High Sierra Trail - Day One

My first time backpacking (aside from when I was a kid) was on the High Sierra Trail. We took a spontaneous trip to Sequoia National Park, spoke with some park rangers, and landed a walk-in permit for a two-night backpacking trip. I had no idea what to expect but I fell in love with the trail and its epic views of Sequoia and the Great Western Divide ahead. It was also unexpectedly painful and uncomfortable! On that first trip we camped at Mehrten Creek which had incredible panoramic views, then Bearpaw Meadow in a dense forest. We day hiked to Hamilton Lake and I knew I was hooked on this place.

We returned to the High Sierra Trail the following year, this time camping two nights at Hamilton Lake and pushing a little further down the trail for a day hike to Precipice Lake. I heard other hikers talking about completing the entire trail and at the time it sounded pretty extreme.

One year later we were back to thru hike the entire trail ourselves! At the time this was going to be my longest backpacking trip and I was a little nervous. The night before we drove from Los Angeles to Visalia and on to Three Rivers before we found a large cabin available for the night. We woke up early the next morning and slowly made our way to the Lodgepole ranger station to pick up our permit. The drive into the park is long, windy, steep, and was under construction that year so it took over an hour. I was a little worried that this would take too long and we wouldn’t make it to our goal campsite of Hamilton Lake!

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After a quick breakfast and some info from the rangers we were on our way to the trailhead at Crescent Meadow! We saw a hungry black bear near the parking lot before setting off on the trail. The first section was through a dense forest adjacent to the meadow and then you suddenly pop out with an exposed view of Sequoia and the Great Western Divide. Having hiked here before it was almost painful to realize that our first campsite was 16+ miles in front of us on those mountains.

We took a break at Mehrten Creek and set off for Bearpaw Meadow. They run a High Sierra camp out of the cabins there next to the campsite. We hiked in with two very generous friends who dropped us off for the thru hike and we parted ways with them there at the Meadow. We continued on down a small valley and back up the other side to start hiking the mountains of the Great Western Divide. The previous year we encountered a juvenile rattlesnake in the middle of this part of the trail, just past the bridge in a particularly dry section. It served as a good reminder to be careful and always stay on the lookout.

With only a couple uphill miles to go my body was exhausted and my pace slowed. Eventually I made it up to Hamilton Lake, one of the most beautiful campsites I’ve ever seen! We picked some tent sites overlooking the lake and cooked dinner. I should also mention that this spot has the most epic pit toilet overlooking the lake and the mountains around it!

As I fell asleep that night I felt a little panicked wondering if I could make it the entire way.