John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail sign

Inspiration

I was never really into hiking or backpacking until I hiked to Pachu Picchu in Peru back in 2005. Ever since then, I have been wanting to do it again. I got the guidebook “The John Muir Tail, Through The Californian Sierra Nevada” by Alan Castle as a birthday present later that year. I must admit that originally I wasn’t overly inspired to do it. I felt that it was something I’d do eventually in my life, but didn’t have any concrete plans. I also wasn’t aware of how beautiful the Sierra Nevada in California is. I always thought I had to travel thousands of miles (New Zealand, Nepal) to hike beautiful mountains.

It wasn’t until mid-2008 that I seriously started planning. I made a short post on my blog back then, after purchasing the Big Agnes Seedhouse SL1 tent during an REI sale.

It takes a lot of time to plan for a trip like this. It was especially time consuming for me because I had to reacquire all my gear. My previous stuff were all stolen in Peru after Machu Picchu. I was lucky to discover the world of ultralight backpacking before I starting buying most of the gear.

When to go? How many days?

A lot of people suggest going later in the season, starting in the second half of August. Most of the snow should be melted by then and crossing the various streams should be much easier. There is also fewer mosquitoes this late into the summer. Based on this suggestion, I decided to start on Monday 8/17/2009.

The number of days to complete the hike depended a a few factors: How many free days can I take off work? I had a whole month, so my initial plan was to do the JMT in 25 days. Another factor is one’s hiking fitness level. Since I was pretty inexperienced with hiking, I didn’t know what would be a comfortable pace for me. 25 days would allow to average about 10 miles a day and include 2-3 off days during the hike.

Itinerary

Originally, I planned to follow an slightly modified version of the itinerary found in Alan Castle’s guidebook. I split the Day 1 into 2 days mainly because I didn’t know how my body would react and didn’t want to push too hard at the beginning. I also added 2 rest days. This totaled 25 days.

I ended up doing it in 23 days by taking only 1 rest day, and combining the last 2 days into 1.

Wilderness Permit

I called the Yosemite Valley Wilderness Center and got my permit exactly 24 weeks before my intended starting day. This is the earliest one can reserve for a particular day.

Once on the JMT, I met a good number of people who got to Yosemite Valley (northern trail head) without a permit. Apparently it’s pretty easy to get a walk-in permit if you just show up and stand in line outside the Wilderness Office really early the previous morning, say around 3-4am.

What to bring?

I have become a big fan of ultralight backpacking. The website BackpackingLight is a great resource. Since I had to buy pretty much everything, I spent a lot of time researching what items I needed to bring, and which was the best option for each item. I read the BackpackingLight’s forums almost everyday. I learned that every ounce saved adds up and makes a huge difference on the trail.

My final packing list was posted in the entry John Muir Trail Packing List. Without food, my pack was a little bit under 14.5 lbs (6.5 kg). Two of the items I rented instead of buying: The SPOT Satellite Messenger (a new version was about to come out) and the Bearikade Expedition Bear Canister (I didn’t think I’d need this big of a canister in the future, unless I did the JMT again). Many people in the forums also advised that rain gear was not necessary on the JMT. The chances of rain is so low that it’s not necessary to bring something I’d only use only once or twice during the entire trip. This made sense to me. It also meant I wouldn’t need to spend more money buying more stuff.

A few months before departure, I posted my tentative packing list on the forums and asked the members there to critique it. They help me a lot to fine tune the list even more. I replaced my heavy and bulky synthetic sleeping bag with the Mont-Bell U.L. Spiral Down Hugger #3. It was my biggest purchase yet. Pretty expensive at $220 but in the end it was worth it for me. I’m a firm believer of spending a little more to get the an item that you’ll be happy for years, instead of buying something cheap that doesn’t fully meet my needs.

I also learned some cool tricks to save space and weight on toiletries on this forum post. Many people on the trail were amazed by the “toothpaste dots” when I showed it to them.

Another thing worth mentioning is footwear. At first I was hesitant about wearing lightweight trail running shoes, but I decided to give it a shot. One of the advantages of having a light pack is that you don’t need super sturdy boots as your ankles don’t need to support so much weight. A year before the hike I bought a pair of New Balance 920. They were comfortable but the sole proved to be too slippery for gravel. I ended up taking a pair of New Balance 875 to the JMT.  It worked perfectly, and I plan to always use trail runners in the future except in extreme situations.

I had never hiked with hiking poles prior to this hike, but having had an ACL surgery before on my right knee, I decided to get an pair of Gossamer Gear Lightrek 4 Trekking Poles with Straps. I tested them on my last training hike and the difference they made on my knees and ankles were enormous. I wasn’t nearly as sore at the end of the day. They also helped a lot going uphill since my arms were able to assist my quads. Some people have complained that these poles can break easily. My experience was the opposite though. I slipped pretty hard a couple of times on the JMT and put my entire body weight on one single pole. They were able to absorb all my weight and prevent me from falling. I also have a very positive opinion of the Gossamer Gear company. The owners really make sure you are 100% satisfied with the product.

Diet

After much deliberation, I decided to go with a no-cook diet. I have never been very particular about food and I could not justify bringing a stove and fuel canisters just to cook one meal per day. I must admit this was risky because of my hiking inexperience. I had never gone on such a long hike and didn’t know if I would go crazy eating cold food for weeks.

Below was my planned daily diet. It doesn’t mean that I ate exactly 4 ounces of dried fruit or 2 ounces of cheese everyday, but it ended up averaging about that.

The table below describes the food I brought to begin the trail, and the food I sent and picked up at each resupply point. The weight for each item is in ounces. The totals at the bottom is in pounds.

It ended up working out fine for me. While talking with others on the trail, many told me they couldn’t have gone for so long without a hot meal. So this really comes down to personal preference. I would go again with a no-cook diet on a long hike like this, but on a weekend hike where I don’t have to carry 10 days of food, I think I’d treat myself with hot meals.

Training

I did 3 hikes to Mount Baldy as training. It is a tough trail with a 4000 feet elevation change in 4 miles each way. I write about these hikes in this post.

Transportation

I’m lucky to live only a few hundred miles away from Yosemite Valley. I took a bus from Fullerton to Bakersfield, and then the San Joaquin Amtrack train to Merced. From there it was the YARTS bus to Yosemite Valley.

On the way back, I took the Eastern Sierra Transit Authority bus from Lone Pine to Lancaster, followed by the Metrolink Antelope Valley Line train to Downtown LA.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

The morning following my summit of Mount Whitney, I took the Eastern Sierra Transit Authority bus from Lone Pine to Lancaster, and then the Metrolink train from Lancaster to Downtown Los Angeles. 23 days away from civilization is not a long time, but it was strange to me to see so many people dressed in business suits commuting home at LA’s Union Station. Things that were common and routine 3 weeks before suddenly seemed so strange and foreign.

Once home, I got to appreciate the smallest things such as having a fridge, being able to use napkins, and being able to eat everything I wanted. I developed a massive sweet tooth during the hike which still persists 8 months later. I have also gained back the 10 pounds I had lost.

The hike wasn’t life changing as some people had described. It was no doubt an epic experience but most aspects of my life went back to the way they were before. If there is one thing that have stayed is the minimalist lightweight philosophy, which is something that can be translated into all aspects of life.

I didn’t feel like hiking at all for months after coming back, but now I’m itching to do it again. I definitely would like to hike the John Muir Trail again. Even though I did it at a moderate pace, I feel that there were so many things to see and not enough time to really enjoy each of them.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for September 8, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 16.8 miles, 27.0 km.

The last day of an amazing journey. I was expecting a cold night camping at this high altitude but it wasn’t that bad. It got really windy around 1-2am and I thought a storm was coming. I had the the alarm to 5am but woke up a bit before that.

It was still dark outside. I looked around and the views were stunning. I was surrounded by huge peaks with hundreds of stars as backdrop. I packed everything up, filtered 2 liters of water, took out the last of my Snickers and Cliff bars to put them in the backpack’s side pocket and started the hike up to Whitney. It was imperative that I didn’t waste time and make sure I finished the 17 miles for the day around 3-4pm to allow me enough time to find a ride to Lone Pine.

Mount Whitney before dawn

Looking up the trail, I saw a single flashlight followed by two other ones. I later found out they were Peter, Ross and Marty. I caught up to them shortly before Trail Junction. As the sun came up, it revealed dramatic sights everywhere, especially the reflections on Hitchcock Lakes.

Hitchcock Lakes

Hitchcock Lakes and Guitar Lake

At Trail Junction, most people decide to leave their backpacks here instead of taking them up to Mount Whitney. I decided to carry mine since I didn’t have a daypack and had no convenient way to carry water, camera, snacks and the SPOT Satellite Messenger. Also by this point, having consumed almost all of my 10-day food supply, the backpack was feeling pretty light. We saw a good number of people coming up the opposite way, from Whitney Portal. They must have started pretty early to be at Trail Junction by this time.

Trail Junction

Warning sign

After the short break, I started the final ascent to Mount Whitney. The way they carved out the trail on the steep rocky walls on the mountain is really a piece of engineering.

Final stretch up Mount Whitney

Peter in the green jacket

Peter in the green jacket

Dramatic views

I was feeling great physically and the 2 miles to the top felt pretty easy. After weeks being above 10,000 feet, my body was well acclimatized. I made sure to savor the last few hundred feet before the summit.

Last few hundred feet before summit

Only a few more steps to go...

After 23 days and about 220 miles, I had finally reached Mount Whitney (14,505 ft, 4,421 m), which is where the JMT officially ends. There is a registry for hikers to sign and I got the pleasure to start a new page in it. I signed: “9/8/09 – Kevin Yang – Diamond Bar, CA – Just finished the JMT. A trip of a lifetime”. A very emotional moment.

Mount Whitney Hut

Mount Whitney registry

My entry in the registry

Plaque marking the summit

Plaque marking the summit

There were about 15 people already on the summit. There’s a lot to see in all 360 degrees. Lone Pine and the road to it can be seen to the east. Guitar Lake to the west.

Views from Mount Whitney summit

Views from Mount Whitney Summit

Me, Peter, Marty and Ross

After spending a good hour and a half on top, I started making my way down around 10:30am. There was still 12.5 miles to go with a 6,000 foot descent. By now, hordes of people were coming up, most of them doing a brutal 1-day up and down hike from Whitney Portal. It seems torturous to me and I don’t know if I’d want to, or be able to do it. One gentleman going up asked me to relay a message to his girlfriend who was behind, telling her that he was going up to the summit and couldn’t wait for her any longer or else none of them were going to make it to the top. He wanted her to wait for him at Trail Junction. I later found her coming up the “99 Switchbacks”.

Pinnacles south of Mount Whitney

My JMT wouldn’t be complete without seeing the Czechs one last time. We run into each other right before I got down to Trail Junction, as they were going up. Having fallen behind earlier in their hike, they were now more than on schedule to catch their flight back to Europe. We exchanged emails and said goodbye one last time.

Just when I thought there were no more uphill climbs, there was one last short one right after Trail Junction up to Trail Crest (13,650 ft, 4,461 m). It was short but exhausting.

Trail Crest

Unknown Peak

I made my way down the famous (and dreaded) 99 Switchbacks. Going down was easy, but climbing up must be brutal. It was already around 1pm and there were still lots of people going up. Unfortunately, I think most of them were not going to be able to make it to the summit and back to Whitney Portal before dark.

99 Switchbacks

99 Switchbacks

With about 4 miles to go I got really hungry. People kept telling me about the wonderful cheeseburgers at Whitney Portal and I was trying to hurry and make it there as quickly as possible. I decided to stop an eat the last of my food because I wasn’t enjoying the hike anymore, and I really wanted to enjoy the last few miles of this amazing journey.

Mirror Lake. Hiking down to Whitney Portal.

I run into Marty and Ross and hiked the last mile with them. I was experiencing the same mixed feeling I got the previous night. I was happy and satisfied to be finishing the JMT, but at the same time I was sad it was coming to an end.

With Marty and Ross

I arrived at Whitney Portal around 4pm with a big smile on my face. I weighted my backpack at the scale. With 9 days of trash, my backpack weighted 17 lbs (7.7 kg).

Weighting my backpack at Whitney Portal

Once at the store, I got a cheeseburger, fries, and 2 beers and shared a table with Peter, Marty, Ross, Carla and Gavin. Having eaten only 2 hours before, I wasn’t really that hungry. After stuffing myself, it was time to look for a ride to Lone Pine. I went to the parking lot exit and on my first try, a very nice family of four stopped and picked me up. The father had just hiked up to Mt. Whitney and down all in one day. He was impressed by what I did but I really think going up and down 20+ miles, 6000 feet in elevation in one day and all by 4pm is a more impressive feat. They were very pleasant and we had a nice chat on the way to Lone Pine. I feel really bad for not remembering their names.

Once in Lone Pine, I got a room at Trails Motel for $85 the night. I took a shower right away and must have washed off 1 pound of dirt from my body. Looking in the mirror, I realized that I had lost a lot of upper body muscle. I weighted myself at home the following day and found out I had lost 10 lbs.

Peter, Marty, Ross, Carla and Gavin and I met up at the Pizza Factory for one more meal. Again, I wasn’t that hungry but ate anyways. Afterward, I went to the drugstore and got me a bunch of sweets, which is what I was really craving for. Back at the motel, I washed my clothes so that I can at least look (and smell) civilized the following day on my trip home. I stayed up until 1am watching crap on TV.

One would think that I would sleep soundly in a comfortable bed after being in the backcountry for 23 days, but I kept waking up all night. I think my body had gotten used to and was missing the sleeping bag and mat.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for September 7, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 9.5 miles, 15.3 km.

The sun started hitting the tent hard at around 7am. Before this, it had been a very cold night, with temperature dropping below freezing in the middle of the night. I wanted to keep sleeping but condensation was dripping all over my face. I got up but really didn’t do anything for a while. I was in no hurry. I removed the tent’s rain fly and laid down on the sleeping pad again, enjoying the views of the Great Western Divide to the west while the sun gently hit my back.

After lounging for a good while, I washed my t-shirt so that hopefully I wouldn’t be stinking too much while hitching a ride from Whitney Portal to Lone Pine the following day. I also washed my hair, which took a little work because I wanted to wash with soap and well away from the pond to avoid contaminating the water. I finally left Bighorn Plateau at around 11am.

Great Western Divide

Bighorn Plateau

Feeling clean and fresh after washing hair

I kept looking west to see if I could see Mount Whitney. I really couldn’t tell because there are many mountains similar in elevation around Whitney. The trail was very dusty and full of small rocks that kept getting into my shoes. I stopped many times to empty them. After the High Sierra Trial Junction I run into the Czechs one more time. I found it funny that despite having passed them 4 times, they always ended up ahead of me.

Sandy Meadow

Getting closer and closer to Mount Whitney

I was feeling sluggish and tired even though the trail was not demanding. I was hoping that a good night’s rest would leave me OK for the 17-mile final day. At Crabtree Ranger Station I found a bucket with the famous “Wag Bags” in them. The rule states that one must pack out human waste between this point and all the down to Whitney Portal. I think it is necessary considering the sheer number of people that visit the area every day. Wag Bags are reusable and supposedly deodorizes the “stuff” put in it. I took one and hoped to not have to use it. I stopped eating fiber (dried fruit) 2 days before for this very purpose.

I left Muir Trail Ranch with 10 days of food and now that I was going to finish the last stretch in 9 days, I was able to eat a little more. Consequently, I had a big lunch. Even after 21 days, I still haven’t learned the lesson of taking a little break after eating, before getting back on the trail. I was feeling terrible. Every step was excruciating and I felt like throwing up. I stopped, sat down for 15 minutes, and felt OK again.

I arrived at Timberline Lake and was finally told by a hiker which one was Mount Whitney. It was good to finally know.

Mount Whitney from Timberline Lake

Now that I knew which one Mount Whitney was, I couldn’t take my eyes off it. I was getting so close that I felt I could almost touch it with my hands. I arrived at Guitar Lake around 4:30. Right away I saw Marty and Ross, who I had met on the ferry coming out of Vermilion Valley Resort. Also there was Peter from New Zealand, who is 70 years old but looks like he is 50.  He hikes the JMT every year. Very inspirational. Check out his website here. I sat down, had a relaxing conversation with them, and we were later joined by Carla and Gavin, whom they had met earlier. Ever since I left Muir Trail Ranch with Misty, Mark, Mike and Andy and fell behind them, I had been looking for them. Marty told me that they were one day ahead of us. I was good to know they all finished without problems.

I settled down in a nice spot by the lake and snapped a few pictures before it got dark. There were almost no clouds in the sky and it looked like weather was going to be great the next day.

Guitar Lake

Camping by Guitar Lake, with Mount Whitney in the background

Mount Whitney, reflected on Guitar Lake

Mount Whitney during sunset

Mount Whitney at night, 60 second exposure

I had conflicting feelings upon realizing that this was going to be my last night of camping on the JMT. On one hand I was looking forward to a shower and and a real bed after the following day. On the other hand, I didn’t want this experience to end and wanted to enjoy these last few hours as much as possible.

The plan for the next day was to start hiking at 6am, hit the summit before 9am, spend one hour on top, and arrive at Whitney Portal before 5pm.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for September 6, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 13.2 miles, 21.2 km.

For the first time in the entire hike I woke up feeling fatigued. With Forester Pass coming up, I thought I was in for a long and tough day. I made sure I drank a good amount water since I had not been drinking enough in the previous days. I was having only about 3-4 liters per day, not enough while hiking so much.

Deer around Vidette Meadow

The first hour back on the trail, my pace was slow so I could warm up properly. After this, my energy level went up and I was feeling great. I caught up with 4 hikers with huge packs in front of me, and it wasn’t until I was right behind them that I realize that they were the Czechs I had met after Reds Meadow and at Vermilion Valley Resort. Since they were struggling back then, I really wasn’t expecting them to pass me and be in front of me. Last time I talked to them they were behind schedule and didn’t believe they were going to complete the JMT in time to catch a flight out of Los Angeles. Not only were they now right on schedule, but were also not struggling physically anymore. They even went off the JMT and over Kearsarge Pass to resupply at Onion Valley.

Bubbs Creek

I was now about to tackle Forester Pass. For a long while, I kept thinking that the pass was about one mile earlier than where it actually is. While approaching it, the pass is blocked from view by a large ridge until the last mile or so. The trail goes south, then makes a sudden turn heading north before turning south again for the final approach. All these changes of direction are there to make the ascent as smooth as possible. I found Forester Pass (13,200 ft, 4,023 m) to be the most enjoyable of all the passes on the JMT, as it is long but never too strenuous. The views are great, as expected.

Forester Pass on the left

Final approach to Forester Pass

Forester Pass

Forester Pass

As the days went by, I got better and better at predicting how long it would take me to get to a certain location taking into account elevation changes. Before getting back on the trail in the morning, I predicted I would get to the pass between 2:00 and 2:30pm and I got there at 2:10pm. I chatted briefly with 2 guys from Modesto, CA on the top of the pass. They were nice enough to take a picture for me. I decided to stop and eat lunch. It’s not everyday that I get to eat a meal at 13,000 feet. I then saw a hiker named Jim come up from the south side of the pass. He was doing the Pacific Crest Trail in small sections at a time and hoped to complete the entire hike in his lifetime. I learned from him that Forester Pass is the highest pass of not only the JMT, but the PCT as well. He was carrying an 80+ pound backpack but the most amazing thing of all was that he was hiking in flip-flops. Even without carrying a backpack, going up Forester Pass in flip-flops must be quite a feat.

I mentioned, while talking about the types of food in my canister, that I wished I had packed more sweet stuff. I was craving them non-stop. After taking a few pictures for him, he pulled out a Tiger’s Milk bar from his pocket and said to me “This is your reward”. What a great gesture. So many nice people on the trail. We said good bye and continued in opposite directions.

Brutal switchbacks going down Forester Pass

Going down Forester Pass

On most of the passes on the JMT, I got the feeling that going up in my opposite direction (Northbound instead of Southbound) was much steeper and demanding. Forester Pass was no different. The switchbacks on the other side were relentless. The trail then makes a smooth and gradual descent. I hiked 4.7 miles to Shepherd Pass Junction.

Shepherd Pass Junction

I planned to end the day here but after looking around and seeing another familiar looking campsite surrounded by lodgepole forest, I decided to push for another 2 miles to Bighorn Plateau, hoping for better views. After a long day, this last stretch going up 500 ft in elevation felt demanding.

Fire ravished tree

Ultimately, I was glad I kept going. Bighorn Plateau is like no other place on the JMT. As Ross (who I met on the trail) told me later, it looks like something out of a Salvador Dali painting. It felt like a desert with an oasis in the middle, with almost no vegetation at all. Hundreds of ravens were flying around. I ate dinner (with Jim’s Tiger’s Milk bar as dessert) and got all my chores done quickly because I wanted make sure I had time to take pictures of the amazing sunset.

Camping at Bighorn Plateau

Camping at Bighorn Plateau

Sunset at Bighorn Plateau

The Great Western Divide from Bighorn Plateau

The sun went down and suddenly everything became completely quiet and still. There was nobody else around. No running water. No wind at all. What a great and strange feeling.

Looking back, this was my favorite day of the entire hike, mainly due to Forester Pass and Bighorn Plateau. I had spent 3 weeks on the trail and now had 2 more days to complete the last 27 miles. The next day was going to be an easy 9.5 mile hike to Guitar Lake.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for September 5, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 14.0 miles, 22.5 km.

For the second night in a row, I woke up a lot during sleep. This was mainly due to feeling a bit cold, strange dreams, condensation dropping on my face from the tent ceiling,  and uncomfortable sleeping positions. When I got out of the tent around 7am, it was still very cold outside, around 35° F (about 2° C). Everything was wet and took a while to dry. From all the campsites I’d used on the JMT, Woods Creek was one of the lowest in elevation and, as a result, surrounded by mountains. It took a while for the sun to rise above them and hit me directly.

I crossed the suspension bridge two more times just for fun before getting back on the trail.

Woods Creek suspension bridge

I wasn’t feeling as energized as I was the day before. I’d been wanting to take a dip in one of the lakes for the last few days but the weather had not been appropriate. This day was perfect though, with not one single cloud in the sky.

A sunny day, finally

The long hike up torwards Glen Pass

I run into the guided tour group with the horse pack right before Dollar Lake. I stopped to chat with them and found out that they were doing a 14-day hike from Florence Lake to Mount Whitney. Nice people, and they all looked like they were enjoying themselves. Once at Dollar Lake, I stopped for the long awaited dip. The last shower I had taken was 8 days ago at Vermillion Valley Resort. The water was a bit cold but didn’t bother me much. While waiting for the sun to dry me, I ate lunch by the lake. Beautiful views.

Dollar Lake with Fin Dome in the background

As I was getting ready to get back on the trail, I met 3 guys from the Los Angeles area doing a weekend hike coming from Baxter Pass, which according to them was a miserable experience. They told me about the huge fire in the Angeles National Forest, which was the worst they’ve ever seen. I also found out from them that it was Labor Day weekend which I wasn’t aware of at all.

Back on the trail and after a couple of miles, I arrived at Rae Lakes. There were a good number of people here since this is a very popular area.

Rae Lakes

Rae Lakes

The final ascent to Glen Pass (11,798 ft, 3,596 m) came right after the lakes. The climb is in two parts. The first one to a plateau before a final one up a series of very steep switchbacks. I struggled a lot and my legs were getting very fatigued. I had to stop many times to catch my breath. I was starting to get a bit frustrated until I convinced myself to enjoy the moment and the views. This was not something one gets to experience everyday. It was the toughest pass I did on the JMT.

Views from Glen Pass

Views from Glen Pass

I saw a lot of hikers coming up from the other side of the pass and I sympathized with them. The descent (ascent for them) was very steep and brutal, much worse than the one I had just finished on the opposite side. My heels and ankles got sore from the pounding. Thinking about Forester Pass the following day, I was hoping that a good night’s rest would fix everything. It was already 3:30pm and I still had about 5.5 miles to go, so I picked up the pace. I run into a friendly park ranger who asked me if I was carrying a bear canister.

Burnt tree

I arrived at Vidette Meadow a little bit before 6pm. I passed by two fairly covered campsites until I found one that was more open. I camped about 50 yards away from 3 other hikers, which ended up being a mistake since they were up chatting and laughing pretty loud well after dark. It was starting to get cold pretty fast, and while my last few attempts had failed, I decided to give it one more go at starting a fire. Surprisingly, I was successful. What difference the fire made. Camp chores were much more fun and less rushed with the fire there to keep me warm.

Camping at Vidette Meadow

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for September 4, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 14.0 miles, 22.5 km.

It took me 2 and 1/2 hours since the moment I got up to when I hit the trail after 10am. I was on vacation, so I wanted to sleep well and not feel always rushed.

As soon as I started hiking, I heard a horse pack coming up behind me. It was a group of hikers on a guided tour doing the second half of the JMT. I picked up my pace right away, not because I was trying to avoid the hikers, but because I didn’t want to walk on a trail full of fresh horse crap.

Physically, I was feeling great. The blister wasn’t bothering me anymore, the switchbacks felt pretty easy to climb, and I almost didn’t notice the weight of my backpack. The weather wasn’t looking too good however, with lots of dark clouds in the sky. I went to visit the Bench Lake Ranger Station but couldn’t find the ranger for some weather info.

Bench Lake Ranger Station

I saw the friendly ranger 5 minutes after getting back on the trail. He told me that a storm was expected for the afternoon and through the weekend. I started to hike faster, trying to go over Pinchot Pass before the rain.

Nasty clouds on top of Pinchot Pass

About 1/2 a mile before the pass, it started to rain. As I stopped to put on my rain jacket, I heard lightning and saw a thunder hit the top of the pass. I made a U-turn right away. I run into the guided tour group as they were marching on despite the storm. The guy who cared for the horses in the group asked me if I was turning around, I said yes and he told me that that was the smart thing to do. I asked him if he wasn’t afraid and his reply was “No choice”.

Suddenly rain turned into hail. I run around looking for a spot to set up my tent. I couldn’t afford to get my clothes wet. I found a semi adequate spot and waited the storm out in the tent, which lasted only about 30 minutes, while eating lunch. I started to realize that I didn’t plan enough sweet food in my diet. I was constantly craving for it.

Coming out of the tent after the hail storm

I initiated my second attempt for Pinchot Pass (12,050 ft, 3673 m). As soon as I start hiking, it started to rain again, although lightly. I also heard thunder again, but it was from far away. I decided to suck it up and keep going. The climb was easy. Once on top, I took a quick video and got the hell out of there.

Looking back north, right before Pinchot Pass

Looking south from Pinchot Pass

The 3.7 miles from Pinchot Pass to Sawmill Pass Junction was very enjoyable. It never stopped raining but it was never hard enough to damp my pants. I really liked hiking without the usual punishing sun. I did this section in no time and caught up to the horse pack.

John Muir Trail sign

The terrain got tougher after the junction so I had to slow down a bit. The trail runs right next to Woods Creek for 3.5 miles before arriving at Woods Creek Junction, where I was going to end the day.

Woods Creek

Woods Creek

There was an note by one of the sings right before the junction, saying that there was a toilet available close by and urging hikers to use it instead of burying their waste.

Note about availability of toilets

There’s a very cool suspension bridge to cross the actual creek. I had seen a video of the bridge before the trip and was really looking forward to cross it. It was a lot of fun.

Woods Creek suspension bridge

Woods Creek suspension bridge

It waited 15 minutes to take the video of the bridge since there was someone cleaning up on the other end of it and I didn’t want him to be in the video. There were a few campsites right by the bridge. I picked one right before the horse pack arrived. The same guy who cared for the horses I had talk to earlier told me that they were gonna set up nearby, and that if I wanted a little more piece and quiet, I could camp on the a few spots about 30 yards away. I followed his advice. One by one, the ten or so hikers in that group arrived at the site. It was quickly getting dark so I ate dinner and did my chores in a hurry.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for September 3, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 12.3 miles, 19.8 km.

I woke up to good news. The rain had stopped. Apparently it didn’t rain that much at all. There was also almost no condensation inside the tent, which was strange. I spend a ridiculous half an hour cutting the moleskin for my blister. The knife was pretty much useless.

Deer Meadow campsite

Once I joined the trail, it started to climb up immediately. I saw two deers right away. I guess that’s why they call it Deer Meadow. I then encountered a few switchbacks which at the time made me believe were the famous Golden Staircase. I had been looking forward to it since quite a few hikers had mentioned how impressive it was. These switchbacks were not impressive at all, I thought. I continued on and was getting closer and closer to an extremely tall and steep wall of rock. I was starting to wonder how I was going to go around it since on one side was Palisade Creek and on the other was a huge mountain. I wondered this until I saw the real Golden Staircase, switchbacking up the face of the wall. I was very impressed now. The engineering and the amount of work it must have taken to build it were amazing.

Looking back at Deer Meadow

Golden Staircase

Golden Staircase

One last look back at Deer Meadow

For the first one the JMT, my legs were feeling the climb. Before this point, when I got tired it was mostly from running out air, but not muscle fatigue. The following next 5 miles to Mather Pass seemed very long to me.

Heading toward Mather Pass

I met a older couple doing a 3 day hike. The lady told me that her husband was stopping at every lake to fish. I found a nice spot at Lower Palisade Lake to eat lunch before moving on.

Upper Palisade Lake

Palisade Lakes right before Mather Pass

The final ascent to Mather Pass (12,100 ft, 3,688 m) was very rocky. I had to watch each step very carefully to avoid spraining an ankle. Since I miscalculated and didn’t bring enough water, I had to ration it on the way up. I finally hit the pass around 2pm.

On top of Mather Pass

I stayed on top of the pass for a while, enjoying the view, until I fell a few drops of rain fall. I scrambled and started racing down, but it turned out to be a false alarm. The switchbacks immediately after the pass were very rocky too, but after a while the trail became very smooth and enjoyable. I stopped around 4pm for a snack and when I stood up again, my ankles were pretty sore.

I arrived at Main South Fork Kings crossing, my intended camping site, around 5pm. Lots of streams and rivers in this area. Since it was still early, I did some laundry and washed my socks. It took me a long while to get them somewhat clean, so much dust were collected in them. I spotted 4 other people camping in the area but they were kind of far so I didn’t make an effort to go talk to them. All day this day, I had a numb feeling on both of my big toes. I later found out that it wasn’t an uncommon thing to happen in longer hikes.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for September 2, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 11.3 miles, 18.2 km.

I was starting to realize how much a good night’s sleep regenerated my body. Usually after a long day’s hike, my ankles and feet would be sore, and my quads would be fatigued. But after a good night’s sleep, which was generally at least 10 hours, I would wake up fresh and with no pains.

Small lake west of Helen Lake in the morning

As usual, I was the last one to break camp. Brian and John left first, followed by Jack and Kathy. The trail continued its descent from Muir Pass. This stretch was beautiful, surrounded by huge beautiful mountains such as Black Giant, and plenty of waterfalls created by Kings River’s Middle Fork.

Kings River's Middle Fork

Black Giant on the left

I saw four people from Forest Service clearing bushes and trimming pine trees around the trail. I then saw 3 guys taking a rest from building new switchbacks. It looked like a lot of hard work.

Forest Service workers taking a break

I was hungry all morning. The Snicker and Cliff Bar I had for breakfast were not enough. It seemed like my appetite was getting progressively bigger as the days went by. I couldn’t eat all I wanted at each meal, but I was managing just fine. I stopped at Big Pete Meadow to eat lunch. My visit to Le Conte Canyon Ranger Station was uneventful since the ranger was out on patrol. I was hoping to get some weather information. Grouse Meadow was beautiful so I stopped there for a while to take it all in.

Kings River's Middle Fork

Grouse Meadow

Back on the trail, I soon arrived at Middle Fork Trail Junction. It was there where I saw Jack and Kathy again. They had set up camp and I took a long break to chat with them. They are my heroes. Married for 30 years and they gave each other a JMT hike as anniversary presents. They give me hope that a long and happy marriage is indeed possible. I said good bye to them knowing that I was probably not going to see them again for the rest of this hike.

With Jack and Kathy

I still had 3.6 miles to go until Deer Meadow. By this time, I was starting to feel the weight of the backpack again. My hope was that it was still the food resupply that was causing this, even though I was then carrying 7 days of food instead of the 10 days when I left Muir Trail Ranch. The blister from the previous day was starting to bother me again, but the worst of all was the chafing in the inner thighs. I was a bit worried that all this would dampen my enjoyment of the rest of the hike.

A couple of raindrops started to fall, making me pick up the pace.

Burnt forest right before Deer Meadow

I found a large and empty campsite at Deer Meadow. The rain had stopped by then. I dipped my feet in the stream but the water was freezing. I tried to start a fire but failed again. It didn’t matter though because rain started to fall again soon after. I hurried through dinner and chores and got in the tent around 7:30pm. Once inside, I accidentally caught my Platypus drinking tube’s valve underneath the sleeping mat and lots of water came out. Took me a while to do the best I could to dry the tent’s floor.

I think this was the first day on this hike that I missed a bit the comforts of home.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for September 1, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 12.2 miles, 19.6 km.

I hit the trail around 8:15am. Jack and Kathy left about 45 minutes earlier than me. It was a cold morning and I started the hike wearing my fleece and the bottom halves of my convertible pants. At the beginning my backpack felt much more tolerable than the previous day, but soon after I went up some switchbacks that made me struggle a bit.

I arrived at Evolution Lake. From this point, the views of the Evolution Range Mountains were up close and very dramatic.

Evolution Lake

Evolution Lake

For a while, I tried to catch up to Jack and Kathy. After a few miles I realized this was pointless. I should just hike my own hike as long as I’m not behind my schedule. It was quite windy and somewhat cold. I run into a guy named Dexter who asked me “Is that you Kevin? From Los Angeles?”. I didn’t recognize him, he told me he knew me from some past web development (my actual job) project but that he couldn’t remember the specifics such as exactly when or where. It struck me as odd since I have pretty good memory and couldn’t remember knowing him from anywhere. He got me for a while and I was very confused. It turns out that he had just met Jack and Kathy and they had told him some info about me, and to look for me. What a character!

Right before Wanda Lake, I felt a hot spot on my left heel. I stopped to check it out and confirmed my first blister of the trip. I applied moleskin around it. The knife I bought at Muir Trail Ranch wasn’t sharp at all, making the task of cutting the moleskin very time consuming. I also had lunch here, enjoying the impressive views of Mount Solomons.

Lots of frogs by Wanda Lake

Approaching Muir Pass

Big fat marmot

Looking back west, right before Muir Pass

Only a few more steps to Muir Pass

The climb to Muir Pass was neither steep nor hard. A few yards before reaching the top I met a group of 2 guys and 2 girls. One of the girls asked me “Are you Kevin? You just missed Jack and Kathy by 15 minutes”. It seemed that everybody on the trail knew my name. I finally reached Muir Pass (11,955 ft, 3,644 m) with pretty Muir Hut on top. Muir Hut was built to offer shelter to hikers caught in bad storms.

Muir Hut

Muir Hut

There were lots of people around the hut. Some checking it out, others waiting for the rest of their group to catch up to them. I stayed there for half an hour before starting my descent. The views to the west of Muir Pass were unreal.

Coming down west from Muir Pass

I planned to hike until a small unnamed lake west of Helen Lake. The 2-mile or so hike to the campsite has extremely rough terrain, which wasn’t helping my blister. I had to pay so much attention to where I landed my feet and hiking poles that I barely looked at the amazing scenery. Arriving at the unnamed lake, I was felling pretty beat. I saw Jack and Kathy waving at me from the distance. We shared the campsite with two very nice guys, Bryan and John. I had seen them the previous day on the trail. They were ending their trip the following day and had a huge bag of extra trail mix. Kathy and I devoured it in no time. A man looking for his daughter dropped by and asked me if we had seen her. We hadn’t. Luckily he was able to find her shortly after and camped closeby.

Looking west from campsite

I was hoping the blister wasn’t going to slow me down for the rest of the trip. I also had terrible chafing in my inner thighs and on the back of my knees. I didn’t have any moisturizer but Kathy let me borrow some of hers, which alleviated the problem a little bit.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for August 31, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 10.6 miles, 17.1 km.

Mark, Misty, Mike and Andy were already on the trail when I woke up a little bit before 8am. Jack and Kathy were almost finished packing. I met Tom from Alaska, who camped nearby and whom I had met briefly a few days ago at the ferry landing spot at Edison Lake. He was nursing a shin injury and was hoping to get back on the trail soon. I wished him the best before hitting the trail.

My pack was weighting  almost 35 lbs (16 kgs) with the fresh 10-day resupply, and I struggled greatly on the trail. I know most people’s base packs weight more than that and do just fine, but to go from 15lbs to 35 lbs was a huge change for me. I also don’t think the Osprey Exos 46 was designed to carry that much weight. My shoulders were really strained.

The hike was beautiful, especially after crossing Piute Creek and going into Kings Canyon National Park.

Piute Creek crossing

Kings Canyon National Park

I felt that a blister was starting to develop on my left foot. After close inspection, it was just one of the scratches I got crossing the river to Blayney Hot Springs the previous day. No big deal. I stopped at a very nice spot covered by very long and thin tress for lunch. It was a little windy and the trees were swinging left and right, making some cracking noises. Very cool.

Nice shady spot for lunch

For most of this section, the trail runs right by the San Joaquin River, so water was everywhere. After crossing the bridge over the river, a series of switchbacks make me struggle even more. All of my camp mates from last night had resupplies too and were way ahead of me. That made me wonder if I was the only having trouble. But just one look at the scenery around me made it all worth it. The trail now paralleled Evolution Creek and offered a series of small impressive waterfalls.

Evolution Creek

Soon after, I had to get barefoot and cross Evolution Creek. With the help of hiking poles this time, it was a bit better than previous day’s crossing. I was surprised there was not a bridge here and I could imagine this crossing to be difficult earlier in the summer. Not that I expect there to be a bridge every time there is a crossing. It was just strange because the JMT is so hiker friendly with its great number of well maintained bridges.

Evolution Creek crossing

After a while, I emerged from the forest I’d been in for the last few miles and got my first glimpse of Evolution Valley. Many people had told told me how beautiful it was and they were absolutely right. It was very impressive. I was really looking forward to my intended campsite at McClure Meadow to end this long day. When I got to the McClure Ranger Station I knew the end was near. I chatted with the ranger for a bit, inquiring about the weather for the upcoming days. He told me that it should be dry for the rest of the day and the following day, but some moisture was expected after that, caused by the remains of a hurricane from Mexico. Yikes! Bad news. The ranger also told me that there was a very large fire in the Angeles National Forest, about 20 miles from home. More bad news.

McClure Ranger Station

Evolution Valley

A few steps from the ranger station, I found the campsites I was looking for. Right away I recognized Jack and Kathy’s tent. I was great to see them again. It was also great to put my backpack down. No sight of Mark, Misty, Mike or Andy. They must have pushed on and camped at Evolution Lake, about 3 miles down the trail. I had dinner but ate just enough to not feel hungry. I wanted to eat more but decided to conserve food with the storm coming in. With no rain gear, I might be stranded for a few days if it gets nasty.

Evolution Valley

What followed dinner was the best sunset I’ve ever seen in my life. Incredible views of Mounts Darwin, Spencer, Huxley and The Hermit. The scenery was unreal and the silence all around made the whole experience even more surreal. I’m an atheist but for that hour or so I felt spiritual. If I had died at that moment in that spot, I would have died happy.

Evolution Valley sunset

Evolution Valley sunset

Evolution Valley sunset

Evolution Valley sunset

Back at camp, Jack and Kathy had started a nice fire. We had a nice chat before retiring to our tents. Judging by how much I struggled, I was expecting a long 12-mile hike the following day. I planned to get up “early” (by my standards) around 6:30am.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for August 30, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 7.9 miles, 12.6 km.

I slept until almost 8am. The sun was roasting me. It was a hotter morning than usual. Ryan, Andy and Mike were just getting ready to leave when I woke up.

Pond by Marie Lake

Marie Lake

Selden Pass (10,900 ft., 3322 m.) is only a very short climb from Make Lake. There’s always an exciting anticipation when going over a pass to see what’s on the other side.

Look back at Marie Lake from Selden Pass

Look south from Selden Pass

I saw Mark and Misty on the top of the pass. I moved on ahead knowing we would see each other at Muir Trail Ranch in a few hours. Shortly after I stopped at Sallie Keys Lakes for lunch.

Sallie Keyes Lakes

Sallie Keyes Lakes

Making its first appearance on the JMT were manzanita trees which covered the switchbacks going down to the MTR junction. They looked like they were perfectly manicured by a gardener.

Manzanita trees surround the trail

Mark and Misty caught up to me at the MTR trail junction and we hiked the last stretch together. Muir Trail Ranch is a real ranch, with a lot of horses in it. It’s not really backpacker friendly. You basically just pick up your resupply and go. They don’t sell food or drinks. I was able to buy a knife to replace the one I had lost a few days before. I opened my resupply bucket and started sorting out my stuff. There were also about 5 buckets of stuff there for the taking left by previous backpackers. These “hiker bins” were sorted by categories such as toiletries, dehydrated food, snacks, etc. I exchanged some of my Bear Valley bars for Snickers and Cliff Bars. I was really craving very sweet stuff. I also ate two Snickers bars while stuffing my bear canister. Andy and Mike were also there, and Jack and Kathy arrived shortly after. Kathy and I shared a huge bag of almond M&Ms.

After everybody finished packing their stuff, we all hiked together to the nearby campground. We got there by following the trail to Blayney Hot Springs.

Muir Trail Ranch and Blayney Hot Springs sign

There were several suitable camping spots. After settling down, we all went to check out Blayney Hot Springs, which required fording the San Joaquin River. I went barefoot since I didn’t want to get my shoes wet, and as a result I slipped a few times and had a couple of minor scratches on my feet. The rocks in the river were very slippery. The hot spring we found was a big tub. The water was very hot and muddy. We stayed there until the sun started to set.

Back at camp, each of us started to cook dinner. Perhaps feeling sorry for me and my cold food diet, Jack and Kathy were kind enough to share some of their curry noodles with me. We all got together after dinner. Some played cards while others talked about work, travel and other stuff. Good times.

I had completed half of the JMT. The second half promised to be spectacular and challenging, with 12+ miles most days and a series of big passes.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for August 29, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 13.9 miles, 22.4 km.

Still feeling the effects of overeating, I chose to have a light breakfast consisting of pancakes only. Ryan was there and told me that he had invited another member of packbackinglight.com to join us. I met Steve who, like me, posted in the same forums on BPL during the months of preparation prior to the hike. We had compared itineraries and were hoping to meet on the trail. Steve asked me: “Are you Kevin from BPL?”. At first I thought he knew my name and that I frequented BPL because Ryan had told him. For some reason, I didn’t make the connection between this Steve and the Steve I met online. It was not after I saw his McHale packpack (an item I remembered from his online packing list) that I realized who he was. He has a very comprehensive writeup of the hike and a very nice picture gallery at his website.

I paid my tab of $130 for my entire stay at the resort, and said goodbye to the resort employees I had met. Ryan, Steve, another gentleman name Art and I boarded the morning ferry to leave Vermilion Valley Resort and rejoin the trail.

Leaving Vermilion Valley Resort

The four of us hiked together until where the Lake Edison Trail met the JMT. At this point Art, who was doing a loop hike and not the entire JMT, split from us while we continued south. The trail immediately starts a 2000 ft. climb up to Bear Ridge. Steve started motoring and left Ryan and I behind in no time. The two younger guys couldn’t keep up. Ryan was struggling a bit with his new resupply with about 10 days of food. On the top of the climb, we stopped to rest for a bit and met Mark and Misty. Mark had done the Appalachian Trail and most of the the Pacific Crest Trail. He and his fiancee Misty were taking a year off to travel around the world, starting at various national parks in the US, followed by New Zealand, South East Asia and India. Their travels are chronicled in their blog.

Ryan and I moved on. Shortly after we saw Marty and Ross, a couple from Connecticut who had previously completed the Appalachian Trail. They were on the Lake Edison ferry in the morning, but I hadn’t had a chance to talk to them until this point. After filtering some water, I told Ryan to go ahead of me since he was planning to finish the JMT days before me and was in more of a hurry. The plastic tip where the clean water comes out of my filter had been cracked for days and it finally broke. I could no longer hook up my Platypus hose to the filter. This worried me a lot since I might had to resort to my emergency purifying tablets, and once those run out that could mean drinking unfiltered water.

Pacific Crest Trail Sign

For a long while the trail was pretty uneventful. Lots of trees, no lakes, very few views of mountains. I stopped at Upper Bear Creek to get more water. I tried using the filter upside down, and let the outcoming water drip into Platypus container’s mouth. It was a lot of more work than using the hose but at least this way I could still use the filter for the rest of the trip. Just before I finished filtering, I was joined by Jack and Kathy, who I had met briefly at Rush Creek a week before. I was really surprised to see them since they were planning to finish the JMT about 10 days after me. They were way ahead of schedule. We chatted for a bit before I moved on.

I run into Ryan again right before reaching Rosemarie Meadow, which is where I had planned to stop for the day. Ryan convinced me to push for another 1.5 miles to Marie Lake. I was tired but thought that the views at the lake would be worth it.

Ryan hiking the last few feet of a long 15-mile day

I was glad I made that decision. Marie Lake was beautiful. We settled at the southern bank of the northern lake. Mike and Andy, two guys also doing the JMT were already there. The four of us had dinner together before taking pictures of the sunset. The three of them all had professional photography equipment and I’m sure they took much better pictures than me.

Marie Lake

Campsite by Marie Lake

On this long day, I met a lot of nice people but scenery-wise, I felt it had been pretty underwhelming until the end. Marie Lake saved the day. Looking at the guidebook before falling asleep, I realized I had reached the 100-mile mark on the JMT.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for August 28, 2009.

On this planned rest day, I woke up around 7am to use the restroom and decided go to the cafe to get breakfast instead of going back to sleep. I ordered a huge breakfast with pancakes, hash browns, sausage, and eggs. Jon ordered the same but only took a couple of bites since he had to board the ferry.

I rented internet for 24 hours for $20. The laptop they gave me was slow as hell. Opening up a website would take many minutes. I wanted to check my SPOT Satellite Messenger page online but gave up after an hour or so. There was only one laptop, so if for example four people rented internet for 24 hours, they’d have share same machine.

I had the best pastrami sandwich I’ve ever had for lunch. Byron the cook was amazing. After lunch I did some laundry. Ryan and I combined our clothes since each of us only had a few items.

I was pretty bored the rest of the afternoon. Since I was one day ahead of schedule, one possibility was to take another day off at Vermilion, but after that afternoon, I couldn’t wait to get back on the trail. I think my body got used to the hiking everyday and sitting around all day made me restless. I was definitely getting back on the trail the following day. The original plan was to do the JMT in 25 days, ending on a Thursday to take the bus from Lone Pine to Los Angeles on a Friday. Since that bus only run on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I would now have to do it 23 days.  With no more planned rest days the rest of the way, I decided to combined the last 2 days (Guitar Lake to Mt. Whitney to Whitney Portal) into one long 17-mile day.

At night, I had dinner with Ken, Payge and Gary, the repairman of the resort. I had a “lighter” dinner by ordering a chicken salad. I didn’t think I could handle one more big greasy meal. I couldn’t resist getting the apple pie for dessert though.

Vermilion Valley Resort

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for August 27, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 11.8 miles, 19.0 km.

While backpacking I sleep just as well as when I’m home. I had 11 hours of sleep and I don’t think I woke up at all during the night except once to pee.

Once again it took me a while to get ready. My everyday morning routine was the following:

• get bear canister
• eat breakfast
• roll up and pack sleeping bag and pad
• pack rest of the gear to clear the inside of the tent
• shake the morning dew off the tent
• lay out tent for drying
• filter water
• brush teeth
• wash face
• apply sunscreen
• pack tent
• organize guidebook and maps so that only the sections needed for the day are carried in my pocket

Being cold in the morning and the fact that I’ve never been a morning person meant that sometimes these tasks were performed in super slow motion. I realized that I should have brought a down vest or something similar for more upper body warmth. I wasn’t warm enough during most mornings and nights. On this particular day it took a while for the sun to dry up the tent. I wasn’t even sure it was necessary to do this every morning, but I thought that having a nice dry tent later at night would be worth it.

I would have to pick up the pace to cover the 12 miles to Lake Edison to catch the 4:45pm ferry to Vermilion Valley Resort. Right away, the trail climbs 1200 ft. to Squaw Lake, an excellent camping spot with amazing views.

Squaw Lake

Nice wooden sign

After a short and easy climb of 600 ft., I arrived at Silver Pass.

Silver Pass

Silver Pass, looking south

The first 2 miles or so coming down of Silver Pass is a very gradual descent. The trail is pretty smooth I had that blissful hiking feeling again. What a great sensation. The weather was perfect, I kept a nice pace, and there was nobody around me. Only me and nature. The trail got pretty steep and rocky after this stretch. I stopped around 1:30pm in a spot with excellent views for some salami and cheese.

Nice views during lunch

I think I left my swiss army knife in that spot because I couldn’t find it later on. The trail got progressively worse. The large amount of horse crap didn’t help either. Even though I was in a bit of a hurry, I still made sure to not get sloppy an get injured. Terrain-wise, this was definitely the worse stretch of the JMT so far. It flattened out a bit the closer I got to Lake Edison. I saw a little fox walking on the trail without a worry in the world until it saw me and run away scared.

Lake Edison junction

I got to the ferry landing spot at Lake Edison at 4:15. I still had 30 minutes to sit down and relax. The four Czechs got there shortly after. The exact ferry landing spot varies depending on the water level.

Lake Edison ferry information

Lake Edison ferry

The ferry got there a few minutes early. If Buzz and J-Man (who I met at Yosemite and Tuolumne) were on schedule, they should be leaving the resort this day to continue their hike. They were in fact among the people getting off the ferry. It was great to see them again. We chatted briefly and they introduced me a nice gentleman named Tom. The ferry was leaving so we said goodbye and hoped to see each other again at Lone Pine at the end of the hike.

The ferry was pretty full, about 16 passengers. There was Jon, a young Canadian guy living in San Francisco who I saw walking by the campsite earlier in the morning. I also met Ryan, who I later found out is also a big fan of backpackinglight.com.

Dogs enjoying the ferry ride

Vermilion Valley Resort is very nice. It has a little store with backpacking supplies, a cafe with excellent food, a large fire pit, two restrooms with showers, washer and dryer and a few tent cabins with beds inside. First night is free in the tent cabins. Alternatively, one can also camp for free on the campground. Tent cabins #3 and #4 were open. Cabin #3 had four bunk beds while #4 had four single bed. I naturally picked #4. Jon and I went to the cafe to grab dinner. We were later joined by two guys from Napa Valley (I can’t remember their names). They were having Mexican food night and I got one beef and one chicken taco, along with rice and beans. Huge portions! Washed it down with a nice cold beer (first drink is on the house). I took a short break from eating before getting an apple pie with ice cream for dessert. I also saw Ken and Payge who I had met at Reds Meadow. Payge had huge blisters on the back of both her heels and if they didn’t get better in the following few days, she would not be able to finish the JMT.

I took a nice hot shower afterward but had to get back in my dirty clothes again. Laundry would have to wait until the next day. Later in the evening, we all converged around the fire pit along with some of the resort employees (Jarem, Kyle). Most people called it a night around 9:30pm, but a few of us stayed behind for a while. I was nice to have some human contact, plus the following day was a day off. A bear came to visit the resort that night, a few of the people saw it but I couldn’t see it in the dark.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for August 26, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 12.9 miles, 20.8 km.

It was another cold night. I checked the temperature inside the tent around 6:30am and it was 32º F (0º C). The mosquitoes came back with the warmth of the sun. Across the creek, I saw the Czechs cooking breakfast and packing up. I took my usual sweet time and left Deer Creek around 9:45.

The next 6 miles to Duck Pass Junction was described in my guidebook as one of the most monotonous of the entire JMT. I’d have to disagree since I enjoyed this section, especially the views of the Silver Divide to the south. There’s no water in this stretch so I made sure I loaded up before leaving camp.

Silver Divide

I saw the Czechs again at the creek just before Duck Pass Junction. They were getting water and I figured this would be a nice spot to stop for lunch. I had 2 hummus and bacon tortilla wraps and some peanut M&Ms. It was way too much food and I could barely move afterward. There is small climb after the junction and I struggled as if someone had added 50 lbs to my backpack. I realized how bad of an idea it is to climb uphill after a big meal. There were nice views of Cascade Valley at the top of the ascent.

Cascade Valley

I met Rudy, who was doing the JMT south to north in 30 days. This was his second year in a row doing it, and he was on a 1000 calories/day diet. I know I would be miserable eating so little but he seemed to be feeling great. We had a nice 15 minute conversation before going our separate ways.

I saw a fresh pine cone drop right in front of me on the trail, it looked like it had just been cut off from the tree by some animal (maybe a bird?). I waited quietly from a distance for a while to see if an animal would come and claim it, but nobody came.

Fresh pine code

I also saw a small lake and its water had a beautiful glowing blue color.

Small lake

The Czechs were taking a break at Purple Lake when I got there. They seemed to stop at every lake and creek and I wondered if they would in fact finish on schedule. A couple of miles later I arrived at Lake Virginia, where I stopped for a little snack and met a duo doing the JMT. I can’t remember their names but it was a young guy with his father in law. We noticed that we were both carrying SPOT Satellite Messengers. Their plan was to finish in 14 days and they told me that the long days were starting to take a toll on them.

Lake Virginia

The trail continues on to Tully Hole, then runs side by side with Fish Creek for a while. I descended some switchbacks and at the bottom I crossed the creek through a wooden bridge.

Fish Creek bridge

Shortly after the bridge and just before Cascade Valley Junction, I found a nice campsite right by the trail. The young guy with his father in law stopped by a bit later for a short break. The young guy asked me about my gear and told me he was amazed at some of the lightweight gear he had seen on the trail. I showed him some of the weight saving things I’ve done with my toiletries, such as the toothpaste dots, and told him to go to backpackinglight.com for more ideas to lighten the load. It would have been nice to share the campsite with them, but they had to keep going since their plan was to go over Silver Pass that day. They were going to hike in the dark with headlights if necessary.

The mosquitoes at this spot were even worse than the previous night. It is a very nice campsite though, surrounded by mountains and offering impressive 360° views. I finished the chores quickly and got inside the cozy tent to escape the mosquitoes around 7:30pm.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

]]> http://kevinstravelblog.com/john-muir-trail-day-10-%e2%80%93-deer-creek-to-cascade-valley-junction/feed 0 http://kevinstravelblog.com/john-muir-trail-day-9-%e2%80%93-reds-meadow-to-deer-creek?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=john-muir-trail-day-9-%25e2%2580%2593-reds-meadow-to-deer-creek http://kevinstravelblog.com/john-muir-trail-day-9-%e2%80%93-reds-meadow-to-deer-creek#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:57:07 +0000 Kevin http://kevin-yang.com/travel/?p=546

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for August 25, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 7.5 miles, 12.1 km.

The clothes I washed the previous day were still wet in the morning. I chatted briefly with the girl that dropped by Reds Meadow Backpackers Campground late the previous night. The other guy had already left. The girl’s name was July or Julie, and she was doing the JMT northbound by herself. She started by climbing Mt. Whitney with 50 lbs on her back. One tough girl. She was on her way to Tuolumne to meet up with her father and hike the last stretch to Yosemite Valley together.

I met up with the Jason, Payge and Ken for breakfast at the Mulehouse Cafe. Ken is a former NFL player and Payge has traveled all over the world and is currently writing a book about her adventures. You can check out her blog at TurnThePayge. Great conversation with great people. We all ate too much (pancakes, eggs, bacon, etc) and decided to take the shuttle back to the campground instead of walking the 0.2 miles. So lazy. Jason thought for a while about going to Mammoth to buy a pair of long pants. In the end he decided to suck it up and continue on with only one pair of shorts. I regret not exchanging contact information with him to find out how the rest of his trip went.

I said goodbye to my fellow JMT hikers and left Reds Meadow to continue my journey. Right away I saw a huge number of burnt trees from a 1992 fire.

Burnt trees close to Reds Meadow

Burnt trees close to Reds Meadow

The trail climbs up until reaching the base of the Red Cones. I decided to do the short side trip to the top of the southern Red Cone. There was no marked trail and my feet were sinking in the red soft sand, making the steep climb a bit difficult, but the views were worth it. At moments, it got pretty slippery but having the hiking poles helped a lot.

Views from top of southern Red Cone

Northern Red Cone

Burnt trees viewed from top of Red Cone

One the way down I got lost for a while. Since the southern Red Cone is covered in trees, on the way down (or up) it is really hard to tell which way you are going, you can’t really see the top or the bottom. I was coming down on the northern side of the cone instead of the eastern side. For a little while I was totally disoriented. I panicked for a little bit and fantasized about being stranded for days before realizing how ridiculous that was. I took out my map and compass and realized I had to go south-east to rejoin the JMT. I soon run into a stream and I assumed this was the same stream I crossed on the JMT before going off-trail to climb the cone. I followed the stream and soon rejoined the trail.

A small blister was developing on the back of my right heel. I stopped to put some moleskin around it before moving on. The next stretch of the trail was covered in trees and didn’t offer any expansive views. At 3:30pm I reached Deer Creek Junction, my intended camping spot for the day since they is no more water for the next 6 miles. I set up camp, ate some salami and cheese and relaxed a bit. I then saw the group of 4 from the Czech Republic, 3 guys and 1 girl. Jason, Payge and Ken had told me during breakfast about 4 Czechs with huge backpacks. They indeed had very big backpacks. They stopped by the creek and I went to say hi. They told me they were 2 days behind schedule. They had their return flights booked and had to finish the JMT by a certain day. They decided to camp on the other side of the creek.

I washed my legs and feet which were covered in dust. Ate again around 7pm. The sun was going down and the mosquitoes were out in full force. Some people had told me that I didn’t have to worry about them this late into the summer, but there were definitely tons of them in this spot. I quickly finished the last of the camp chores and hopped in the tent around 7:45. About 5 mosquitoes got inside in the few seconds I opened the tent door. I had to hunt them down one by one.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for August 24, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 11.7 miles, 18.8 km.

The night was the coldest of the trip so far, probably below freezing. My upper body was a little bit cold all night inside the sleeping bag. It is a 30° F (-1° C) bag, so it did work up to the point it was advertised. There was so much condensation inside the tent that some fell from the ceiling and unto my face. Outside the tent, my shoes were covered in frost. While backpacking, I appreciate the sun way more than back home. I was cold in the morning and waited in anticipation for the sun to rise enough to hit me. What a great feeling it was when it finally did. I went from cold to warm and comfortable within minutes.

The eagerly anticipated arrival to Reds Meadow was happening this day. I was looking forward to the hot shower more than the food. I had never gone this long without showering. As usual, it took me forever to pack up and get ready. I left Rosalie Lake around 9:30am. The first half to the 9-mile hike to Reds Meadow was just like the previous day: shaded, on soft ground, with no dust. After a half hour climb, it is a constant descent that is easy on the joints because of it’s low grade. Once again, I had the same feeling of bliss I experienced the previous afternoon. My body felt great and my mind didn’t have a single worry.

I stopped by Gladys Lake to filter water. The sandy beach makes this lake different than all the others I’d seen.

Gladys Lake

When I reached the Minaret Lake Trail Junction I realized that I had walked pass Trinity Lake without even knowing. I turned left to continue on the JMT. A while later I reached Devil’s Postpile National Monument.

Devil's Postpile National Monument

Map of Devil's Postpile National Monument

While doing the JMT, one can choose to do a little detour to see the actual postpiles, or take a more direct route to Reds Meadow. Since I wasn’t in a hurry, I decided to check out the postpiles. They were OK, but nothing spectacular. It’s worth the detour but I wouldn’t go there specifically to see them.

Top of Devil's Postpile

Devil's Postpile

The final hike to Reds Meadow was short, but it seemed long to me because of the anticipation.

Reds Meadow

Mulehouse Cafe

I headed straight to the Mulehouse Cafe and ordered a cheeseburger and a Mountain Dew. There were no other hikers in the cafe at the time. What I really wanted was to eat sweet stuff, especially ice cream. I headed to the store across the cafe and got me some Animal Crackers, Häagen-Dazs ice cream, Starbucks Frappuccino, and a chocolate bar. I also picked up my second resupply at the store. This resupply was going to last until Muir Trail Ranch, about 5 days away. I ate all the stuff I bought at the store while sorting out the food into the bear canister. The store also allowed me to charge my digital camera battery (you can do this at the cafe too).

I walked to the campground but couldn’t find the Backpacker’s Campground at first. I had gone right past it as it is really nondescript. It is really close to where the showers are. There are 4 spots available for backpackers, with a bear box for each one, and it costs $20 per night, which seems excessive to me since a regular RV campground costs the same. The similar campground at Tuolumne Meadows costs only $5 per night.

I met a fellow JMT hiker named Jason. He was drying his gear since he had hiked in the rain during the storm the previous day. He was a little worried for not having enough warm clothes (no long pants, only one pair of shorts) for the rest of the way. I headed to the stalls for the long awaited shower. There are about 6 stalls. The one closest to the campground has the coolest water. Each stall then gets progressively hotter. I took the second to last one because I didn’t want the extra hot water to dry out my skin. The shower was very nice but with the door closed and no lights inside, it was a little hard to see. I also took the opportunity to wash all of my clothes, which ended up being a huge mistake. It was already around 4:30pm and the campground was pretty shaded, so my clothes stayed wet all night.

Later on, more JMT hikers arrived at the campground. First was a couple from North Carolina, Payge and Ken. Two other hikers, a guy and a girl, dropped by a bit later. It felt great to be clean for the first time in a week, but as the sun went down, I felt very cold wearing the wet clothes. I decided to call it a night around 8:30. Once inside the sleeping bag, I felt much better.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for August 23, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 7.0 miles, 11.3 km.

Rain was still falling at 6:30am. The winds were strong all night, waking me up a few times as the tent’s rain fly flapped against the inner wall. I should have used the tent guy lines. The rain wasn’t hard but it was steady.

One of the sacrifices I had to make for having a lightweight backpack was to go without rain gear, the only exception being my jacket. I didn’t have waterproof pants or shoes.  This meant that I couldn’t really afford to hike in the rain for extended periods of time and have my lower body get wet and cold. I spent hours and hours in the tent, waiting for the storm to pass. I wasn’t bored at all though, but my body was feeling a little restless. By 10:30am I was starting to get really hungry. The bear canister was about 50 feet from the tent and seeing that the storm gave no indications of slowing down, I made a run for it. I devoured the trail mix and Peanut M&Ms within seconds. My excursion outside the tent left my feet freezing, and it took about 2 hours inside the sleeping bag to warm them up again.

Finally at 1:45pm it stopped raining. Except for the bear canister run, I had been inside the tent for 19 hours. I was ready to get back on the trail, even if only for a few hours. It took a while to dry the tent, and I started to wonder if it was worth it at all to wait for the gear to dry before packing. Even when there’s not rain, it usually takes about 1 hour every morning for the dew to dry. Outside the tent there was still a lot of fog, but as it always happens after raining, all the colors became more vivid.

Thousand Island Lake. Waiting for the tent to dry.

Thousand Island Lake after the storm

I left Thousand Island Lake and was back on the trail by 3:30. With only about 4 hours of sunlight left, the plan was to make it to Rosalie Lake, about 7 miles away. It was great to hike after the rain. The ground was softer, the weather not as hot, and there was no dust at all. I was felling great.

Log bridge

Shortly after I arrived at Garnet Lake. Absolutely beautiful. It is very similar to Thousand Island Lake with little islands in the middle. I stopped for 10 minutes to take it all in and eat a snack.

Garnet Lake

Garnet Lake

Tree by Garnet Lake

Back on the trail, the hike was very enjoyable, with a good number of short ascents and descents. I only saw 4 other hikers all day. Shadow Creek was impressive with it’s raging waters.

Arrived at Shadow Lake at 6:30pm. It had a very quiet and peaceful vibe, along with a stunning reflection. Too bad I was in a hurry and couldn’t spend all the time I wanted on this spot.

Shadow Lake

There is a good number of switchbacks going up right after Shadow Lake, but I was feeling great physically and kept a fast and steady pace. I got to Rosalie Lake at 7:10pm. I had done 7 miles in 3 hours 40 minutes. Not bad.

It was starting to get dark so I hurried to filter some water, set up the tent, and eat a quick dinner. Dinner was some bacon bits with cheese wrapped in a tortilla. I also had some beef jerky and dried fruit. I basically just grabbed whatever was the easiest and fastest to eat. Finding a place to hide the bear canister proved to be a little bit of the challenge since there were almost no flat spots around the campsite. I was afraid that a bear would start playing with the canister and it would roll all the way down to the lake. I put it in the best spot I could find and hoped for the best.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for August 22, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 5.7 miles, 9.2 km.

I heard some animal walk by my tent when I woke up around 7:30am. I looked through the tent mesh and saw a big fat marmot standing 3 feet away from me. Definitely not something you see everyday back home. In the end, it didn’t rain at all during the night, but the sky was still pretty cloudy in the morning. It’s amazing how much I sleep in the wilderness. I got close to 11 hours. Instead of going back home tired at the end of the JMT, I think I’ll be rested and refreshed.

Buzz and G-Man were already up and almost ready to go. I decided that since I was already 1 1/2 day ahead of schedule, I’d have a short day and not try to keep up with them. I got their contact info before saying good bye.  I was probably not going to see them again since their plan was to finish 2 days ahead of me.

Campsite below Donohue Pass

I spent the rest of the morning in camp, doing laundry and catching up on my journal. Looking at the map, I decided that I’d do a short 6-mile hike to Thousand Island Lake. As I was getting ready to get back on the trail around noon I saw Glen and Corinne, who I had met at Tuolumne the previous day. I asked whether they would mind me hiking with them, and joined them for most of the rest of the day.

Descending from Donohue Pass

Crossing before Rush Creek Junction

After a couple of miles, we reached Rush Creek Junction. While Glen and Corinne stopped to filter water, I met Jack and Kathy, a lovely couple from Mammoth Lakes. They looked like they were having a blast hiking the entire JMT. Suddenly it started drizzling. I put my waterproof jacket on and for the first time I used the large trash bag as pack cover, which worked pretty well.

The climb up to Island Pass (10,203 ft) was an easy 600 ft hike from Rush Creek Junction. This pass is not really considered among the other big ones on the JMT. On the other side of the pass, I got a very nice view of imposing Banner Peak. The light drizzle had stopped by this time.

Small lake with Banner Peak in the background.

Glen and Corinne decided to look for a place to camp about 1/2 mile before Thousand Island Lake, so I said good bye to them and moved on. Thousand Island Lake is truly beautiful. It’s like something out of a photography book or a National Geographic documentary. Camping is not allowed within 1/4 mile of the lake outlet, so I followed the northern shore to look for nice spots. I found plenty of them.

Thousand Island Lake

Campsite by Thousand Island Lake

The sky still looked nasty and the earlier drizzle seemed like it was just an early warning. It was cold and I tried to start a fire, but failed again. I used up my remaining 4 matches, and even borrowed a lighter from a couple camping closeby and still couldn’t do it. It was embarrassing. Around the same time, a big guy arrived in the area and decided to take a dip in the lake. I would have died of hypothermia but the cold didn’t affect him at all. He walked around wet and shirtless, as if it was 80 degrees. He then one-handed a huge piece a wood, put it on his shoulder, and climbed uphill into the woods closeby. I then heard him chop wood and start a humongous fire. What a stud!

Campsite by Thousand Island Lake

Just before sunset, it started to rain again, but this time for real. I scrambled to finish eating, cleaning up a little bit, and putting all my gear into the tent. This was my first time camping in the rain and while a bit inconvenient, I was quite excited. I fell asleep around 9 but slept intermittently all night.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for August 21, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 14.3 miles, 23.0 km.

I slept pretty well despite being in the super crowded Tuolumne Meadows Backpacker’s Campground. The big family next to me was very quiet after 10pm. Woke up at 5am and since I couldn’t fall back to sleep, I decided to get an early start. It was still dark and cold outside. After packing quickly, I went to see if Buzz and G-Man were still around. They were getting ready and invited me to hike with them. I gladly accepted, thinking it would be a nice change from the first 4 days of hiking alone.

Getting ready to leave Tuolumne Campground

We said good bye to Glen and Corinne but before we left, a small bear came to visit the campground. People immediately started to make a lot of noise by shouting and banging pots. The poor bear got scared and run back into the woods. I was able to get a glimpse of it, and it looked like a panda, with a wide white stripe on it’s torso.

Rejoining the JMT

The scenery got progressively better throughout the day. The first 9 miles or so out of Tuolumne runs next to Lyell Fork through Lyell Canyon, which has almost no elevation changes.

Crossing a bridge with G-Man

Deer

Deer

Lyell Fork

We run into what I call a “trail snob”, hikers who do things a certain way and looks down on everybody who doesn’t. This particular one asked Buzz “When did you start? 4 Days ago?”. Buzz said yes, and the “trail snob” replied with “Hmmm, you’ve got to put some more miles on you”. So this character first guessed it was 4 days ago and then proceeds to criticize that. How condescending. Fortunately, I’d say that 98% of the people I encountered on the JMT were extremely nice and polite and unlike these “trail snobs”.

We crossed Lyell Forks through a nice bridge and stopped an hour for lunch. The long and gradual ascent to Donohue Pass starts from this point.

Looking down Lyell Canyon

Hiking towards Donohue Pass

There is a small waterfall (mostly dry late in the season) before reaching Donohue Pass. The trail goes around it before reaching the top of the falls. I jumped through a few rocks to get a spectacular view to the north.

Looking back north before Donohue Pass

Right before the pass, we left Yosemite National Park and entered Ansel Adams Wilderness.

Leaving Yosemite National Park

I didn’t realize I had reached Donohue Pass until the trail started to descend sharply. There was no sign of the pass on top. Coming down, I realized for the first time that I’m very slow going downhill. I struggled to keep pace with Buzz and G-Man. It was now a little bit past 5pm and we started to look for a place to camp. We didn’t find any for a while. Finally, G-Man was able to find a few nice flat sandy spots in the marshy meadow about 1 mile after the pass. The weather started to get windy, there were a good number of clouds in the sky, and it looked like it could start raining anytime.

It had been a long day, about 14 miles. I don’t’ think I’ve ever done a 14-mile day in my life. The climb to the pass felt easy for me. I was happy that the pre-trip training hikes of Mount Baldy helped me get in shape.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for August 20, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 6.0 miles, 9.7 km.

It was a cold sleeping without the tent rain fly. Temperate dipped below 40º F (4.5º C) in some parts of the night.  The sleeping bag kept my body warm but my face was freezing. I ended up sliding my head underneath the bag. That, coupled with me constantly sliding down my tent due to the uneven terrain made for a not so comfortable night.

I had planned to maybe get up and watch the sunrise but was too lazy/sleepy to actually do it. Instead I slept until 8:30am, but was able to catch glimpses of the sunrise when I woke up from time to time.

I took another dip in the water and left Lower Cathedral Lake at 11am. The hike to Tuolumne was alright. Compared to previous days, it lacked the beautiful scenery since it went mostly through dense forest areas. What it didn’t lack were day hikers. There were tons of them doing an 8-mile day trip to Cathedral Lakes.

Mostly forest areas before Tuolumne

When I got to the T-junction, I decided to take the “official” JMT trail as opposed to the shortcut (and more direct) trail to the Tuolumne Campground. The official trail heads north and crosses Highway 120 and offers nice views of Tuolumne Meadows. This junction can be a little confusing since there are no signs indicating which way is the JMT.

Tuolumne Meadows

Tuolumne Meadows

Tuolumne Meadows

Parsons Memorial Lodge

The trail continues through Lembert Dome parking lot, which was full of cars. It was strange to see so many people and cars again, even if I’d only been on the trail for 3 days. It then turns south and crosses Highway 120 again. I walked by the highway going west towards the post office and the cafe where I could get some junk food. I was pretty hungry but I wasn’t really craving for junk food. I could have happily eaten something inside my bear canister.

I got to the post office around 1:30, picked up my resupply package and while sorting my stuff, I met a guy (once again, I’m terrible with names) who had done the whole Pacific Crest Trail and Appalachian Trail. We had a nice chat and he was great at explaining to me the logistics of those long distance hikes. He was doing the JMT this time and was planning to complete the whole thing in 13 days. Based on his experience, he said that the JMT is the most beautiful stretch of any of the trails he has done in the entire country, mainly because it is consistently beautiful every single day.

After packing my resupply into the canister, I got myself a cheeseburger combo at the cafe. I then went to the store and got what I was really craving: ice cream. Add a bottle of Gatorade and I was in food coma. After a short rest, I asked my way to the Backpacker’s Campground. I had to walk through the regular car camping campground and the size of some of the tents there were unbelievable. They were like apartment buildings. I picked site BP14, which is on the back (south) of the campground. Right after I settled down, a huge family with about 5 kids settled in the spot next to me. I thought I was in for a long and rowdy night but they were pretty quite after 10pm.

I paid the $5 for the campsite and started looking for familiar faces. Based on their plans, Mickey, Buzz and G-Man should have been camping there that night. After walking around the campground I found Buzz and G-Man, and it was great to see them again. I also met Glen and his daughter Corrine, who were doing a section of the JMT. We chatted by the picnic table until  the sun went down.

Tuolumne Backpacker's Campground with G-Man, Glen and Corinne. Buzz took the picture.

People kept dropping by the campground late into the night but there were no spots left. When I called it a night and went back to my tent, someone had decided to use my site as well. I would have shared the site with anyone since it fits 2 tents, but this guy didn’t even say anything. When I greeted him, his only response was “Hi”.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for August 19, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 8.0 miles, 12.9 km.

When I woke up at 6:30am, Mickey was already up and busy. Once again I had slept comfortably and fell pretty rested. I have, however, never been a morning person and I’m pretty much in zombie state the first hour after I get up. That’s probably the reason why I didn’t get back on the trail until 9. I wasn’t in a hurry though, since I had 2 days to get to Tuolumne Meadows, only about 9 miles away. I said goodbye to Mickey and used my mini tripod to snap a picture with him. He expected me to catch up to him in a couple of hours but I never saw him again on the trail for the rest of the trip.

Sunrise Creek campsite with Mickey

Right after leaving camp, the trial begins to climb up Sunrise Mountain. Going up what seemed to be an endless series of switchbacks, it was the first time I felt tired and out of breath. After about an hour or so it got better as it flattened out. Just before Sunrise High Sierra Camp, I run into 2 guys with GoLite Jam packs who were taking a break. A few minutes later I saw them again while arriving at Long Meadow. I’m horrible at remembering names, but one of them was ending his trip that day while the other was heading to Edison Lake.

Long Meadow

Echo Peaks

Chipmunk

They told me that once I got to Cathedral Lakes, it’d be hard for me to not camp there because of how gorgeous it is. After a few hundred yards I passed Sunrise High Sierra Camp but didn’t stop to check it out. I soon had my first encounter with horse crap on the trail. There were lots of it from pack horses taking supplies to the camp. Towards the northern end of Long Meadow I find a nice spot to sit down and have lunch. The views were beautiful but what I noticed the most was how quiet it was. Hiking was tough right after lunch, I should have waited half an hour or so to finish digesting. I run into a pack horse train on my way up Cathedral Pass (9700 ft, 2956 m), which I didn’t even notice when I arrived. There were no signs and I only realized that I had passed it when the trail started to descend.

Pack horse train

Upper Cathedral Lake was the first big lake I saw on JMT. The hike and scenery was getting better by the minute.

Upper Cathedral Lake

I run into two young guys from Fullerton CA, minutes away from where I live. I have seen them a couple of times in the past two days, but never had a chance to chat with them. They were out on their first backpacking trip and having a great time, going from Yosemite Valley to just a little bit before Toulumne. They were told that camping was a bit better at Lower Cathedral Lake, so I followed them on the mile-long hike there. People from Forest Service were doing trail maintenance work and I made sure to let each of them know how much I appreciate what they do.

Lower Cathedral Lake is indeed magnificent. I took a quick dip which felt great. It was only 2pm but the guy who told me that it’d be hard to pass on the opportunity to camp there was right. I started walking around the lake, looking for a suitable campsite. When I reached the western end I found a great spot with great views of the lake to the east, and beautiful expansive views on the opposite side.

Lower Cathedral Lake campsite

Looking west from Lower Cathedral Lake campsite

The only downside was that there were no sandy patches for the tent, so I had to settle for a semi-flat spot on a large rock, which would turn out to be very uncomfortable later at night. For the next 5 hours until sunset, I wasn’t bored one minute. I relaxed by the lake, did some laundry, took pictures, etc. There was a group of 6 camping about 100 yards away and I had a nice chat with a few of them when they dropped by to take pictures of the lake with Cathedral Peak in the background.

Relaxing by Lower Cathedral Lake

Lower Cathedral Lake

Sunset, looking west

Lower Cathedral Lake right after sunset

Inside the tent after it got dark, I was in disbelief by the sheer number of stars in the sky. Sleeping on the not so flat rock was very uncomfortable as I kept slipping down my tent, but all I had to do was to look at the stars to make the discomfort insignificant. I was half asleep when I opened my eyes and saw a huge meteor steak across the sky. I smiled and fell asleep happily right after.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for August 18, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 10.5 miles, 16.9 km.

I set the alarm for 5am but didn’t get up until 6:30. I slept pretty well for being the first night of the hike. The Thermarest NeoAir mattress was very comfortable and I woke up rested and with no aches. I ate a quick breakfast, found out that it is not easy to dig a 6-inch cathole with a hiking pole, and then left Clouds Rest Trail Junction for Half Dome around 8. I took a chance and left all my stuff inside the tent at the campsite. People had told me that it should OK. I took with me the jacket, the pair of gloves I bought specially for the occasion, 1 liter of water, 1 candy bar, and the SPOT Satellite Messenger.

For the last month or so I wondered from time to time whether I should summit Half Dome or not. I had read the stories of people slipping on the polished granite and falling to their death. At the same time, on most days, hundreds of people do it without problems. These thoughts were on my mind again as I started the 2.5 mile hike. Soon after I got my first clear view of the day of Half Dome.

Half Dome from distance

Halfway there, I realized I forgot to wear my hat and also forgot to apply sunscreen, but didn’t feel like going back to get them.

The switchbacks up to the base of the Half Dome cables are beautifully constructed, although the last stretch to reach the cables is a bit slippery and had no switchbacks or stairs. My first view of the cables bought some of my fears back. It looked steeper that in the pictures I’ve seen. There was a huge pile of used gloves. I stayed there staring at it for about 5 minutes.

Half Dome cables

I started chatting with a couple of guys who had just come down. They reassured me that it wasn’t so bad. One of them even went up and down wearing flip-flops. After hearing that, I decided to sucked up, put on my gloves and go for it. I waited for a couple of minutes to give myself some distance between me and a rowdy group of teenagers who were in front of me. Once I grabbed the cables and looked up, it didn’t feel that scary anymore.

Getting ready to go up

You do need a good grip and some upper body strength though. The good thing is that there were not that many people going up and barely anybody coming down, so I was able to use both cables 99% of the time. Once on top, the views were definitely worth the climb. A guy was standing on a pile of granite rocks that sticks out called the Diving Board. It looks insanely dangerous from the distance. I asked a nice couple to take a picture of me around it. I wasn’t planning on standing too close to the edge but once I walked up to it, I realized that it looked more dangerous than it really was.

Diving Board on Half Dome

I stayed on the top of Half Dome for about 1 hour. Nice views of Yosemite Valley.

Yosemite Valley from Half Dome

I still had to descend on the cables which could be more scary than going up. It was now close to 11am and way more crowded that earlier. I was lucky that there was nobody coming down behind me, so I didn’t feel the pressure of someone breathing down my neck. I tried to use both cables as much as possible. If someone was coming up, I’d let them pass me so both cables would be freed up. I came down facing down. I think it’s easier this way although many people prefer to do it facing up and walking backwards.

More crowded on my way down

I go down safely and when I was walking away from the cables I heard someone say “Kevin!”. It was Buzz who I met at the Yosemite Valley Wilderness Center the day before. He was sitting on a rock waiting for G-Man to go up. Buzz decided to not go up since he doesn’t like heights. I stayed there and chatted with him for a while. I had to leave before long though since it was pretty hot and I was hungry and out of water. I said good bye to Buzz, took one last look at the cables and hit the trail.

On my way down to the JMT junction, I saw a ton of people making their way up. A lot of people looked like they started from Happy Isles and didn’t appear very prepared. Some had no water left, others were wearing flip-flops. By then I was very thirsty, and without a hat, the sun was killing me. I couldn’t wait to get back to camp at Clouds Rest Junction to get some water since there was no water at all before there. I got there in about 1 hour and drank 1 liter of water right away. I had another liter with lunch right after. I felt so stuffed that I could barely move.

My original plan for today was to just do Half Dome. I didn’t know before the trip how my body was going to react in the beginning, so I planned very few miles for the first few days. I was feeling great however, and ultimately I decided to hike a few more miles instead of staying another night in the same spot. I took my sweet time packing up. This was when I started to realize that I’m really slow doing camp chores. Right before leaving, a group of boy scouts passed by and with them was a park ranger. He stopped to say hi, asked me how my trip was going and checked my permit. Eventually, this would be the only time during the entire hike that a ranger asked for my permit.

I started hiking again around 4pm. Pretty late. I reached Merced Lake Junction and Forsyth Trail Junction after a while. The views to the south were expansive and beautiful.

Southern views

I stopped here to eat some beef jerky. Wasn’t sure at the time if this was going to end up being dinner, which it did. After a short hike I reached the Sunrise Creek crossing. This is the second crossing of the same creek that run by the Clouds Rest Junction campsites. It was around 7pm and time to stop hiking. Right after the creek and to the left, I see that an older gentleman had already set up camp. I walk a bit past him to look for other sites but couldn’t find any, so I walk back to where the gentleman was and greeted him. He tells me “plenty of spots here”. Very friendly guy named Mickey. 68-years old and hiking the entire JMT. This made me realized that hopefully, I’d still have many years of hiking left. He had a whole bunch of homemade lightweight gear and tons of interesting stories. I set up my tent close by and chatted with him by a campfire until 9pm. I learned that he is from Ventura County, CA, and has 4 kids and 3 grandchildren.

I decided to sleep without the rainfly since I was starting to feel more comfortable in the wilderness. The campsite was in a forest area but I could still see much of the sky full of stars. Quite a sight to stare at while I fell asleep.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for August 17, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 6.5 miles, 10.5 km.

Finally, a little relaxation. I’d been very tired and stressed out from work and trip preparation for the last 2 weeks. I got on the bus at Fullerton a bit after midnight, on my way to Bakersfield. I was asleep within minutes, but woke up when the bus stopped in downtown LA to pick up more passengers. A older gentleman sat next to me and kept talking to me non-stop. He was very friendly but it was almost 2am and all I wanted was to rest. Arrived at Bakersfield around 4am and waited a bit to board the Amtrak train to Merced. Once on it, I fell asleep right away again, but I made sure to set the alarm on my watch to not miss the stop. Switched to the YARTS bus that would take me to Yosemite Valley, the starting point of the JMT. Slept for a bit more until the scenery got interesting as I got closer to the final destination.

Yosemite Valley was full of people. Parking lots, campsites, restaurants were all packed. It was nice to see so many people enjoying the outdoors, but I was glad I was only going to be there for a couple of hours. I headed to the Wilderness Center to pick up my wilderness permit that I reserved 6 months in advance. The park ranger was very friendly and helpful. She explained the rules to me: where not to camp, to not build new fire pits, etc. A gentleman with the trail name of “Buzz” introduced himself to me. He and his friend “G-Man” were starting the JMT the next day but were planning to finish 2 days before me, so we were most likely going to meet on the trail. They were very experienced hikers from Vermont having done the entire Appalachian Trail. They asked me for my trail name which was a new concept for me, I have never heard of such thing.

I went to the deli for one last meal, but they didn’t sell anything hot. Had to settle for a sandwich which I enjoyed. Buzz and G-man invited me to their table and we chatted for a while. It was already 1pm and I had to get going. The plan was to hike about 6.5 miles to the Clouds Rest Junction, camp there for the night and climb Half Dome early next morning. So I took the shuttle to Happy Isles, where the JMT trail head is, filled up my Platypus, applied sunscreen and started the long adventure.

I had little idea of the journey I was about the experience. I have made an effort to see as few pictures of the JMT as possible because I wanted to be surprised. After countless hours of planning and dreaming about this trip, I was a bit emotional to finally be starting it.

Walking towards John Muir Trail trail head

I decided to take the more scenic Mist Trail instead of the classic JMT trail because I really wanted to see the 2 waterfalls. I wasn’t the only one with this idea, since there were lots of people on the Mist Trail, which is wonderfully constructed. Lots of stairs going up very steep walls.

Mist Trail or Classic JMT?

The views of Vernal Fall were amazing.

Lots of people enjoying Vernal Fall

Base of Vernal Fall

View from top of Vernal Fall

While it was very hot and sunny, I was enjoying every step of the trail. I didn’t see many people with big backpacks, mostly just day trippers either going to the falls or coming down from Half Dome. I could feel the weight of the backpack, even though it was only around 20 lbs total. Maybe it was because I didn’t bring it with me during my training hikes the past few weeks, so I wasn’t used to it. I suddenly realized that I was enjoying the scenery a bit too much and going a bit too slow, so I picked up my pace to make sure I’d get to the campsite before sunset.

Nevada Fall in the distance

After a while I arrived at Nevada Fall. To look down the edge on top of the fall was a little scary.

Nevada Fall

Looking down from top of Nevada Fall

I rejoined the JMT right after Nevada Fall. Still had about 5 miles to go.

Rejoining the JMT

I run out of water shortly after and didn’t find a stream until I got to the campsite later that night. People have told me that there’s water everywhere on the JMT, but at least from Little Yosemite Valley to Clouds Rest Junction, I didn’t find any. Arrived at Half Dome Junction around 6pm. I remember seeing a lot of people coming down from Half Dome and I wondered how they were going to make it back to Yosemite Valley in time. They still had 6 miles to go with about 2 hours of sunlight left, and most of them had no warm clothes or flashlights. A few minutes later I found the Clouds Rest Junction, which has a water stream running nearby. Water, at last!

The best camping spot with views of Half Dome was already taken, I settled for another nice spot with a fire pit and a cut off tree I could use as a counter to put stuff on. Had salami/cheese/tortilla for dinner. I used my plastic spork to cut the salami and it worked well enough. My camping inexperience became evident when I tried to start a fire. I had to waste 6 matches to do it.

Campsite at Clouds Rest Trail Junction

I did everything in a hurry since the sun was going down fast. Washed my feet with soap and got into the tent right before 9pm. My first night of camping by myself. I used the tent rain fly even though it was warm and it wasn’t going to rain. I felt a little more protected this way instead of just using the mesh inner layer, but I didn’t zip up the rain fly door to allow some airflow. As I laid down, I was able to look up the sky through the rain fly door. It was beautiful and full of starts. Since the temperature was very pleasant, I didn’t zip up my sleeping bag either, choosing instead to use it as a quilt. Physically, I felt fine today, except for that stretch when I was really thirsty and couldn’t find water.

I felt asleep right away.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Garnet Lake

Planning
Packing List
Day 1 – Yosemite Valley to Clouds Rest Trail Junction
Day 2 – Clouds Rest Junction to Half Dome to Sunrise Creek Crossing
Day 3 – Sunrise Creek Crossing to Lower Cathedral Lake
Day 4 – Lower Cathedral Lake to Tuolumne Meadows
Day 5 – Tuolumne Meadows to Donohue Pass
Day 6 – Donohue Pass to Thousand Island Lake
Day 7 – Thousand Island Lake to Rosalie Lake
Day 8 – Rosalie Lake to Reds Meadow
Day 9 – Reds Meadow to Deer Creek
Day 10 – Deer Creek to Cascade Valley Junction
Day 11 – Cascade Valley Junction to Silver Pass to Vermillion Valley Resort
Day 12 – Vermilion Valley Resort (Rest Day)
Day 13 – Vermilion Valley Resort to Marie Lake
Day 14 – Marie Lake to Selden Pass to Muir Trail Ranch
Day 15 – Muir Trail Ranch to McClure Meadow
Day 16 – McClure Meadow to Muir Pass to Lake West of Helen Lake
Day 17 – Lake West of Helen Lake to Deer Meadow
Day 18 – Deer Meadow to Mather Pass to Main South Fork Kings Crossing
Day 19 – Main South Fork Kings Crossing to Pinchot Pass to Woods Creek
Day 20 – Woods Creek to Glen Pass to Vidette Meadow
Day 21 – Vidette Meadow to Forester Pass to Bighorn Plateau
Day 22 – Bighorn Plateau to Guitar Lake
Day 23 – Guitar Lake to Mount Whitney to Whitney Portal
Post Trip Thoughts

John Muir Trail Journal Index

This is my final packing list for the John Muir Trail. I have decided to go without a stove for 3 reasons: 1) I would only be using it for freeze dried dinners and these take up too much space in the canister 2) At the end of a long day, I’d be too lazy to cook, even something so convenient like freeze dried dinners 3) It saves weight.

This is my planned diet for each day. It doesn’t mean that I ate exactly 4 ounces of dried fruit or 2 ounces of cheese everyday, but it ended up averaging about that.

The table below describes the food I brought to begin the trail, and the food I sent and picked up at each resupply point. The weight for each item is in ounces. The totals at the bottom is in pounds.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

The countdown begins for August 17, 2009.

After calling the Yosemite Association and talking to a less than courteous person on the phone, I made my reservation for the Wilderness Permit required for the John Muir Trail.

I called at the earliest time possible to make the reservation (24 weeks/168 days in advance) at exactly 2 minutes after they opened their office at 8:32am. My original plan was to complete the trail in 21 days but that would mean that I would be summiting Mt. Whitney during labor day weekend. In order to avoid the crowd I’m now leaning more towards doing it in 23 days, ending on September 8.

I now have a little less than 6 months to finish purchasing the equipment I need and take them for a few test runs. The main items I need to purchase are: waterproof jacket, stove, hiking poles, and sleeping pad. I’ll have to decide whether to take my heavy hiking boots or get some trail runners, and whether to bring a water filter or use purifying tables. Many questions that will be answered in the exciting months ahead.

7/7/09 UPDATE: Check out my updated packing list HERE.
11/21/09 UPDATE: Go HERE to read my JMT journal.

I’m been reading a lot of about this trail and it looks like an epic 21-day journey. It starts at Happy Isles in Yosemite and ends Whitney Portal right underneath Mount Whitney.

My plan is to do this in the Summer of 2009, so I got about 1 year to plan and prepare for it (a very exciting part of any journey). My previous backpack (including tent, sleeping bag/mat, stove, etc) was stolen after the Machu Picchu trek in Peru so I’ll need to reaquire all those items.

I went to the REI Annual Sale last week and got me the Big Agnes Seedhouse SL 1-person tent.

It’s a little bit expensive but it is the biggest and lightest tent they had in the store. On top of that I like that all the upper section is made of mesh material which gives you an amazing 360 degree view of the surroundings. I think it might even be able to fit 2 people into, although not very comfortably.

The idea was to slowly buy all the remaining items leading up to next years trip. But once I set up the tent in my living room, I figured that I don’t need to wait until the John Muir Trail to go camping. I can go to many weekend camping trips between now and then. I went ahead and bought online the Alps Mountaineering Clearwater MX +20 sleeping bag online and can’t wait for it to arrive.

I still need a stove and sleeping mat before I can go camping.