The SHR – Keypoints

Bottom Line:

Probably the best continuously long trip you can do in the Sierras. It is though at times and full of challenges but serves everything that backpacking has to offer.

5 Crucial Things:

1. Keep your gear and your food light; Lots of up and down on this trip.
2. Prepare your maps and know how to use them; Navigation is a major difficulty here.
3. Due to the long duration you should account for a rise in your caloric burn when planning your food.
4. Resupply and days estimate; Red’s Meadow is basically no detour and it will safe you lots of weight if you send half your food ahead.
5. Keep a positive mindset. Many of the passes on this trip look really hard if not impossible from afar; Remember that none of them are much harder than class 2 and that many people have done it before you.

What to expect:

The Sierra High Route traverses the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range from South to North or vice versa. The route tries to stay above 10,000 ft as much as possible. It utilizes some secondary trails and a few major trails but it mainly travels through off trail terrain.

Taking into account the distance, the elevation gain, the altitude, the off trail navigation and the terrain character most people will consider the SHR as challenging to very challenging.

The average duration is probably around 15 days

The SHR is officially 195 miles but it might actually be more.

The climbing accounts to around 59,000 ft.

Terrain: A lot of talus, lots of up- and downhill, some hiking on snow (depending on the previous winter), sometimes you will get your feet wet, some tricky navigation through wooded areas, few trail sections.

Navigation: I was able to navigate the whole route without the help of a GPS device (I carried one for safety). However, here is summary of what I found tricky and where I made some mistakes: Navigational Breakdown

Solitude & Scenery: The extended off trail travel of the SHR makes for a lot of solitude. You can go for days without seeing any other person. This together with the immensely beautiful landscape makes for a sublime backcountry experience.

Preparations:

An extended backpacking adventure as the Sierra High Route definitely needs some good preparations. Or at least you might think so.
Here is what I think is crucial to a successful trip:

• Prepare your maps! This includes everything you will need to find the way.
  • Buy or acquire Steve Roper’s Book and read it. (The history part is good too)
  • Buy or download a mapset.
    • Andrew Skurka sells one on his website
    • Or you can download a tabloid map set for free from onthetrail.org
    • There are several tracks for the SHR on caltopo.com that you can print.
      However you go about it I recommend you’ll have a set of physical maps with your route drawn or printed into.  Be aware that all the tracks form other people, even the one from Andrew Skurka represent their lines and the way they went. Sometimes they may not follow the actual Sierra High Route and may go over a different pass (I recommend double checking for Nancy pass). Another thing I suggest is that you read Ropers descriptions and draw the according lines into your maps yourself.
  • Prepare Ropers description for “Take-Away”
    It does make sense to have some or all of Ropers description with you while you are out there. Some of the descriptions are really golden when route-finding becomes tricky. You can either cut the back of the book and take the actual pages you need (leave the ones you don’t need at home) or if you are trusting your batteries you may take digital copies.
  • Obviously all the navigating can be done on some sort of GPS if this is your thing. It isn’t for me and I don’t mean to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a GPS here.
• Make a gameplan!
  Estimate the days you will need and pack your food accordingly. If you do not have enough experiences on your own, try to find several itineraries online to get a feel what other people did.
• Keep your gear and your food light!
  I am highly recommending Mike Clelland’s Ultralight Tips. It has everything you need to know about a light gear setup and excellent suggestions on food amounts. A light pack is key to the physical challenges of the SHR
  
  

I found this Caltopo Map to be pretty accurate and helpful. Be aware though this is not an official map!

Logistics and Regulations:

Start/Finish

South: King’s Canyon/Road’s End
North: Twin Lakes/Mono Village

Direction

Major direction is south to north which also worked better with my logistics, southbound will work as fine I guess.

Getting to and from

The two trail-heads are on the opposite side of the Sierras which makes the logistics a bit difficult. I parked my car at the Onion’s Valley trail-head near Independence and hiked over to the actual start of the SHR. This added about 22 miles but it allowed me to hitch a ride from the northers terminus to Bridgeport where I was able to hop on the Eastern Sierra Transit Bus back to Independence. Another quick hitch put me back to my car.

Permits and Bears

You do need only one permit for the whole trip!
You get it for your trail-head and you can either reserve it beforehand or gamble a little and just get it the day you start hiking. There are sections which require a hard sided bear canister (mainly Yosemite).

Resupply

If you can do the whole thing with one resupply, then Red’s Meadow will work best. It’s easy and fairly cheap to have them pick up your package and store it till you come pick it up.
Click here, for the link to their website.
If you want or need more resupplies, hiking out to Bishop over Bishop Pass and/or Tuolumne Meadows are options.

Safety

Mainly for the reason that I’d be out there by myself I took a satellite safety device that allowed me to call for help if needed. I never possessed one and again only borrowed one but I think for a long solo trip like the SHR it makes some good sense. Think about your mom!

Links full of Info

Maps and profile (Careful, be aware that this isn’t an official trek):    http://onthetrail.org/trekking/shr/
Fastest Known Time Trip Report:    https://pantilat.wordpress.com/2016/08/14/sierra-high-route/
Another Fast and Good Trip Report:    https://www.brianlucido.com/ropers-sierra-high-route/
Good Trip Report on Backpacking Light:    https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/68276/
Andrew Skurka, always a reliable source:    https://andrewskurka.com/adventures/sierra-high-route/
Nice trip report and very nice video:    https://austinlillywhite.wordpress.com/trip-reports/trip-report/
THE book, try to buy used:    https://www.mountaineers.org/

Gear and Food:

I used all the items I had with me on this trip. There are a few items I wouldn’t have needed and still been comfortable and safe.

Although I went in late August/ early September it was really warm. So I used the fleece mainly as a pillow at night. Same for the liner gloves and even the beanie I could have done without.

Except the fleece I consider most everything I had crucial and necessary for a successful trip. Most items are not the top notch ultralight stuff but they are fairly light and I ended up with a base weight of around 12 lb.

I used the satellite device only to send messages to friends and family to let them know I was ok. During the day it was turned off and I didn’t need it for navigation. Still I consider it a crucial item when doing the SHR solo.

Depending on the season and the snow conditions you might want to ad micro spikes and an ice axe to your gear. 2016/17 was a record winter and most people that I met on the high route had both. I could have used it but never needed it. When the snow was too steep or icy to safely walk on I always found a line on solid ground.

In general, I would say you do not need ice axe and micro spikes in the sierras after mid-August.

I had not packed mosquito protection until the last second and I am really glad the ranger who issued me my permit mentioned that THEY are still out there. I would have been miserable without.

Itinerary:

I was able to finish two days faster then what I had conservatively estimated. This gave my some extra food towards the end which I gladly enjoyed.

This was the itinerary how it turned out. I am doubtful about the numbers and they should only be used as estimates.