November is always a great time to go backpacking in the Sierra Nevada. Conditions are ripe for solitude: the children are all in school, the days are short and the weather is cold. Rain always arrives in California by Halloween, but mostly the storms have only just started to come, if at all. Because of this, only the most determined hikers and backpackers can be found in the wilderness- Fortunately for me and some friends, we were some of them! Relief Reservoir is near Sonora Pass, a 9643 ft (2919 meter) Mountain Pass that was first crossed in 1853 by only the most determined of settlers. In history, the settling of California is told from an East Coast perspective. Thus, the mass migration of these people is termed Emigration- "To leave on region and settle in
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