SIERRA NEVADA

A Grand Traverse along the Range of Light

John Chapman gives an overview of the amazing hiking opportunities in California’s Sierra Nevada, and outlines a new route he’s conceived of through these fabulous mountains: The Sierra Grand Traverse.

Words & Photography John & Monica Chapman

JOHN MUIR, WHO WAS INSTRUMENTAL in the creation of Yosemite and other national parks in America, called California’s Sierra Nevada mountains ‘The Range of Light’. With clear, cobalt-blue skies during the day, the sun has ample opportunity to create patterns of shimmering light across lakes, and to generate a warm glow at sunset and sunrise that illuminates peaks and crags. This alpenglow is indeed often colourful and a major highlight, especially when orange cliffs and spires are reflected in the tranquil lakes that are a dominant feature of the Sierra Nevada’s high regions. Over one thousand lakes stud the range. Remnants of recent glaciation, these lakes and their associated basins are often tucked up close to the many granite cliffs, crags and dagger-sharp pinnacles that crown these magnificent mountains.

The range is a walker’s paradise, a wonderland of ragged peaks, pristine lakes, small glaciers and alpine meadows. It is regarded by many American backpackers (as the US calls its bushwalkers or trampers) as the country’s most scenic mountain range. Comparing it to ranges in other countries we’ve walked, we’d go so far as to rank it as one of the world’s most scenic. Imagine a merger of the centre of Tasmania (with its many lakes), and the alpine scenery of New Zealand’s South Island, but with an added dose of elevation. Augment that with the often-fine Californian summer weather plus the regular alpenglow, and it makes the Sierras a mountain lover’s nirvana.

The Sierra Nevada Range is vast. Running for over 640km in length and up to 130km wide, its above-tree-line section alone is roughly 350km long, and 25-40km in width. Meanwhile, the height of its crest ranges from 12,000 feet (3,660m) to well over 14,000 feet (4,270m). At 14,500 feet (4,421m), Mt Whitney is not only the range’s highest peak, it’s the highest peak in the contiguous USA (AKA the Lower 48 states). The entire range is protected in a series of national parks and national forests, with some of the national parks being the most famous in the country, like Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and most notably, Yosemite. Most of the range is declared wilderness, meaning no vehicular or even wheeled access of any kind. Access by horse, however, is allowed, and some walkers use the pack station services for resupply on long trips.

Permits

While each park or forest has its own office and local rules, the range is considered to be a single unit and is managed as such. Due to the range’s popularity, wilderness permits are required for all trips involving overnight camping. The good news about the permit system is that you only need a single permit for your entry point and can then pass through any of the Sierra’s other national parks and forests without obtaining a new permit. Your permit is valid until you leave the area. If you wish to re-enter the range, then a new permit is required. (Note that the John Muir Trail has a separate permit system; see next page.)

The permit system might seem restrictive, but many permits are issued. For example, Inyo National Forest—which manages most of the range’s eastern side—has 66 access trails with a total daily entry quota of 963 people. And that’s only one side of the range! It sounds like a lot, but in this large area, if you get away from the popular destinations you’ll see few people. Each access trail has its own quota; some are as low as eight, with popular ones as high as 60. Normally—depending on which park or forest the access point is in; each has its own rules—60% of the permits can be booked either 24 weeks or six months in advance of your trip’s start date. The other 40% are issued just before a trip. This was originally for ‘walk-ups’ (walkers arriving a day before wanting to start), but during the pandemic, an online booking system of two weeks in advance was introduced. A California Campfire Permit is also required for campfires, which includes using a fuel stove. The permit is free and available online. All that’s needed is to watch a short video and answer some questions.

Entry points into the Sierra Nevada are good, with multiple roads and trail heads. As most of the range is wilderness, these roads do not extend onto the crest of the range. The exception is an east-to-west road that crosses Tioga Pass, providing access to Tuolumne Meadows. Regardless of entry point, there are some uniform rules applicable to the entire range. Campfires are banned above the tree line, and it is recommended to use fuel stoves for all cooking; gas is the most popular. It is compulsory to carry a bear canister to store all food, rubbish and anything with a scent—like toothpaste or sunscreen—that a bear might find tasty. While barrels are bulky and weigh around one kilogram, they are effective at stopping bears stealing food. Canisters have proved so successful that most bears now ignore walkers’ camps in wilderness areas. The barrels can be hired, but if doing more than ten days’ walking, it is usually cheaper to purchase them.

Campsites must be at least 100 feet (about 40 paces) away from water. And while it’s not a regulation, carry some means of treating water, as there are no toilets in the range and you should regard all water sources as being contaminated. Water filters are popular; we use a Steripen which has been effective.

Trails

A maze of trails criss-crosses the range, providing good access for walkers to most parts of the Sierras. The paths vary from being heavily constructed, over-used, dusty trails to minor foot pads with only a few markers. Most trails follow natural routes through the range, such as along valleys and across saddles and over easy passes. Tracks have also been built over a couple of very steep passes to provide links between areas. Some spectacular track work has been achieved on these passes using explosives to blast away rock and enable track construction into sheer cliff faces.

The most famous trail in the range is the 321km-long John Muir Trail (JMT). Starting in Yosemite Valley, the trail climbs to Tuolumne Meadows then passes southward through the range to end at the highest peak, Mt Whitney. The JMT generally follows valleys, and crosses twelve passes. Most of the John Muir Trail is below the tree line, and, for many, its most famous features are where it rises above the trees and passes alpine lakes.

A different permit system applies for walking the John Muir Trail. It is a daily lottery held about six months before your preferred starting date. The Parks Service states that 97% of walkers applying for JMT permits miss out. It is that popular, and that’s despite there being between 100 and 200 walkers each day on the trail (although this number varies as some shorter sections can be followed with normal wilderness permits for other access points). A quota applies for crossing Donohue Pass, the pass from Yosemite National Park into Inyo National Forest, so you cannot walk all of the JMT just by entering the trail at a different access point.

But while the John Muir Trail is beautiful, if you’re seeking a wilderness experience, you should, in our opinion, avoid it; it’s wide, dusty, used by pack-horse companies, and you will meet and camp daily with plenty of others. For our original visit in 2015, Monica and I considered the JMT, but concluded it was far too popular for our liking, and there were more scenic options to be explored.

There are other recognised trails in the range. The lesser known, 116km High Sierra Trail crosses the range’s southern

The Sierra Grand Traverse

end from west to east, passing Mt Whitney. A permit for this sixday trip is easier to obtain. The other major trail passing through the range is the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). Starting at the Mexican border, the PCT continues all the way to Canada; it also has quotas on numbers. Much of it follows the John Muir Trail from the Mt Whitney area through to Tuolumne Meadows before continuing north. If you plan to walk more than 500 miles (800km) of the Pacific Crest Trail, then a different permit is required from the PCT Association.

With the maze of trails that cross the range, a wide variety of walks of varying lengths are possible. One popular trip is to start at North Lake, climb to Piute Pass, then head west to join the John Muir Trail. Following the John Muir Trail over Muir Pass then down into Le Conte Canyon, you leave the JMT by a long climb into the scenic Dusy Basin and exit over Bishop Pass down to South Lake. This is an excellent circuit of around a week following one of the most scenic sections of the JMT. It’s all on tracks, and is a great introduction to the range. Access is good as North Lake and South Lake are close to each other plus, during summer, a scheduled shuttle bus operates to the small town of Bishop. There are many other similar one-week circuits that can be undertaken. (Ed: I’ve done multiple walks in the Sierras north of the areas John has talked about, such as in northern Yosemite and the Hoover Wilderness, that have been fabulous, and where I’ve seen not one other person in a week.)

Walking in Miter Basin

Paintbrush flower

Descending to Lake Basin

Climbing to Russell Pass through huge suncups in a high-snow year

Daisies are just one of the abundant wildflowers you’ll see in the meadows

Mule deer

Marmots are a common sight above the treeline Kearsage Pass. 11,760 feet = 3,584m, meaning the pass’s height is only 140m lower than Aoraki/Mt Cook’s summit!

The Sierra High Route

In our opinion, the most scenic areas of the Sierra Nevada— which is a high bar indeed—are the numerous lake basins located generally on or above the tree line. Tracks provide direct access to many lakes, but some of the most pristine basins can only be seen by leaving the track system.

In the 1970s, Steve Roper, who wrote a climbing guide for Yosemite Valley, created the 314km Sierra High Route (SHR). It is not a trail as such, with the majority of the route being off-track. While infrequently walked in its entirety, it’s famous among backpackers for its scenery and for being known as the most difficult walk in the Lower 48.

Steve Roper designed the SHR to follow the tree line where possible, while keeping track walking to a minimum. He also decided to start further north of Mt Whitney, in the belief that most of those who would follow his route had already walked the JMT and had climbed the peak. The SHR starts at Roads End, climbs 5,000 feet (1,600m) onto the range, then continues northward past Tuolumne Meadows to Twin Lakes. It is very scenic, passing through seventeen lake basins and crossing 35 passes, but it avoids some high sections of the range by following less used trails.

With the knowledge of the range available in the ‘70s, it was indeed a great route, and one we followed on our first visit to the Sierra Nevada in 2015. Over 41 days, we walked most of the SHR, but wildfires prevented us from completing the northernmost section; instead we returned from Tuolumne Meadows to Mammoth Lakes by a different route. It was a wonderful trip, and the SHR was well worth walking. Some of the steep, screefilled passes weren’t easy, but the scenery lived up to our expectations. Nonetheless, when we descended onto trails, we looked up towards the crest and wondered if it was possible to pass through those high sections that the SHR bypassed. It led us to begin researching, and eventually conceiving of, a new route through the Sierras: the Sierra Grand Traverse.

The Sierra Grand Traverse

The Sierra Nevada is a rugged range containing a number of small glaciers, some of which are in passes that require the use of ice axes and mountaineering skills to cross. We wanted to avoid technical climbing, and to cross only passes that required no more than off-track walking ability. However, despite modern technology and the abundance of information available on the internet, finding routes suited to walkers was still not easy in some parts of the range, and studying maps was not that helpful, as many saddles and passes had promising-looking contours, but were in fact blocked by impassable cliffs or glaciers. Nonetheless, after much research, we pieced together a route that we believed faithfully fulfilled Roper’s original vision. Starting at Tuolumne Meadows, we would head south, staying close to the crest of the range to pass Mt Whitney, before descending to Cottonwood Lakes and ending at Horseshoe Meadows. About a third of our route included the best parts of the SHR with the rest being both higher and extending further south past Mt Whitney. However, a few small gaps remained where we had no information. From photos taken on our 2015 trip, these sections looked feasible, so we decided they were worth further investigation.

In 2019, we returned to the Sierras to traverse ‘our’ route, and the unknown pieces in our puzzle proved to be suitable for experienced walkers. What’s more, the route was spectacular—similar to the SHR, but even more scenic, as it passes through an additional ten lake basins. The hardest walking is about the same standard as the SHR with many steep, scree-filled passes to cross. We expect some walkers will rate our route as being a bit more difficult than the SHR. In reality, it is not harder; it just has six more untracked high passes to negotiate. Upon completion, we realised we’d created a really grand route. It is possibly the best walk we have ever done, and we’ve done a few!

From our earlier research, we knew that no US backpacker had written up details for such a route, and we decided to put in the extra effort to create a guide. Having made a route plan for ourselves to walk was a good start, but much more work was required to get it into print. We named our route the ‘Sierra Grand Traverse’ as it passes through

California is blessed with fine summer weather; rainfall and storms are rare events. But while the Sierra Nevada is renowned for consecutive weeks of fine weather, it is still a high mountain range, and in summer it can get the odd period of poor weather. Most commonly, it will be just a few afternoon thunderstorms. Starting and camping early, and avoid climbing peaks and other high points after midday, reduces the risk from lightning strikes. While extended rain periods are rare, we had one week of rain on our third visit, so take wet-weather gear.

Generally, the best period for walking is from mid-July through to mid-September.

Snowfalls in winter can be huge (Sierra Nevada literally means ‘Snowy Mountains’), and in some years, there is still four metres of snow on Mammoth Mountain at the start of summer in early June. The snow melts quickly, however, and with streams running at flood levels, walking in early summer is not recommended. After mid-September, autumn strikes quickly, with cold days and freezing nights.

Going Off Trail In The Sierras

What is off-trail walking like in the Sierra Nevada? Anyone with experience in Southwest Tasmania or on the harder tramps of New Zealand should have few problems. Below the tree line, there is no real scrub. Pine forests have open floors with few understorey plants, and are easy to walk through. Above the tree line, it is a sea of rock, small areas of grassy meadows, and rocky lake-basins which are easily traversed. Climbing and descending the many scree-filled passes can be slow and tedious, but is technically not difficult. The main bedrock is granite and, unlike New Zealand, most of the scree is stable and does not move much when disturbed. Navigation is easy as you are usually above the tree line; most peaks are easy to identify, and finding the next pass is often obvious.

the most spectacular section of the range. We wanted a title that both described our route but would not be confused with or detract from other routes which have ‘High’ in their titles.

Compared to the other recognised trails and routes, the Sierra Grand Traverse crosses more passes, visits more alpine lake-basins and spends more time above the tree line. It is 200 miles long (321km) and we suggest allowing between 25 and 45 days to walk it. We finished exploring the new route in 45 days, which included side trips along with multiple resupply days, so it is likely others will take less time. Really fast walkers who move from dawn to dusk might do it in less, but then they will not be leaving much time to savour the spectacular scenery. It is a truly impressive route, and is ideal for experienced off-track walkers. The majority of the traverse is through remote country and when it does follow short sections of trail, it can be a culture shock to meet so many people. While the goal for many will be to do the entire traverse, it can be just as enjoyable to do shorter sections.

After a delay of two years imposed by the pandemic, we returned in 2022, and instead of doing a single 40-day plus thru-trip, we undertook a series of six one-week walks with a night or two break between each. We needed multiple permits, but as we were flexible in terms of where we went, they were fairly easy to obtain. This trip was just as enjoyable as our previous thru-walks.

CONTRIBUTORS: John Chapman has been contributing to Wild ever since its first issue back in 1981. Together with his wife Monica, they have written numerous guidebooks over the years. Unlike their other books, however, the Sierra Grand Traverse is being published by The Mountaineers, a not-forprofit publishing company based in Seattle, and is due for release around April, 2023.

We repeated some parts of the Sierra Grand Traverse, but also walked through other lake basins that were just as pretty. One of these recent walks was to complete the missing northern section of the Sierra High Route. There is attractive scenery above Saddlebag Lake, but it is also a very popular day-walking area. It is not remote, so it lacks the wilderness feel of the rest of the Sierra High Route; for this reason, the Sierra Grand Traverse doesn’t include that section. Another of our weeks started with a long climb from Pine Creek. We walked through the very scenic Granite Park, then Bear Lakes Basin, which is on the Sierra Grand Traverse, and exited via the beautiful Royce Lakes. While the traverse passes through many lake basins, there are many more to explore on shorter trips that are equally stunning. The range contains more than 100 lake basins with over a thousand lakes, most of them without names. You could spend a lifetime walking here exploring the range, and many US backpackers do just that.

So, go and experience the Sierra Nevada for yourself, walk the Grand Traverse or make up your own shorter adventure. Magnificent sunrises and sunsets with glowing rock faces reflected in calm lakes are just some of the many highlights. You’ll have daily views of craggy peaks and serrated ridges, pristine lake basins and alpine meadows, the latter often filled with an abundance of colourful wildflowers. If you are in luck, you’ll see a black bear, but you’re more likely to come across ground squirrels, pika, mule deer or even the Chapmans! Your adventure awaits in this spectacular range of light. W

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