High Sierra Topix

Wow.
Some interesting replies...I must visit more often.
As a European...nothing like, most of my longer self-contained trips have been in the US - 8-10 days, 19-23lbs

I've regularly done 7 day trips over my nearly 5 decades in the Sierra. Can fit that much food into a bear canister. Longest ever was also my first real Sierra backpack! Planned 10 days with a buddy for Kearsarge Pass - Gardiner Basin - Sixty Lakes Basin - Rae Lakes - and back out to Onion Valley with lots of layover days. Pack weighed 42 or 44 pounds, as I remember. No bear cans - just a stuff sack and some thin cord to hang it. No real tent - just a plastic "tube tent". Good 3.5 pound Sierra Designs down sleeping bag with 1/2 inch ensolite pad. Some heavy clothing (real wool). A big REI external frame pack. A little Svea white gas stove. And not much else, mostly because I was too inexperienced to imagine what could go wrong. Unfortunately, a wildfire kicked up and started sending smoke our way about day 5. This spooked my buddy, who was afraid it would block our route out so we accelerated and did the trip in 8 days. I loved every minute and wished we could stay longer. In all the subsequent years, 7 days has been my longest trip for logistical and family reasons. Last year, started with 38 pounds for that 7 days. Equipment is lighter, but my tolerance for carrying weight is also less and my need for comfort is also greater now. Would really love to be able to do a 12 days trip and maybe I'll figure out how to do it after I retire.
-Phil

16 days last September. A mostly cross-country solo loop out of Bishop Pass. All food fit into Bearikade Expedition. It was very enjoyable, despite being heavy and slow at the beginning.

Knapsack Pass, Barrett Ck. to Deer Mdw., Cataract Ck. to basin N of Observation Pk, Amphitheater Basin, Cataract Creek Pass, "Observation Peak Pass", many lakes in the area west of Observation Pk, Dumbbell Basin, Lakes Basin, Cartridge Pass (instead of Vennacher Col, skipped due to recent snow), Upper Basin, SHR back to Bishop Pass.

It snowed when I camped west of Observation Pk., so I got stuck at one spot for two days without a safe way out until enough snow melted. I thought I would be stuck longer. I had plenty of food and a good campsite.

Never more than 7 days for me. I can't fit enough food in my BV450 for more than 7 days, and going back to the BV500 would also mean going back to my heavier pack and certainly push my total weight with consumables over 40 lbs. I did spend 15 days in the Sierra this past summer, but I stopped at MTR twice and VVR twice to raid the hiker buckets and take advantage of the VVR café and store. I did abstain from showering or sleeping at those places though. :-)

15 days multiple times. And 14 days more times than I can remember. I hate the first 3 days since typically it's cross country terrain that's unforgiving or just plain difficult with such a heavy load. My hope is to not go over 12 days period but I know there's a 14 lurking in my future at some point.

I did a 25-day trek in the Everest region of Nepal. So, it was a trek with porters and Sherpas and all that, so I was not carrying any heavy weight. It was amazing what the Sherpa cook could do with a hind quarter of goat, some mystery vegetables, and one can of pork and beans. Although we had some cold streams, it was on Day 21 before I got a hot shower.

Longest without resupply only 10 days. Once carried both a Garcia and a BV4500 from Tuolumne to Onion Valley to have room for many dehydrated meals and first aid/smellables. Heaviest pack I have carried for the shortest trip was right about 83 lbs for 3 days on a remote section of northern Maine's coast. That was 3 days worth of food, water, and gear for my wife and I to be very comfortable on a secluded out and back trip.

My longest is 10 days which I do every summer carrying all my food in a Wild Ideas Expedition canister. My pack weight is usually 44 lbs and would be about 39 lbs if I didn't carry my 3 lb Canon 60D and lens, my 1 lb Iridium sat phone and my 1lb garmin gps. Most of my trips involve quite a bit of cross country, trying to see those remote areas.... Planning on doing a 14 day trip soon with a re-supply around the 7th day.

Mtncaddis wrote:Heaviest pack I have carried for the shortest trip was right about 83 lbs...

83 lbs?? I shy away from locales that require humping your own water because of weight but dang, that is a lot on your back. Fortunately for you and your wife, you must be quite strong and I'm sure you enjoyed some luxuries that some of us leave behind.

I haven't done any trips to write home about length wise, usually around 4-6 days partly due to my lack of xc experience and limited days I can throw at a trip at any given time.

I've done some very long trips in Asia over the years- the longest was 3 weeks+ up near the headwaters of the Baltoro, Biafo, and Uzun Brak glaciers in 1987. Heavy food in Pakistan: spaghetti-like noodles, dried apricots and apricot nuts, and a morning grain something akin to our cream of wheat. Powdered milk luckily, hard cheese, chocolate bars, and the ubiquitous "digestive biscuits" and black tea- found wherever there are old colonial English folks. We used a heavy metal Optimus kerosene stove that we found there- probably 30 years old! External frame packs of course, 6 lb. z-bags, and the same set of heavy woolen shirts and jackets I also wore in the Sierras back then- "Pendletons" I think. It was never too cold.
All self-contained- probably a 70lb.+ pack for me, and less for my partner, but not much less, as she was well-used to backpacking. The only time we were fed by others was notable in that we wandered into the camp of the retreating English climbers/icons Joe Brown, Moe Antoine, and another whose name I didn't recognize, but when I mentioned that apologetically, Joe Brown said: "Oh he's been up Everest and all that too." They fed us well with obscure things like fruitcake, and mint cake, and I forget what else that their porters had packed in. They were shooting for one of the unclimbed Latok Peaks, and had been snowed off the mountain. Later on, we included some native rhubarb stalks into our meals, which is very sour stuff even with sugar, but without, it is just about inedible. There were also wild onions and wild rose-hips, but very few calories in those. We saw fresh bear tracks in the glacial mud, and were hungry enough- as they say- "to eat the skin off a bear!" But we chickened out, and just starved our way back to Askole for chicken eggs with curry- a meal we will never forget!
We both lost a ton of weight that we could ill afford to lose, but gained memories for a lifetime! I love the long trips, and nothing but injuries and responsibilities will keep me out of the mountains.

My longest solo in the Sierra without resupply was a 13 day high route up under the Palisades and down to Onion Valley. It would have been just 8 days had I not run into an ungodly late-September snowstorm while up at Barret Lakes, and again down at Palisade Lakes. Soaked everything made my pack an awful weight at times.