A route along the Sierra Crest for mountaineers

Sierra Crest Route, by Leonard R. Daughenbaugh, Sierra Nevada Publishing House, July 2005.

I believe that one of the most creative endeavors accomplished in the Sierra Nevada in the latter part of the 20th century was the Red Line ski tour. Over several seasons, Tom Carter and the late Alan Bard set out to cross-country ski the Sierra Crest, marked by the red line of the national park boundaries on topographical maps. Their route started south of Mt. Langley and ended north of Sonora Pass, always remaining as close to the Sierra Crest as feasible. In the same spirit, Leonard Daughenbaugh now offers us his Sierra Crest Route for mountaineers.

Daughenbaugh describes a 170-mile route from the floor of the Owens Valley near Lone Pine to Tioga Pass, always remaining within one mile of the crest, with terrain never exceeding Class 3, and strictly avoiding trails. Be forewarned, the author's route along the crest is difficult, sustained, and in many places (in my view) dangerous. Wisely, he also gives alternative approaches and escape routes, as well as peak-bagging opportunities along the way, if the route itself is not challenging enough for an obsessed cross-country hiker.

While I applaud the idea of a route along the Sierra Crest, my main complaint about this book is the terse, nebulous route descriptions. For example, the very first sentence of the route description reads: 'The Sierra Crest Route begins at its southern extremity near the floor of Owen's [sic] Valley with a 6,700-foot ascent along Diaz Creek to 'Diaz Pass' (13,280 plus), located just south of Mount Langley. At the pass, hike...' This reminds me of a slide show where all the speaker has to do is push a button, and boom, the audience is taken thousands of feet higher to the next slide, with little description of what happened between the images. It's one thing to be wishing for more information while sitting in an auditorium, but quite another to be seeking it in the real world!

It's confusing that some chapters give the altitudes and elevations from the old 15-minute maps while other chapters use the altitudes and elevations from the new 7.5-minute maps. I believe that 15-minute maps will be hard to acquire in the future, and the book would be more useful if the 7.5-minute maps were used exclusively to describe the route.

Each chapter starts with very interesting historical reviews, utilizing for the most part primary sources, quoting narratives from Sierra pioneers such as Jedediah Smith, Clarence King, John Muir, Theodore Solomons, Joseph LeConte, James Hutchinson, Charles Michael, Francis Farquhar, and Norman Clyde. I have always found the history of the early exploration of the High Sierra fascinating and the presentation of this material in this book should increase the awareness of this esoteric subject to a much wider audience.

One trend I have noticed in the High Sierra in recent years is the increasing number of cross-country hikers in some of the darkest parts of the range, far from any established trail. Sierra Crest Route will be welcomed by those hikers. But be advised, the descriptions are not as detailed as Steve Roper's Sierra High Route and in many places Daughenbaugh's Crest route traverses hazardous terrain. I encourage more cross-country travel in the High Sierra, but anyone who contemplates an attempt of this route will need more route information than what is provided in this book.