Red & White Loop

Last year’s Silver Peak Loop was a loop of the western end of the Silver Divide. The counterpart to that loop for the eastern end of the Silver Divide is the Red & White Loop discussed here. For some background on why the Silver Divide is awesome here are some words excerpted from the Silver…

Marble Rim

Note: While I don’t get around to blogging about most of my adventures these days for various reasons, I’ll have a few posts coming up about summer and fall adventures from 2019! The Marble Mountain Wilderness is a 241,744 acre wilderness in Siskiyou County in far Northern County. The namesake feature of this vast expanse…

Sawtooth Mountain via Stuart Fork

Sawtooth Mountain is positioned in the heart of the Trinity Alps. As the name would suggest, the mountain is rugged from all directions and is almost entirely composed of the glacier-polished white granite that is characteristic of the region. While not the highest peak in the Trinity Alps (~100 feet short), Sawtooth Mountain is arguably the…

Mount Kaweah

    The Kaweah Peaks Ridge is one of the more rugged and remote features of the High Sierra and its jagged profile is recognizable from virtually all directions. The ridge is a spur of the Great Western Divide extending from a point between Lion Rock and Triple Divide Peak down to Mount Kaweah, and…

Recess & Mist

12,813 ft Recess Peak is located near the west end of the Mono Divide at the apex that separates the First Recess and Second Recess. The peak is steep on all sides except its south side which makes for an impressive profile when viewed from points north. The Recess is only a little over 2…

Hilgard & Julius Caesar

Mount Hilgard is a remote peak of the High Sierra in the John Muir Wilderness.  It is positioned to the west of Lake Italy on a southerly spur of the Mono Divide. The Mono Divide stretches from north of Recess Peak to Mount Abbot and is one of the more significant east to west oriented…

Silver Peak Loop

The Silver Divide is a spur of the Sierra Crest south of Yosemite and Mammoth Lakes in the John Muir Wilderness. Unlike the Sierra Crest which is oriented from northwest to southeast, the Silver Divide is oriented from west to east.  The divide is entirely under 12,500 feet, which is modest in elevation compared to…

Glacier Ridge via Tablelands

Glacier Ridge is a massive granitic formation separating Deadman Canyon and Cloud Canyon, two spectacular glacial canyons with a signature U-shape.  The ridge spans an impressive 8 miles and towers over 4,000 feet above the canyon bottoms.  The high point along the ridge is 1.4 miles north of Copper Mine Pass Peak and provides arguably…

Mount Baldwin & Convict Canyon

Mount Baldwin is located in arguably the most geographically fascinating region of the High Sierra. McGee Creek and Convict Creek canyons wrap around the peak and each watershed is surrounded by colorful peaks including bands of brilliant red, white and gray rock. Mount Baldwin makes a strong impression when driving along 395 and especially along the…

Maclure High Route

Often times the best scenery in the Sierra is found between the canyon or valley bottom and the craggy ridge crests.  The Sierra High Route is perhaps the best example of this straddling the sweet spot between the montane forest and the more arduous travel characteristic of the ridgelines.  This post describes a much shorter…