Blog — She Dreams Of Alpine

Backpacking Onion Valley to Whitney Portal – John Muir Trail Section Hike

Backpacking Onion Valley to Whitney Portal – John Muir Trail Section Hike | This backpacking trail is one of the most amazing and challenging trails in the Sierra Nevada. Each day is full-on and at high altitudes, but it affords you amazing views along the John Muir Trail plus you get to cross over 3 different mountain passes (Kearsarge Pass, Forester Pass, and Trail Crest). You also have the opportunity to summit Mount Whitney, one of the tallest peaks in the US. Are you up to the challenge? | shedreamsofalpine.com

38 Miles Backpacking Lyell Canyon in Tuolumne to Devil's Postpile in Mammoth Lakes California

It's funny when you plan out a backpacking trip, you search the internet for details to make an overall plan and trip itinerary. You get your daily mileage and ascent all scheduled out, and you start to think that only bad weather can throw a wrench in your plan. However, over time, I've learned that I should always anticipate about +/- 5 extra miles to what I read online. That was definitely the case with this trail from Lyell Canyon to Devil's Postpile. All my research (reading online trip reports) led me to believe this trail would be about 31 miles and only 4,100 feet of total gain, and so that seemed like an easy 10 miles per day trip. We were slightly surprised when we found that the trail was actually about 38 miles and 5,000' of gain, and had to make up some extra miles in day 2 and day 3. It still was an excellent trip, and very doable in 3 days.

Winter Ascent Mountaineers Route to Mount Whitney, Highest Peak in the Lower 48

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Such is Mount Whitney. This mountain challenged me so much, that it has taken a little over a week now for me to spend energy writing about it. I literally took all of last week off to be lazy and even went to Vegas this past weekend for a complete change of pace.