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Planning on bagging Mt. Sill this Saturday on either the North or South Fork route. Just trying to gauge at what people think of the two options. The approach from the North fork sounds more manageable, but getting up to glacier notch is making me a little nervous. People who tried to gain glacier notch, while avoiding the Palisade glacier, say they made some low class 4 moves on some very loose and precarious terrain. This doesn't sound very fun, but this late in the season, I'm assuming we'd have more options to avoid the ice. If gaining glacier notch is as loose and steep as something like the Red Rocks on Mid Pal, I'm not too worried then. I'll be going with Benefar, so it's just going to be a party of 2, so rockfall risk could probably be mitigated there. I'm just trying to see how bad this option really gets through people's experiences.

The alternative is the South fork route to avoid the Palisade glacier altogether. Only issue here is that I've heard the bushwacking and approach is horrendous. Plus Scaruffi describes a stream crossing on the southfork which "may be impassable after rain", which the Sierras have gotten a lot of recently. I don't know if that's an exaggeration, but that doesn't sound too promising either.

So, what do you guys think? Play our cards right on the North Fork or just endure the bushwacking slog on the South Fork? Any preferences/comments would be greatly appreciated.

Second day of Sierra peak bagging, and decided to check out the Conness Glacier drainage via Saddlebag Lake. The goal was to hit North Peak via the southwest face/Conness Lakes basin. Things were looking splendid as I was going across the Saddlebag Lake dam at 6:15 am and it appeared to be a bluebird day in the making. Got up above the second of the Conness Lakes around 8:40 am, and was about 250 feet below the summit of North just before 9:00 when rain storms came out of nowhere from the southwest. They didn't appear to be thundestorms, but it started to rain quite heavily and suddenly and I decided it was best to make a fast retreat back down to the lakes. The forecast on Mountain Forecast the day before called for clear skies and no precip all day, but that's not the first time a weather forecast has been wrong. It was still great to explore the Conness Lakes basin and see the Conness Glacier up close (what's left of it), and I'll know the route cold the next time I go. I ascended on the southwest side of the creek up from Greenstone Lake, which required a little bit of boulder hopping, but found a nicer use trail on the way down that comes down the northeast side of the creek. I then crossed the creek back to the southside of the lake just before the lake. I also suggest circumnavigating the south side of the first Conness Lake once you ascend the creek drainage from Greenstone. It is a nice use trail with minimal rock hopping, and going on the north side on the ascent required me to circumnavigate a big cliffed out ledge that dropped right into the lake. Not a huge deal, but it reqired some going up and down and a few minor class 3 moves on slabs that can be avoided on the south side of that lake. Finally, I discovered on my quick descent a use trail that descends a bit above the second Conness Lake and feeds more directly to the drainage of that lake. On the way up I stayed a bit closer to the lake and went past the lake (west) and then ascended up steeper slopes on the edge of the trees to gain the summit plateau. Not a huge deal, but it would definitely be a bit more direct and a bit less steep to ascend more directly from the east side of that second lake. View of Mt. Conness from first Conness Lake: [img]https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G7NIFfigPxT89hvfGQHZMiVz8Rqr2rHj/view?usp=sharing[/img] View of Mt. Conness and Conness Glacier from above second Conness Lake: [img]https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bgcRMmXzUm5M95VcDhzNv6QSPogM9y_u/view?usp=sharing[/img] So close to the summit of North Peak: [img]https://drive.google.com/file/d/14jTga6igqvGxw2OUtuv6fGzBk2x1cT7O/view?usp=sharing[/img] Beautiful view of North Peak from Greenstone Lake: [img]https://drive.google.com/file/d/11SXqG3e6LF3ydXuJYZ15cUdSuKJzgBYt/view?usp=sharing[/img]

Hi David B,
send an email to the "contact us" link at the bottom. I can help with your login.

So, I was supposed to start up Shepherd Pass today, but canceled my permit last week since I'm recovering from a dislocated finger I suffered during a Yosemite hike in July. The finger is functional, but still sore.

I got a new permit for Sunday for Shepherd Pass hoping it'll be better, then found a Kearsarge Pass permit for the 21st.

The problem with doing Shepherd Pass with the sore finger is I plan on climbing Mt Williamson. I'm not sure I want to trust the class 3 chimney climb with a dodgy finger. Anyone who has climbed that route care to chime in on if it's not as scary as the route descriptions make it seem?

Ironically, the last time I tried to do Williamson in 2019 I dislocated the SAME finger on my way up Shepherd Pass. Someone doesn't want me climbing Williamson.

If I wait to do the hike from Kearsarge Pass, then I have some route options once I get up and over Kearsarge Pass:

1a) Go through Center Basin (never been through there, so it'll be a nice change from Forester (opinions on that?), then up the final bit of Shepherd Pass. An extra day to get to Tyndall/Williamson, but don't have to start as low and a little more time to get used to the altitude.

1b) Go over Forester Pass instead.

2) Camp at Charlotte Lake, then go up and over Glen Pass and spend a couple nights at Rae Lakes (which I missed doing during my JMT hike).

2b) How is the Baxter Lakes Trail to exit out from Rae Lakes?

3) If I continue NOBO on the JMT from Rae lakes, any good side trails to exit from that might be interesting?


I've already done the Onion Valley to Whitney hike on the JMT (plus the entire JMT two years ago), so not looking to do that route this time.

So, any suggestions on what routes to do from these two trailheads would be welcome.