While Sequoia High Sierra Camp states on their website that they are a luxury retreat that “caters to vegetarians and those with special dietary needs,” the latter could not be less true. If you are a vegetarian that appreciates good, high quality food and expects more than “larger versions of everyone else’s side dish” for your meal, SHSC is not the place for you.

The accommodations are lovely. The bathhouse is a welcome amenity after a long day hiking the trails. And the natural beauty of SHSC is astounding. This place has so much potential, and as an outdoor loving, backpacking couple wanting a change of pace to celebrate my birthday, these things did not disappoint.

The food, however, is another story. We spent our evenings reminding the staff that we were vegetarians, sending food back, waiting for the chef to struggle together something to feed us and then feeling uncomfortable and disappointed by being served large versions of everyone else’s side dish and other poorly thought out choices. When booking our trip, we let the owners know that we were vegetarians, and we would have expected some forethought into our meal choices – especially for $250 per person per night. This is a situation you expect to encounter at an acquaintance’s wedding – not at a luxury retreat.

When we left to check out, no one asked us how our stay was. When we let the owners know via email, they acknowledged that the situation was not ideal for us, offered no semblance of an apology and illustrated that they pretty much did not care about our experience. We are unlikely to go back to SHSC for these reasons and would caution guests with any type of dietary restriction from spending the money at Sequoia High Sierra Camp. This place sells an “experience,” not just accommodations, and we were pretty disappointed.

Fun for everyone that loves the outdoors!!! Entrance fee is $20 and if your camping out like we did is $18....beautiful scenes....watch out for bears and deers we saw many!!!

Unique, one of a kind experience. Expensive, yes, but once you stop to think about what it took to put this place together and then to maintain..., whew! The staff was wonderfull and the food was amazing. The sunset goes on and on at Sequoia High Sierra Camp. It's worth the splurge!

After long drive down single lane bumpy dirt road we arrived at the Marvin Pass Trailhead and then hiked up about 1 mile carrying our clothes and gear. When we arrived at the Sequoia High Sierra Camp (SHSC) we sat down in comfortable chairs with great views and were offered cold drinks. SHSC is owned/run by Burr and Suzanne Hughes (Suzanne was gone while we were there). It was midweek before Labor Day and we were one of only two couples. Our "tent" had concrete floors, king bed, down comforters, nice sheets, wool blankets, etc. Dinner served in the comfortable main building was very good. The chief is Fidgeir Heigason from Iceland and he was very attentive to various food issues (my gluten problem and the other couples aversion to beef or pork). Dinner was followed by conversation around a campfire. The nights were very cold but it quickly became nice and warm under our blankets. One must hike up (or down) to the bath/shower house (hot showers, flush toilets, electricity) from the tents and this is a bit tiring at 8,000 feet. Excellent breakfast and then a packed lunch for a day of hiking the national park/wilderness. We choose a hike to the top of Mitchell Peak (10,365 feet). This is 3.2 miles each way with a 2,000 foot elevation. Listed as a moderate to difficult hike in various guidebooks, we found it a very tough climb for us on day #1 at this altitude (we are in our 60’s). Last part of climb is a “scramble" over steep granitite boulders which was tough and for us at the end of a tiring hike but we made it and were rewarded with great vistas of the Western divide, the Jennie Lakes Wilderness, Kings Canyon. The only people we saw the entire day were the other couple. Then back to camp in time for another excellent meal and chatting around the campfire. There were only two couple and two staff (Burr and Fidgeir) so things may be very different when all the tents are occupied but we found it to be a delightful couple of days and very much enjoyed our stay. Don’t expect Four Seasons accommodations or service but this is probably about as elegant as you might find in a true rustic camp setting.