Hiking Mount Silliman

Mount Silliman is a 11188 ft peak in the Sierra mountains within Sequoia NP. A group of 8 from the Loma Prieta chapter of Sierra Club hiked it in 2 days on a beautiful July weekend. It was the first Sierra Peak climbing for me, but most of the team were avid and experienced mountaineers.


We left San Jose Bay Area at around 6 pm, reaching our roadside camping spot in the Sierra Forest near waypoint ROWL01 (about 8 miles south from The Wye) around 11 pm. Slept under the starry nights in a sleeping bag only - another first for me. We got up at 6 am, drove to Wuksachi Lodge down the road, where we had a sumptuous buffet breakfast. We met up at the Twin Lakes trailhead (altitude of 6700 ft) near Lodgepole, and started the hike at 9 am. The initial hike for about 1 hour (2-mile) was along a well-designated easy twin-lakes trail. We reached Silliman creek at about 10:15 am and left the main trail to walk along the right of the Silliman creek on a little trail. It was a quite easy trail to follow for the next hour or so, albeit we had to keep a lookout not to loose the trail. At 11 am after a steadily rising hike, we reached the slabs. The slabs is an imposing granite slope for over a mile. The left side of the slabs were steeper will no cracks or vegetation, but the right side had an easier hike up shielded by trees, shrubs and cracks. We choose to go up the right side half-way, and then switched to climbing straight along the slabs. It was a bit tiring, specially with the heavy backpacks on us. We noticed that one group choose to set camp before the slab climbing, so as to not carry up the fully loaded backpacks. At the top of the slabs, we veered right to reach the Silliman Lake - our camping spot for the night - around 1:30 pm. It was at an altitude of 10000 ft, so we had gained about 3300 ft in a 5 mile hike. The lake has a lovely grassy meadow for camping, where we promptly set up camp. The alpine lake looked inviting after the hot hike, and many of us jumped in for a refreshing swim. We spent the rest of the afternoon lazying around and chatting till dinner time at 6. I had got a Mountain House noodles from REI, and one had to pour hot water and the dish was done in 10 minutes. The sunset was spectacular, lighting up the sierra rock with a golden hue.

Next day, we woke up at 6, and started climbing the peak promptly at 7. It was a 1200 ft climb in a steep 1 mile hike, but there was class II trails to climb up. We reached the peak at about 8:15, and was greeted with a spectacular 360 degree view of the ranges all around. The central valley plains was visible at a distance too, though covered with smog. The peak had a USGS marker designating it as one of the 240 or so Sierra peaks. It also had a register for all the peak climbers to sign and mark their presence. We started back at 9 and was back at the campsite in an hour. Thereafter we broke camp, and started the hike back to the trailhead about 10:30 am, reaching it in 3 hours flat. The climb down the slabs was a bit tricky, but the vibram soles on my boots were very effective in sticking onto the granite. There are quite a few hike down along the left-side through the trees, which seemed easier to climb down.


It was a lovely short hike and a terrific introduction to backpacking for me, finally graduating from car-camping and day hiking.