I finally made it on a trip that was quite challenging for me. I had tons of fun and look forward to similar trips in the future.
This was a Sierra Club trip, led by Kevin Sawchuk. We followed the general route laid out in Steve Roper's book, "Sierra High Route". In our 4.5 day trip, we walked about 60 miles (mostly cross country) and crossed 8 mountain passes. The first day, we climbed over 5K feet. The second day was closer to 6K feet. I didn't pay attention to the rest, but there was either less climbing or maybe I just got used to it.
I very much looked forward to this trip but dreaded it at the same time. I wanted to learn XC travel from people who knew what they were doing, but I dreaded, as some hikers do, Snow Tongue Pass. And I wanted a taste of the remote Sierra High Route but wasn't sure I could hold up for over four days of strenuous travel. I did think I could finish the trip, but was afraid I might just limp into camp every night and collapse. Having failed twice to do strenuous XC country trips earlier in the year, I couldn't be sure of how I'd do on this trip. Having guidance could make all the difference in the world to my success. On the other hand, traveling with highly fit, experienced people may expose critical short comings on my part. It turned out that I did well and I really want to do more of this kind of trip.