Most years we don’t hit the Sierra for a backpacking trip until July, but the changing climate means the summer backpacking season too is changing. With this year’s low snow and the likelihood of wildfires growing with each passing week, we decided we would head out for a short, last-minute trip to scratch the wanderlust itch we were left with after an off-the-beaten-path trip to Grand Canyon last month. We did some research on Sierra trails that are suitable for early season exploration and settled on this one. We hiked it June 10-12, and while we had traveled the middle portion of this route when we did the John Muir trail back in 2015, the beginning and end portions were new and intriguing to us.