Fresh off my summit of Mt. Ritter, I was looking to take a short break from backpacking but reluctant to miss out on another weekend of great weather, not when late summer is liable to bring wildfires and smoke at a moment’s notice. I settled for a sunrise summit of Cloudripper in the Inconsolable Range as a compromise. This was only my second attempt at a sunrise summit in the Sierra as a dayhike (the first was Buck Mountain) and somehow, I missed sunrise proper by a half hour or so yet again!

Standing on the summit of Mt. Ritter has long been a goal of mine since first visiting the area in 2018 with my friend Ngan (we visited Ediza Lake, went up Volcanic Ridge, and had vague plans to summit Ritter that never happened once we saw how far we’d have to go). I’d always found an excuse to skip in since moving to California — too long, too far, easier hikes on my to-do list, etc. etc. — but I’ve had summit fever all summer and finally decided this would be the year I did it. I opted for the more scenic route up the west slope, which goes through the west and less-traveled side of the Ritter Range.

I had originally planned to do an off-trail trip with my friend Paulina this weekend, but unexpected circumstances (i.e. food poisoning) led to this becoming a solo sunrise summit adventure. My goal was Buck Mountain, which offers a panoramic view of the Palisades in a way no other peak in the area can compete with. The “standard” route of this rarely-climbed peak starts with a bushwhack up from the South Fork Big Pine Creek trail. Not wanting to do that in the dark, I opted instead to suffer up scree and chossy talus from Big Pine Lakes.

I have been wanting to get out to the Evolution area since my failed trip to Darwin Canyon last summer. I had booked permits to enter via Lamarck Lakes this summer back in January, but recent monsoon weather in the Sierra had put a question mark in those plans right up until the day before. With a near perfect forecast for the weekend, I took Friday off of work and headed back to Sierra for a leisurely summit bid. The plan was to establish base camp at Darwin Bench and spend the second day relaxing before summiting Mt. Goethe at sunset.

Over the holiday weekend, I decided to go for a summit bid of Mt. Sill, one of California’s few 14ers perched in the center of the Palisades subrange with fantastic summit views. Since I wasn’t sure of my ability to ascend the shorter but more intense North Couloir, I decided to make a more leisurely trip out of the Southwest Slopes route, which contours around the Palisades via several cross country passes before ascending the more gentle slopes from the south.

After revisiting lots of old locations, I finally sprung for something new: a quick weekend trip up to Baboon Lakes area including scrambling up some of the unnamed peaks. Bivy’d up high and got to watch both the last and first light over the Sierra Crest.

Another training hike to a summit I’ve visited before. Early summer conditions make Mt. Morgan a much more feasible summit bivy as one doesn’t have to carry water all the way from Francis Lake to the summit.

This was a quick training hike to a summit I’ve stood on multiple times before. The hike was about 5200 ft of gain from the Big Pine Lakes trailhead and the south slopes of the peak are an exhausting scree slog.

These days, I’ve been venturing into the Sierra earlier and earlier each summer. Part of it is getting to see the mountains as they shed their winter coat, but another part is making sure I’m in shape for the big objectives I usually plan later in the summer. My first real objective this season was a summit bivy of Mt. Gould near Kearsarge Pass. This ended up being a really excellent trip with some unsettled weather and the phenomenal photo opportunities that accompany it.

Lately, I’ve become something of a bad-weather hiker, only visiting Yosemite during or in the immediate aftermath of a storm. The cloud and fog conditions are superb if one is lucky enough to catch them dancing around the park’s famed granite walls. For awhile now, I’ve had the idea to try photographing Yosemite valley from above with fresh snow and fog clinging to the valley floor at sunrise. Conditions lined up perfectly in the last full week of April and I found myself taking off work midweek to make this trip happen.

The first backpacking trip of the year for me, done with my friend Paulina while Yosemite backcountry permits were still self-issued. Definitely a challenging trip considering I’d been slacking with my fitness over the winter. We got to see the falls in peak spring conditions and total solitude. On the hike down, we counted over 600 day hikers going up the upper fall!

Between winter hikes in the valley, I’ve been trying to up my photography in the snow. A golden opportunity came in February with a sequence of cold, heavy storms hitting the Sierra. Unfortunately, the record-breaking snow closed down large parts of the park, including Tunnel View, and made many hikes treacherous. Still, it was a blast to relax and shoot in a nearly-empty park.

Since moving to California, I’ve been trying to photograph Yosemite Valley after a storm with low-lying clouds clinging to the peaks. Over the holidays, I was able to get out to the park in the midst of some early winter storms and got my wish. Not much to see here other than a handful of shots from Tunnel View, but exciting for me nonetheless!

This was likely my last foray into the High Sierra for the year. As I write this, the Sierra and much of California is getting battered by the first atmospheric river of the season; snow for days, much needed rain in the lowlands, even the moss in my apartment’s parking lot has been rejuvenated. I settled on a destination I had never been to yet for this last trip — Cloud’s Rest in Yosemite.

Last year, I tried to do a late season summit bivy of Mt. Morgan South but had to bail a couple hundred feet below the summit due to deep, fresh snow from an early storm. The snow line started around 12500 ft but was consistently 5+ ft deep at the higher elevations. Better prepared this time, I slept on the summit was rewarded with both sunset and sunrise views from up high.

I’ve always wanted to do a late season trip up to Big Pine Lakes to see them when the glacial silt in the water is at its peak. I was itching to go for a hike but not feeling particularly motivated to do anything too intense so this day trip was a good compromise. The lighting this late in the season wasn’t great but otherwise this was a great trip for keeping the hiking muscles in shape!

I’ve wanted to visit this high alpine lake below Mt. Whitney since I first saw a photo of it on a trip report of the Mountaineers’ Route. I’ve already summited Whitney once via the JMT and wasn’t interested in doing the Mountaineers’ Route, but this lake definitely piqued my interest: nestled beneath the towering spires of Whitney and its sub-peaks arranged in a perfectly symmetric manner.

This somewhat esoteric peak is often overlooked in favor of its taller neighbors — Middle Palisade and Norman Clyde Peak. However, its summit offers a truly incredible view of the southern Palisades that you can’t get from many other vantage points. I wanted to photograph sunrise at the summit, which meant lugging a heavy pack with overnight gear up nearly 5000 ft of elevation gain.

I had originally planned to head up the South Fork of Big Pine Creek this weekend, but thick smoke from the Garnet Fire on the west side was creating extremely hazardous air quality conditions everywhere in the Sierra. I pivoted at the last minute and decided to check out Twenty-Lakes Basin, an area of the Sierra that’s always been on my to-do list but ends up playing second fiddle to something more exciting. I wasn’t successful in totally avoiding the smoke, but I did get to experience a pretty cool — and very accessible — corner of the Sierra. My plan was to summit Shepherd Crest, a 12000-ft peak overlooking North Peak, and camp somewhere in its vicinity.