattlers up high, but the trail would take us down to about 6500 feet while passing through a rattlesnake’s paradise. Several years ago the area burned, and now the trail is lined and overgrown with shady ferns that a rattlesnake would just love to nap under.
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Descending into Big Arroyo

High Sierra Trail Day 3: Precipice Lake to Moraine Lake

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:August 22, 2009
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:3 Comments

We took our time packing up and getting moving this morning, wanting to hang around to see the colors in Precipice pop with the mid-morning sun. There was another group…

Precipice Lake

High Sierra Trail Day 2: 9-Mile Creek to Precipice Lake

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:August 22, 2009
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:6 Comments

Ah, the big day. I woke up both excited and anxious about the hike in front of me today since it was both one of the most scenic and hardest…

Great Western Divide from Panther Gap

High Sierra Trail Day 1: Wolverton to 9-Mile Creek

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:August 21, 2009
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:4 Comments

One of the biggest headaches when planning a longer hike is figuring out the car/parking/shuttle arrangements. Generally, these kind of hikes start and end hundreds of miles apart and it can be a nightmare arranging transportation. The High Sierra Trail is no exception. With the beginning and ending trailheads on opposite sides of a mountain range with no through roads, shuttling between the two is 10x the distance of the hike itself. We were prepared for this and had scheduled shuttle days, and although we weren’t looking forward to that part, we accepted it as a necessary evil in order to have the best trail experience possible.

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Precipice Lake

The High Sierra Trail (and more!)

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:August 19, 2008
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:15 Comments

Last week I spent seven days hiking a loop through Sequoia National Park, going in along the famous High Sierra Trail and looping back into the tucked-away Mineral King from…

Whitney Benchmark

John Muir Trail, 2007: Day 15 – Guitar Lake to Mt Whitney, and then out at Whitney Portal

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:September 9, 2007
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:2 Comments

It's the last day on the John Muir Trail, and the biggest one as well. We got up early so we could hit the trail just before sunrise, hiking by…

Guitar Lake Sunset

John Muir Trail, 2007: Day 14 – Tyndall Creek to Guitar Lake

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:September 9, 2007
Post Category:Trip Reports

Our second to last day on the John Muir Trail. Boo! After yesterday’s big day over Forester Pass, today was a relatively easy day from Tyndall Creek to Guitar Lake. There were no real steep ups or down – the trail was rolling and gently graded through this stretch. The day’s highlight was Big Horn Plateau, a large, barren, flat area a couple of miles beyond our campsite. Unfortunately the smoke once again interfered with the views, but it was still impressive.

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Climbing to Forester

John Muir Trail, 2007: Day 13 – Vidette Meadow to Tyndall Creek

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:September 8, 2007
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:0 Comments

What an incredible day! On day 13 of my John Muir Trail adventure we hiked from Vidette Meadow to Tyndall Creek via Forester Pass. This was the day I had both been looking forward to and also dreading – it was one of my higher mileage days, along with the biggest climb yet. But, since I had been on the trail nearly two weeks I had nothing to worry about – it was much easier than I expected. The highlight of the day was Forester Pass, which, at 13,200 ft, is the highest pass on the PCT. I had never been over this pass before and had heard how scenic it was, and it didn’t let me down.

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John Muir Trail, 2007: Day 5 – Deer Creek to Cascade Valley

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:August 27, 2007
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:0 Comments

This was a long but enjoyable day. We rose early and hit the trail around 7 am. In no time at all we had reached Duck Creek where we took…