If anyone wants do it all or sections shoot me a PM and I'd be happy to answer questions. Steve Roper scouted out this route in the 70's and published a book Sierra High Route:Traversing Timberline Country. At about 195 miles this is a wild version of the John Muir Trail with about half of the route off trail and the whole route staying mostly between 9,500-11,500ft. Having now done both the JMT and the SHR I can say the latter is on a whole other level of difficulty, beauty and solitude. For example after the first 3 days mostly off trail I saw 5 people. On the fourth day the route joined the JMT for 6 miles over Mather Pass(considered one of the more difficult JMT passes) where I counted 33 people in 2.5 hours and felt like we were traveling on a city sidewalk. I'm terrible at capturing the scenery in words and won't even attempt it, but this site did a good job of it if you want to check it out. http://www.backpacker.com/may_2008_feat ... ions/12396
After months of planning I was a bit apprehensive of navigation(no GPS just map and compass), my gear selection, overall safety and the responsibility of leading my moderately experienced best friend. This was all trumped on the drive down to the sierras as an abscessed cyst rapidly grew in my armpit. Perfect timing. All focus went towards finding an urgent care center in Sacramento where I was sliced open, cleaned and packed full of gauze 12 hours before starting the trek. We arrived at our first camp the next night off trail with thunder and lightning overhead after climbing from 5000ft to 10,500ft. I lost my sunglasses, was experiencing Acute Mountain Sickness and all of my gauze had fallen out of my cyst when I was instructed to leave it in for 3 days. Fuming curse words, anger and bitterness I force fed myself and passed out unable to appreciate the beauty around us. As usual the food and sleep magically returned us back to normal and we set off on what would become a constant state of awe for the rest of the trip.
This trip certainly pushed my comfort level and had its downfalls like almost breaking my leg, losing my tyvek groundsheet to the wind gods, dropping my camera 250ft off a summit, and experiencing an "unusual stretch" of rain for the first 12 days straight. It even took 3 hitchhikes, 2 buses, and a 19 mile hike just to get back to our car, but despite all the difficulties I'm thrilled that we finished and can live to tell the tale.
-Jake
