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January 30, 2010May 16, 2017

John Muir Trail Day 17: Lake West of Helen Lake to Deer Meadow

This post is part of a series called John Muir Trail Journal
Show More Posts
  • John Muir Trail Date Set, Permit Reserved
  • John Muir Trail Planning
  • John Muir Trail Packing List
  • John Muir Trail Journal
  • John Muir Trail Day 1: Yosemite Valley to Clouds Rest Junction
  • John Muir Trail Day 2: Clouds Rest Junction to Half Dome to Sunrise Creek Crossing
  • John Muir Trail Day 3: Sunrise Creek Crossing to Lower Cathedral Lake
  • John Muir Trail Day 4: Lower Cathedral Lake to Tuolumne Meadows
  • John Muir Trail Day 5: Tuolumne Meadows to Donohue Pass
  • John Muir Trail Day 6: Donohue Pass to Thousand Island Lake
  • John Muir Trail Day 7: Thousand Island Lake to Rosalie Lake
  • John Muir Trail Day 8: Rosalie Lake to Reds Meadow
  • John Muir Trail Day 9: Reds Meadow to Deer Creek
  • John Muir Trail Day 10: Deer Creek to Cascade Valley Junction
  • John Muir Trail Day 11: Cascade Valley Junction to Silver Pass to Vermilion Valley Resort
  • John Muir Trail Day 12: Vermilion Valley Resort
  • John Muir Trail Day 13: Vermilion Valley Resort to Marie Lake
  • John Muir Trail Day 14: Marie Lake to Selden Pass to Muir Trail Ranch
  • John Muir Trail Day 15: Muir Trail Ranch to McClure Meadow
  • John Muir Trail Day 16: McClure Meadow to Muir Pass to Lake West of Helen Lake
  • John Muir Trail Day 17: Lake West of Helen Lake to Deer Meadow
  • John Muir Trail Day 18: Deer Meadow to Mather Pass to Main South Fork Kings Crossing
  • John Muir Trail Day 19: Main South Fork Kings Crossing to Pinchot Pass to Woods Creek
  • John Muir Trail Day 20: Woods Creek to Glen Pass to Vidette Meadow
  • John Muir Trail Day 21: Vidette Meadow to Forester Pass to Bighorn Plateau
  • John Muir Trail Day 22: Bighorn Plateau to Guitar Lake
  • John Muir Trail Day 23: Guitar Lake to Mount Whitney to Whitney Portal
  • John Muir Trail: Post Trip Thoughts

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 fatigued. But after a good night’s sleep, which was generally at least 10 hours, I would wake up fresh and with no pain.

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 gorgeous, surrounded by huge beautiful mountains such as Black Giant, and plenty of small 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 on the John Muir Trail

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, John Muir Trail
Grouse Meadow, John Muir Trail

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.

Saying goodbye to 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 only 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 light drizzle 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.

Posted in Travel, Hiking, Photography, Americas, John Muir Trail, King's Canyon National Park, United States
6 Comments
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   John Muir Trail Day 16: McClure Meadow to Muir Pass to Lake West of Helen Lake
John Muir Trail Day 18: Deer Meadow to Mather Pass to Main South Fork Kings Crossing   

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Comments (6)

  • Don Amundson January 30, 2010 at 7:27 pm Reply

    Hello again Kevin. You can read Tom’s story at Trail Journals
    http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=9701 As I said he is returning this year for another attempt.

    Don

    • Kevin January 30, 2010 at 9:08 pm

      Thanks for the link Don! I’m glad he is giving it another shot this year.

  • Dave Pex March 5, 2010 at 1:51 am Reply

    Kevin,

    I’m really enjoying reading this. I’m planning my JMT hike starting 8/15/10 and finishing 8/30/10. Taking my base weight down from 30 lbs. to 16 lbs., I’ve also become a BPL fan. Looking forward to your remaining entries!

    • Kevin March 22, 2010 at 10:25 pm

      Hi Dave. Good job on reducing your base weight by half. Enjoy your time out there, it’s an amazing journey.

  • Dave S April 3, 2010 at 11:53 am Reply

    Hey Kevin, your blog is really good. Thank you for spending the time to write it out and great pictures. I’m starting to plan a JMT attempt in 2012 – on my 60th year on this earth (SHEESH!!! that sounds really old, I don’t feel it though). I’ll need to get in shape and buy some equipment, but in planning.
    Can’t wait to see the rest of your entries and the last few.
    Thanks again for getting into the details.

    • Kevin April 25, 2010 at 11:59 pm

      Thanks Dave. I’m glad you enjoy my journal. As I mentioned here, I met several 60+ year olds on the JMT. Many of them in great physical shape, so don’t worry, age is really not a factor. Good luck on your planning!

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kevinstravel

Rough race and not the result I was looking for. W Rough race and not the result I was looking for. Was targeting a sub 2:55 but finished in 3:31. It felt hard from the start and had stomach issues later on. Still proud of the effort and finish.
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