It was scouted by Steve Roper and described by him in his book Sierra High Route: Traversing Timberline Country.

About a third of the route follows maintained hiking trails (including 28 miles (45 km) of the John Muir Trail); the rest of the route traverses off-trail meadowlands, granite slabs, and, at high elevations, difficult loose-talus terrain.

Hiking the route does not require advanced mountaineering skills, but the hiker occasionally encounters class-3 rock faces in which footholds and handholds must be carefully chosen and tested.

Writes Roper in Sierra High Route, "High Route adventurers will not be put off by the lack of an actual trail, since much of the singular joy of cross-country travel lies in wandering through the timberline country as the pioneers did--wondering what the next turn will reveal.

In 2006, Backpacker magazine editor Steve Howe hiked the entire Sierra High Route in one month.