The High Trips were large annual wilderness excursions organized and led by the Sierra Club, beginning in 1901. The High Trips lasted until the early 1970s, and were replaced by a larger number of smaller trips to wilderness areas worldwide.

Origin

Sierra Club secretary

William Colby William Egan Colby (January 4, 1920 – May 6, 1996) was an American intelligence officer who served as Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from September 1973 to January 1976. During World War II Colby served with the Office of Strateg ...

initiated the High Trips, which usually traveled to the High Sierra, and led them from 1901 to 1929. Colby wrote, "It was from

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist ...

, President of the Club, that I received the warmest encouragement. He was highly enthusiastic, and told me that he had long been trying to get the Club to undertake just such outings." Edward T. Parsons, a former member of The Mazamas, an Oregon mountaineering club, was also involved with the early logistics, as that club had conducted similar trips. Early outings lasted four full weeks, but eventually the trips were separated into two segments of two weeks each so that those with less time to spare could participate. Francis Farquhar wrote that the purpose of the High Trips was far more than to provide an enjoyable vacation to the participants, but also to "lead them to know and appreciate the beauty and inspiration of the mountains, and to educate them to become defenders of the wilderness." The first High Trip in July, 1901 attracted 96 club members to

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ...

. On the eve of the start of the trip, club co-founder and

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

geology professor Joseph LeConte died of a sudden heart attack in

Yosemite Valley Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about long and deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Hal ...

at age 78. Other than this sad event, the trip was a success, and the Sierra Club then began a successful fundraising drive to build

LeConte Memorial Lodge The LeConte Memorial Lodge, now known as the Yosemite Conservation Heritage Center, is a structure in Yosemite National Park in California, United States. LeConte is spelled variously as Le Conte or as Leconte. Built in 1903 by the Sierra Club, it ...

in Yosemite Valley in his honor. The High Trip the next and subsequent years doubled in size.

Logistics

The high trips were complex affairs, with gear for approximately 200 participants packed in by mules, with a staff of up to 50 and elaborate food prepared by professional cooks. It served to establish rituals and folklore that bound the members of the club together. Participants wore bandannas around their necks, used the distinctive metal Sierra Club cup, and sang the same campfire songs year after year. When the Sierra Club was lobbying for the establishment of

Kings Canyon National Park Kings Canyon National Park is an American national park in the southern Sierra Nevada, in Fresno and Tulare Counties, California. Originally established in 1890 as General Grant National Park, the park was greatly expanded and renamed to King ...

, the High Trips visited that area many times, so that more effective lobbyists for the park could become familiar with its remote beauty.

Destinations and mountaineering

Atthough most of the High Trips were in the Sierra Nevada, occasionally trips were scheduled to other mountain ranges of western North America, including Mount Rainier in 1905, Glacier National Park,

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowst ...

, and the Canadian Rockies in 1928. The July 1928 trip to the Canadian Rockies was a joint venture with The Mazamas of Oregon, and The Mountaineers of the state of Washington. A train was chartered from Oakland to

Jasper Park Lodge The Jasper Park Lodge is a 442 room hotel situated on 700 acre site along Lac Beauvert in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. The hotel was established in 1921 by Canadian National Railway and is one of Canada's grand railway hotels. Hotel hi ...

. During this trip, participants climbed many peaks, including

Redoubt Mountain Redoubt Mountain (alternatively Mount Redoubt) is a mountain located in Banff National Park, in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta, Canada. It forms the southern buttress of Boulder Pass. The mountain was named in 1908 by Arthur O. Wheeler, foun ...

Mount Robson Mount Robson is the most prominent mountain in North America's Rocky Mountain range; it is also the highest point in the Canadian Rockies. The mountain is located entirely within Mount Robson Provincial Park of British Columbia, and is part ...

Mount Edith Cavell Mount Edith Cavell is a mountain located in the Athabasca River and Astoria River valleys of Jasper National Park, and the most prominent peak entirely within Alberta. The mountain was named in 1916 for Edith Cavell, a British nurse executed ...

, Mount Geikie, Mount Bastion, Mount Barbican and Drawbridge Mountain.

Norman Clyde Norman Clyde (April 8, 1885 – December 23, 1972) was a mountaineer, mountain guide, freelance writer, nature photographer, and self-trained naturalist. He is well known for achieving over 130 first ascents, many in California's Sierra Nevada ...

served as a mountaineering guide, and Ansel Adams was the official photographer (on later trips, he would also serve as assistant manager and director of evening entertainment). Adams produced photo portfolios documenting the High Trips of 1928, 1929, 1930 and 1932 (though he did not participate personally in the 1929 High Trip to Yellowstone). These portfolios he sold at cost to High Trip participants. Mountaineering was a major element of the High Trips from the very beginning, although non-climbers, dubbed "meadoweers," were also welcome. Francis Farquhar wrote that "Greatest of all mountaineers who have participated in Sierra Club outings is Norman Clyde," who led many High Trip climbs from the 1920s to 1941.

David Brower David Ross Brower (; July 1, 1912 – November 5, 2000) was a prominent environmentalist and the founder of many environmental organizations, including the John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies (1997), Friends of the Earth (1969), Earth ...

managed the High Trips from 1947 to 1954, and wrote an article for National Geographic in 1954 that brought great publicity to the trips.

Legacy

Gradually, the large annual High Trip was supplemented by smaller knapsacking and burro trips. Scaled down High Trips continued into the early 1970s. Eventually, the club concluded that High Trips of over 200 participants had too great an environmental impact on fragile wilderness areas, and the High Trips evolved into the current outings program, consisting of a much larger number of much smaller trips. The Sierra Club now conducts approximately 50 foreign trips each year, as well as several hundred trips throughout the United States through its National Outings program. Local chapters organize thousands of similar trips each year.

References

External links