High Sierra Topix

im imagining bushwacking out in space with the slope faaaaaaaar below you

With cliffs above ;-) Click on the "Plane" icon to see the fly by. Oh, sorry just noticed they make you get an account or use open auth...

https://fatmap.com/routeid/3596090/happ ... ey?fmid=cp

My "Shortcut":

https://fatmap.com/routeid/3596095/harr ... ap?fmid=cp

It looks all easy digitally. LoL.

This route feels like the holy grail of sadistic, why the hell did I decide to this bushwhack routes of the Sierra. There are several other excellent posts here regarding this route, but I've never seen an account of anyone who's actually done it. William Tweed's excellent "Granite Pathways", which exhaustively covers seemingly every abandoned trail, packer route, Basque sheepherder path, etc. that ever existed in SEKI makes no mention of this trail, although in addition to the Copper Creek/Simpson Meadow route to the Middle Fork, it does mention that once upon a time there was a proposal to build a trail from Road's End down the South Fork to the confluence with the Middle Fork. I don't think this trail was ever constructed though.

The map that shows the Silver Creek trail is a fascinating one. I believe it's from 1905, and while in many respects it's not too different from modern maps, there are a number of glaring discrepancies if you look close enough. My favorite being that Big Bird Lake is shown to be almost a third of its actual size, and is labeled as "Dollar Lake".

This seems like a cool idea and an absolutely heinous hike.

You're an idiot after my own heart -- I spent two days this spring working on linking up two singletrack trails at different elevations in Marin County with an old very unmaintained hiking trail that supposedly connected them on older maps. It hasn't been maintained in DECADES, maybe 100 years even, and the only way to get down the hill was sliding on your butt a foot or two off the ground in a big awkward manzanita tunnel for a quarter mile. Thank goodness there wasn't any poison oak...


I've nothing to offer re:advice, but I hope you make this route work, and if you do, please do a detailed write-up here with plenty of pictures! I'm sure it'll be a great read. : )

MichaelRPetrick wrote: ↑Thu Feb 01, 2024 11:01 am This seems like a cool idea and an absolutely heinous hike.

You're an idiot after my own heart -- I spent two days this spring working on linking up two singletrack trails at different elevations in Marin County with an old very unmaintained hiking trail that supposedly connected them on older maps. It hasn't been maintained in DECADES, maybe 100 years even, and the only way to get down the hill was sliding on your butt a foot or two off the ground in a big awkward manzanita tunnel for a quarter mile. Thank goodness there wasn't any poison oak...

Ahem. If it was this spring, the poison oak may not have been visible or identifiable. You want to be careful. Just because you don't see leaves of three doesn't mean you can't get itchy.

Speaking from experience.

Some great insights all around. Ill certainly post a trip report if i have the cajones to pull this off.

balzaccom wrote: ↑Thu Feb 01, 2024 4:36 pm

MichaelRPetrick wrote: ↑Thu Feb 01, 2024 11:01 am This seems like a cool idea and an absolutely heinous hike.

You're an idiot after my own heart -- I spent two days this spring working on linking up two singletrack trails at different elevations in Marin County with an old very unmaintained hiking trail that supposedly connected them on older maps. It hasn't been maintained in DECADES, maybe 100 years even, and the only way to get down the hill was sliding on your butt a foot or two off the ground in a big awkward manzanita tunnel for a quarter mile. Thank goodness there wasn't any poison oak...

Ahem. If it was this spring, the poison oak may not have been visible or identifiable. You want to be careful. Just because you don't see leaves of three doesn't mean you can't get itchy.

Speaking from experience.

Hahaha, agreed and very aware of poison oak issues year round: I'm hyper sensitive to it and my unblemished skin after this trip guarantees there wasn't any poison oak to be exposed to.

I've actually had to teach myself to ID the roots and leafless plant after a particularly stupid incident backpacking in Big Sur when I was digging a cathole, unknowingly grabbed onto a urushiol-covered root system, did my business, and proceeded to get a huge rash running the length of both legs from ankle to groin a few days later... Took high dose prednisone to knock that one back.

Some great insights all around. Ill certainly post a trip report if i have the cajones to pull this off

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Hola Cojones grandes, ten cuidado con los serpientes!:

As if you didn't have enough to worry about, we've heard that the Tehipite area is rattler city! Buenos Suerte Crick.

Rattlesnakes are yummy Harlen!

Here is a pic from the lookout just before the switchbacks start to drop into Tehipite Valley looking south-ish on the Theodore Solomon trail aka Tehipite Valley trail. Left orange line is Gorge of Despair, right orange line is the Silver Spur, little arrow left is Mt Harrington, arrow right is Happy Gap. The historic Happy Gap trail seems to have paralleled the Silver Spur down towards the lower parts of the cliffs, with Silver Creek a good bit further down the hillside. I think its path is just out of this photo. The Historic map in CalTopo has errors and is off by 400 ft or so when you compare where it has the Middle Fork to the actual location.

IMHO the bushwhacking is really an unknown it could be truly heinous thru shrubbery or not so bad until the end, maybe also when crossing the creek early. Happy Hap is about 9300 ft, the "Trail" drops down from 9300 to about 6000 before the final drop into the valley. So, perhaps a bit high for things like poison oak and manzanita. I think it will be a mix of shrubs and conifers.

Thanks for the pic. Yeah i came across a ton of rattle snakes doing a fallen tree count from simpson to tehipte. Still sends shivers down my spine.