Swimming the Silver Divide, John Muir Wilderness, California

Day 1: The trip will officially begin on Thursday morning, at the Vermillion Valley Campground (7,850 feet). We’ll go over basics of the trip, hand out group gear and food (our commissary), and move cars a short distance to the starting trailhead. The first six miles are fairly easy, on a good trail, to Upper Graveyard Meadows. We’ll finish the day with a climb up to Graveyard lakes, at 10,000 feet. About seven miles overall, with a 2,100-foot ascent.

Day 2: This day is all off-trail, but also a shorter distance. We’ll climb up to a saddle on the ridge to the north of camp (10,700 feet), then drop down to our campsite at Peter Pande Lake (10,000 feet). The route is well known, though simply lacks any discernable trail -- we’ll find the best way to go and make adjustments along the way. 

Day 3: This is a layover day; we don’t move our camp and instead will take the day to explore the valley and lakes around. There are many options here, including climbing peaks, swimming, meadow-gazing, or just resting in camp.

Day 4: This is the longest day of the trip. After leaving Peter Pande Lake, we'll locate a nearby trail and follow it through a series of lakes, then connect to the Pacific Crest Trail, onto and over Silver Pass (11,000 feet). From there, we'll continue down to Silver Pass Lake (10,400 feet) to our final camp. This will be about seven miles, with a big grunt in the middle.     

Day 5: We’ll wake a bit early and continue on the PCT, making a dramatic descent down Silver Pass creek and crossing the North Fork of Mono Creek at Pocket Meadow. From there, we'll head down to Lake Edison, where we’ll take a scheduled ferry back to our starting point. It's not a ferry like you might find plying the waters of Puget Sound, but rather a simple boat that works the lake during the height of the hiking season. It’s a fun way to finish the trip! This is about six miles today -- a very pretty walk out of the mountains.

Getting There

The trip will start at the Vermillion Valley Campground, at Lake Edison, which is at the very end of Highway 168. Specific driving directions, and possible carpool options, will be sent out closer to trip departure time. Note that the road is slow and narrow. Please do not make non-refundable travel arrangements until notified to do so by the trip leader.

Accommodations and Food

A site will be reserved for all who wish to arrive early on Wednesday night, the 10th of August. The lodge at Lake Edison has a grill and a small selection of groceries. Also, either ahead of the trip or afterwards, there are hot baths available at nearby Mono Hot Springs. Our first group meal will be lunch on the trail, Thursday the 11th. The leaders will provide all food for the duration of the trip, from lunch on the 11th through lunch on the 15th. Meals on this trip are vegetarian-friendly, but whenever meat is served there will be meat-free options. Please be very specific in your application about any dietary preferences or restrictions. As on all other Sierra Club knapsack trips, meal preparation is a group effort -- you'll be expected to help in the kitchen one or two days on the trip. Our meals have been field-tested for simplicity as well as good taste -- you’ll be surprised at the variety and wholesomeness of the food. And as to quantity, our goal is that you’re well-fed at each meal, without any waste to carry out. All cooking gear and stoves are provided.

Trip Difficulty

Equipment and Clothing

The most important “thing” to bring on a trip of this nature is a flexible attitude -- sometimes conditions beyond our control intervene, and we need to adapt. Responding to these conditions, meeting the backcountry on its terms, is part of the thrill of being in the mountains. 

The second-most important items are a pair of broken-in boots. The need for proper and well-fitting boots cannot be over-emphasized, as we'll be crossing rocky passes and negotiating angled slabs, and counting on our boots in extraordinary ways. Also please be ready to carry a large plastic food canister inside your pack, which protects the bears and other animals from our food.

Please look at the article on knapsacking equipment at http://www.knapsack.org/basic_equipment.html for a general overview of the appropriate clothing and gear for this outing. It will help you prepare for the type of hiking here, and the possible weather conditions you’ll experience. Additional materials will be sent to all trip participants in the several months prior to the trip.

References

The 7.5 minute USGS topo maps for this trip are Florence Lake and Mount Givens. A delightful book with stories about early adventurous hikes and peak climbs in the Sierra Nevada is Closeups up the High Sierra by Normal Clyde, a collection of stories he wrote in the 1920s and 30s. We’ll carry a reference book on botany and natural history on the trip.

Conservation

We'll talk about the Sierra Club's origins, its early fights to preserve the areas of the Sierra Nevada we hike through, and the continuing efforts, by the Club and other organizations, to protect and preserve the lower-elevation front country. Water issues are perennial in California, and we’ll take advantage of our perch high in the watershed of California’s primary water supply to review current and looming concerns over water use and allocation. And we encourage you to tell us about environmental issues that motivate you.

Sierra Club National Outings is an equal-opportunity provider and will operate under a permit from the Sierra National Forest.