The Sierra High Route is a 195-mile route through the Sierra Nevada, put together by Steve Roper, that starts in Kings Canyon and finishes in Twin Lakes. It attempts to stay above timberline whereever possible, which means that a large part of it is cross-country travel and involves up to 3rd class scrambling on some passes. Our original intention was to enter the Sierra via Taboose Creek Pass and join up with the High Route in Upper Basin, then continue along the High Route until just past Izaak Walton Lake, exiting via the McGee Creek Trail. Our friend Jason Hollinger would join us at the start of the trip, and then when we exited, he planned to keep going all the way to the end of the SHR at Twin Lakes.

Unfortunately, after a great start, we ran into weather issues. A hurricane had parked itself off the coast of Baja, and every time an arm of the hurricane swept over California, wave after wave of powerful thunderstorms marched across the Sierra. This was a big surprise to me, since in all my previous trips in the Sierra, I had never even been rained on before! And being high above timberline during a massive thunderstorm was an experience that Robert definitely didn't enjoy. We ended up bailing at Lake Muriel by hiking out the Piute Pass trail, and Robert and I sought out better weather by heading north to Yosemite (which he had never seen). Yosemite was far enough north that the weather was unaffected by the hurricane, and we ended up having a great time hiking there and also doing some mountain biking at Mammoth. Jason, who had the freedom of unlimited time to wait out storms (being "retired" and thus not needing to get back to work), returned to the SHR and completed it (go read his trip report and enjoy his pics!).

Robert, Ken, Christine, & Jason at the Taboose Creek trailhead (Ken & Christine gave us a trailhead shuttle)	Looking back down the canyon of Taboose Creek	Robert and I at Taboose pass	Camp in Upper Basin, beneath Split Mountain	Courtney on Mather Pass, Palisades and Palisade Lakes in background
At one of the Palisade Lakes	Our first real cross-country ascent was up this steep slope, toward Cirque Pass	Robert and Courtney on top of Cirque Pass, North Palisade and Mt. Sill in background	View from camp at Lake 11,672, just over Cirque Pass	Evening light after a thunderstorm, near Lake 11,672
View of Potluck Pass, North Palisade in background	On top of Potluck Pass, Jason tries to ID the surrounding peaks while Robert watches	Robert watches as yet another massive thunderstorm approaches our camp in Palisade Basin	Mighty North Palisade, after a storm	Knapsack Pass
Courtney on Knapsack Pass, N. Palisade in background	Dusy Basin	Robert & Courtney at the edge of Dusy Basin, about to descend into LeConte Canyon	LeConte Canyon	Trailside view in LeConte Canyon
Lake near Muir Pass	Jason waits at the hut on Muir Pass	Courtney & Robert and the view north from Muir Pass	Heading down toward Sapphire Lake	Evolution Lake
Alpenglow at Evolution Lake	Robert beside a lovely little lake, on the way up to Alpine Col	Alpine Col is visible in the lefthand part of the picture	Courtney on top of Alpine Col	Robert at Alpine Col, with Goethe Lake far below
Robert relaxes at camp, with Mt. Goethe and the Goethe "Glacier" in the background	Yet another huge storm approaches our camp at Lake Muriel	Yosemite Valley and Half Dome	Robert on the trail up to Half Dome	Courtney at the base of the Cable Route up Half Dome
Courtney on top of Half Dome	View from the edge of Half Dome's cliffs	Rainbow at the base of Vernal Falls	Courtney and Robert mountain biking at Mammoth Mountain