Low-snow Trans Sierra April 11-14

Since moving part time to California last year I have watched enviously as system after system hit Washington and decided to give the Sierras a pass. This last weekend, low snow or not Matt, Matt, Dan and I decided to make a 3 day go of the classic Trans-Sierra. A west to east approach was the plan with a start at the Wolverton TH and an exit over Shepherds Pass.

Let me just say, running shoes were a critical piece of gear for the weekend. Here we are at the start, with everything on our backs and minimal snow in sight.



We continued up past the always scenic Pear Lake Hut and camped just below Lonely Lake after an afternoon snow storm and some pleasant turns coming down into the valley.



Day 2 brought us up an over 4 passes and a ridge tall enough to be called a pass. While the book describes many of these as ski-able we ended up with our skis on our backs hiking over rocks on more than one occasion.



The final pass of the day, Milestone, was completed in good style under the light of an almost full moon. Due to my own exhaustion and desire to get down there are no pictures from the evening but here is a shot from the next day showing the pass and abundance of exposed talus.



After a nights sleep we made our way down to the headwaters of the Kern River; up into the Tyndall Creek drainage and over Shepherds Pass. For our final descent we were greeted with an amazing 500 feet of skiing followed by 10 miles of walking. Overall an amazing trip and I can only imagine what it would be like with a bigger snowpack!!!