Hiking the High Sierra Trail – Hamilton Lakes | Los Angeles Photographer

This trip has been planned multiple times, but it seems like the past two years there really wasn’t a commitment to actually follow through with our plans. Last year, I was looking to hike the High Sierra Trail with the same group, but I wasn’t able to take off for this adventure. Fortunately this year, I was definitely going to take my time off to go on this once in a lifetime adventure. It might end up being twice, or three times in a lifetime but we’ll see if I stay in California. Sarah, Jason, Rooks, Ian and I set off to Sequoia National Park to start our five day trip toward the summit of Mt. Whitney. Here is our tracks for the trip, which covers Crescent Meadows towards Hamilton Lake.

We headed off to Sequoia National Park on Wednesday night to find a campsite, but were forced to either sleep on the side of the road or find a place to stay. Best Western was our first option, but we ended up at this two bedroom cabin.

The following day, it was time to pack our things and go. These packs were going to be the only possession we would have for the next five days. There was no turning back, and if we did forget any essentials we would need to live without it.

Currently Sequoia National Park is undergoing some construction, which limits the traffic to a one lane situation. During our stop as we waiting for oncoming traffic to pass, Jason and Ian inspect the car (probably due to some oil burning from the engine).

Passing through tunnel log as we head towards our starting point of Crescent Meadow.

Our first day would be roughly 17 miles to Hamilton Lakes, this sign shows that our final destination of Mt. Whitney was only a short 60 miles away from here.

Group Shot to start the trip.

I took a few shots on our 17 mile trip to show the landscape change throughout the park. What started out as large mossy trees turned into bouldering hills across the valley.

The view of the contrast between the trees and valley’s edge.

There were also some interestingly twisted trees along the route.

I was going to try to take some portraits on the way toward Whitney, with the first one being Ian. We had a little bit of time to rest during our hike toward Hamilton Lake, so I decided to fill my time with some pictures.

Crossing the river, close to our first checkpoint of Bearpaw.

We made it to Bearpaw, which is a nice little campsite three fourths of the way to Hamilton Lake.

After we began to hike again, we crossed a swarm of wasps. They decided to give Sarah a little bite after we intruded. I guess we should take the extractor out for some “venom” extraction.