If only our difficulties ended as we returned to civilization. We spent the night in Bishop before heading back to South Lake to fetch our other car. When we arrived at the Tyee Lakes Trailhead, we discovered that the Inyo National Forest had changed the parking rules for their South Lake Road repaving project (one of the most impressive misuses of taxpayer money I’ve seen on National Forest land) while we were out hiking and had towed our car. So, we had to head back to Bishop to get our car from a man named Billie. The whole ordeal took several hours and cost many hundreds of dollars, but eventually we got our car back, returned the rental, and made our way farther north.

Overall, the Southern Sierra High Route is a really good route. It can be reasonably broken into three sections: the northernmost cross-country section through the Palisade Basins, the John Muir Trail miles, and the southernmost cross-country section through the Whitney Region.

The northernmost section starts with the relatively easy and very scenic Bishop Pass Trail, a good start to any hike in the High Sierra. The scenery only improves entering the Dusy Basin and leaving the crowds behind with the sharp south turn towards Knapsack Pass. Past here are several excellent miles of cross country hiking through high alpine basins beneath one of the highest sub-ranges of the Sierra. This is a relatively popular area for cross country hiking, so you’re likely to see another group or two, but it’s much quieter than any of the trail hiking you’ll do. This stretch of cross country is somewhat difficult, with three cross country passes to cross in only a few miles, but the reward is worth it.

At Lower Palisade Lake, the route rejoins the crowded John Muir Trail. It’s difficult not to describe the miles from here to Wrights Creek Pass (or the Center Basin turnoff) as “filler,” but at least it’s good filler. The southern half is the better half of the JMT, in my opinion, so I didn’t mind re-hiking these miles.

Obviously I can’t comment on the Acrodectes alternate, other than what we heard from others, but it sounds like it’s the most difficult cross-country travel on the entire route. I can understand why it was included in the guide, and I think it’s best left up to each party whether they attempt it or not.

The southern off-trail section was fantastic. We skipped Junction and Shepherd Passes so I can only comment on Wright Lakes Pass and south. This section was high, beautiful, featured long stretches of easy cross-country travel, and was very quiet except for the Whitney Zone. It seems necessary to cross through the very busy Whitney Zone in this section and Mountaineer’s Route to Discovery Pass seems like the most reasonable way to pass through this circus, and it’s well worth it to visit some of the other basins in this area.

This was my third High Route and the first that I managed to complete in a single push. I can’t comment on the sections we did not do (the Acrodectes alternate, and the Junction / Shepherd Pass section), but I feel we completed enough of this route to offer a comparison with the Wind River and Yosemite High Routes.

Let’s start with the route difficulty because it’s pretty easy. This is the easiest of the three, and the Wind River High Route is the most difficult. That’s what the numbers say and I agree.

I’m a sucker for big-mountain alpine scenery, and the Southern Sierra High Route delivered in that department. It definitely beat out the Yosemite High Route, though the latter was not without its highlights. However, I think the Wind River High Route still takes the cake in this department, at least for me. It’s hard to beat the rugged beauty of that range, especially when hiked end-to-end.

While I may claim the Winds are more scenic, I definitely can’t claim they have better access or conditions. The hiking season in the High Sierra is almost twice as long, and despite our troubles, the weather usually cooperates from June until October. There’s not much difference in conditions between the Southern Sierra and Yosemite. The access is roughly equivalent as well, permits are sort-of difficult to get in both places, and you can easily reach all trailheads involved in a few hours drive in a standard rental car from a nearby airport. There are some variants of the Yosemite High Route that are logistically easy (the figure 8), but the Southern Sierra High Route isn’t bad at all.

Finally, let’s talk about the remoteness. If this is very important to you, you should probably think about skipping or modifying this route. Half of the route miles are on the most heavily trafficked middle-distance backpacking trail in the United States, and that doesn’t include the very popular starting trailhead (Bishop Pass) or the very heavily used areas around the highest peak in the continental US. If you’re out there in the summer, you should expect to see lots of people as you pass through these areas. We found the other cross country sections to be relatively quiet. Of course the Wind River High Route is much quieter and more remote, and the Yosemite High Route falls in the middle, with a mix of quieter and busier sections.

Hopefully that’s a fair comparison of these three routes. Feel free to reach out to me if you have more specific questions.

So, should you do it? Like I’ve said before, I wouldn’t recommend this for your first backpacking trip, but it’s a good candidate for a first High Route. The logistics are easy, the weather is usually good, the navigation is not difficult, and most of the hiking is relatively easy. Plus, you have the safety net of the JMT/PCT just to your west the entire time if anything goes awry.

That said, based on what we saw, I don’t think this is an alternate to the JMT. Cross country hiking is a lot different than on-trail hiking, and the JMT attracts a less experienced crowd of backpackers these days. If you’re considering this route, you should be prepared for long, sometimes technical sections of travel without trails or other people around.

I do have a few comments about logistics that I hope will be helpful. First, if you need to resupply on this hike, Onion Valley is the no brainer spot to do it. It adds about 20 miles round trip, but it’s all easy trail hiking. Second, I really feel this route is best hiked southbound. If you go the other way, you will find yourself ascending routes that should be descended and vice-versa on several occasions:

One last thing about the logistics. If you can’t get the competitive Bishop Pass permit on the day that you want, consider some alternatives. Treasure Lakes will require you stay one day just off the Bishop Pass Trail before heading off. Or, you can head out from Lamarck Lakes or Piute Pass and join the Sierra High Route / John Muir Trail for a bit extra in the north.

This is the part where I usually toot Andrew Skurka’s horn. But this isn’t his guide, so I finally have some grounds for comparison! I found the Southern Sierra High Route guide less helpful than the guides for other High Routes. It reads more like a trip report than a guide. It’s missing a lot of the micro-route and historical/geological information of the more detailed guides, the map has no comments, and the datasheet is much coarser - there are only a dozen or so waypoints. You can recreate some of the more helpful guide materials on your own by copying relevant comments onto a map, and creating your own waypoints and datasheets, but it’s a lot of work.

Alright, I hope you enjoyed reading some or all of this trip report, or even just looking at the pictures. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to reach out to me, my info is in the header at the top of this page. Happy hiking!