One Year Ago - Why the HST?

It has been one year since I did the High Sierra Trail (HST), which is a 75 mile trail going across the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. I have always loved backpacking but in the past 15 years or so my backpacking trips were limited to only one night trips, except for a four day trip with my wife in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park in 2001. Doing all these little trips just made me want to do a larger, longer trip. So why the HST?

Back in probably 1992 or 1993 I heard about the John Muir Trail (JMT) which is a 222 mile trip that goes north and south along the Sierra Nevada mountains. Ever since then it has been my dream to do that trail. I have all the maps, I have a guidebook, and have looked at hundreds of photos! Back in 2003 for some reason I decided to make a goal of completing the trail within 5 years, so 2008. Things changed dramatically in our lives when I decided to come to seminary in 2005, but then again I was now a day's drive from the JMT. Sometime in 2007 it hit me that there was no way that I could take off three weeks to do the JMT.

One other thing that I really wanted to do was to hike up Mt. Whitney (the highest point in the lower 48 states). That trip can be done in one really long and very tough day. There is actually a lottery for doing that trip from the East side of the Sierras to and from Whitney Portal. For the first couple years of being in Southern California I always heard rumors of people wanting to do this hike, but nobody ever started early enough to get a permit. So I decided to look into it myself. I was wondering if there were any other routes one could take to get to Whitney instead of the one main trail. This is where I found out about the High Sierra Trail.

The HST starts in Crescent Meadow on the Western side of the Sierras and crosses Sequoia National Park essentially from west to east ending officially on top of Mt. Whitney (although you still have to hike out!). Approaching Whitney from the west... this was perfect! So I convinced my wife to let me go on this one week, 75 mile trip if I could get some friends to go with. Initially I found a lot of interest in doing the hike, and the group was going to be around 9 or 10 people. That number dwindled down to 6 or 7 in the months prior to the trip and then within a couple of days we were down to 4. Two friends from Chicago flew out (Dan and Steve) and also Dan's brother-in-law from San Francisco was going to meet up with us. So the group was set and we took off!

If you are interested in seeing photos of the trip and in reading a report, check out this link.

Now that it has been a year since I completed the trip, I thought I would reflect for a moment on it. There is hardly a couple of days that go by where I haven't thought about the trip in some way. Maybe it is seeing photos that I have scattered around my computer, it could be one of many e-mails I have received from people asking about the trail, going on a hike and thinking about that hike, or one of a plethora of memories that come to my mind. It really was a special hike, and it is safe to say that I saw some of the most beautiful scenery in the world and did something that not very many people have any desire to do (relatively speaking). Backpacking is a very unique activity and by doing so you subject yourself to many pains, trials, and hardships, but yet the rewards are so worth it! Here are just a few things that are my favorite memories of the trip:

• Needing to filter water only a couple hundred yards down the trail while all the day hikers pass by. (There was no water source at the trailhead parking lot!)
• Seeing the "Great Western Divide" up close before Hamilton Lakes
• Relaxing at Hamilton Lakes, the most beautiful campsite I have ever stayed at
• Hiking alongside a stream in a meadow above Precipice Lake (my favorite part of the trail)
• Looking down the Big Arroyo Valley after crossing over Kaweah Gap
• Only seeing two other people in a span of almost 48 hours (we had two consecutive campsites all to ourselves)
• The Kern River Hot Spring (need I say more?)
• Although it was a low-point of the trip I will never forget cleaning and bandaging a pretty nasty head wound after asking "did you hurt yourself" and then seeing blood drip down Steve Busse's face from underneath his hat
• Walking through a stand of Aspen trees when coming out of the Kern River Valley early in the morning
• Relaxing at Crabtree Meadow and talking to the Ranger
• Staying at Guitar Lake (this was surreal for me since I had seen pictures of this lake and dreamed of one day staying there since this is also part of the JMT)
• All four of us summitting Mt. Whitney
• Getting cell-phone coverage and talking to my wife for the first time in a week from the summit
• Our campsite at Trail Camp and a very relaxing evening at 12,000 feet
• Waking up at 2:00am that last night and seeing more stars than I have ever seen
• The hamburger at the Whitney Portal store

There is so much more I could write, but I better stop!! Check out that link above to see photos and even some video of the trip.