First of all, Welcome. Always good to see new people here, and new people joining the sport!

Second of all, do a little search on this site. You'll find whole sections devoted to answering just those sorts of questions, and the answers reflect the combined wisdom of all the people on these boards---much better than any one of us trying to write out a few notes for you.

And our website, linked below, has some of that info as well, specifically for summer in the Sierra Nevada