Routes and Approaches

Knapsack leaders have suggested several sites they turn to for route and logistics information. Although some are primarily focused on rock climbing, all offer offer great descriptions of approaches, campsites, and backcountry routes:

• The Mountain Project covers the entire planet, and has routes, approaches, great photos, and resources for mountaineering and backpacking.
  
• SummitPost, also covers the world, and has good sections on Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains. Good details on approaches and logistics. Also has lots of good photos, both pro and amateur.
  
• The High Sierra Topix community has a fair number of very knowledgeable explorers and a pretty high signal-to-noise ratio. Excellent source of information on some fairly obscure routes.
  
• Climber dot Org Really the progenitor of backcountry trip reports and online resources. The trip reports are mainly for climbers, but approach descriptions are often useful for backpack trips. The site has a wealth of other useful information, including:

  Driving directions to trailheads.
  Bear box locations, including maps and gps coordinates.
  Ranger station phone numbers and other agency contact numbers.
  Shower locations, mainly on the east side.
  Trailhead-shuttle phone numbers and info, again mainly on the east side.
  

• Bill Finch's Kings Canyon and Sequoia Wilderness Hikes This site contains reports for 44 of the author's trips -- mainly cross-country -- as well as links to other useful resources.

Practical Knots

• Grog's Animated Knots is a superlative site that shows how to tie any knot a Knapsacker would need. Great use of sequential photographs to show each step of a knot.
  
• Tollesbury Sailing Club in the United Kingdom has a gallery of animated knots, drawn by hand.
  
• Ashley Book of Knots in Google Books. This is the prime source for all other books on knots. The illustrations are skimpy, but the lore and history are very entertaining and educational.