Jeff Winter, in checkered shirt, and Ken Hively first discovered the Sierra Nevada on a Boy Scouts tripand exploring the 400-mile range soon became an obsession. (Ken Hively / LAT)
Winter, who maps out the trips, hikes along Wit-so-nah-pah Lake, which Hively calls the most beautiful spot he has ever photographed. (Ken Hively / LAT)
A view near Hilton Lakes in the John Muir Wilderness. (Ken Hively / LAT)
Winter stands underneath Arch Rock, a natural wonder found along the Margaret Lakes Trail in the John Muir Wilderness. (Ken Hively / LAT)
A marmot approaches the hikers in search of a handout at Moonlight Lake in Inyo National Forest. (Ken Hively / LAT)
Winter walks toward Neelle Lake near Mono Pass. (Ken Hively / LAT)
Winter fishes for trout in the Ansel Adams Wilderness; Banner Peak looms in the background. (Ken Hively / LAT)
E.J. Winter accompanies his brother to Sallie Keyes Lakes on the John Muir Trail. (Ken Hively / LAT)
Winter walking below Clyde Spires North of Kings Canyon. (Ken Hively / LAT)
