7/27/01
Porcupine Campground
Miles Today - 0
Total JMT Miles - 0
Got back from Maine a little over 24 hours before getting in a car with Mike, Carrie and their friend Steve headed for Yosemite. We took some back roads that Mike's dad had told him would be shorter. Well….I'm not sure that it was shorter, but it was a different way and it was scenic. Got to Yosemite and had some lunch by the river. Then we went to pick up our back-country permit before trying to get a campsite for the night. The only chance was a first come first get campground in the park. If it was full when we arrived we would have to go outside of the park. It wasn't full! There were a few spaces to choose from, and we set up camp. We spent a lot of the afternoon trying to figure out how to prevent cars from driving into our area and turning around as they kicked up a ton of dust. No luck. The cars came throughout the night. Oh well…. Had a great campfire and then set off to sleep.
7/28/01
Marie Lakes Trail
Miles Today - 14.9
Total JMT Miles -14.9
Had breakfast at Tenaya Lake along the highway to the trail-head. The lake was glassy and beautiful! Took some beautiful pictures and then headed back down the highway to the trail-head. Day one on the trail and if today's beauty is any indication of the rest of the trail ….WOW!! Hiked the 8 miles through Lyell Canyon. The meadows were amazing! Then it was on to and up to the first of many passes on this trip….Mr. Phil Donohue Pass at 11056 feet. Ok ….it wasn't really Phil Donohue Pass…it was just Donohue Pass. It was HOT. There was almost no shade on the entire climb. On the way up we passed a woman who simply said, "Don't take the weather for granted." Ok….. whatever you say lady… At the top no vegetation existed….but the marmots were in full control. These small mammals like high elevations and granite. They are a lot of fun to watch as they scurry along the rocks and keep a watchful eye out on the whereabouts of hikers. We took a break on the south side of the pass in a sliver of shade before descending. We walked to the convergence of two creeks at the Marie Lakes trail. Another JMT hiker set up about 150 years north of us. Good dinner and the weather was so nice that I decided to sleep out of the tent under the stars. Ahhhhhh….
7/29/01
Minaret Falls
Miles Today - 18.1
Total JMT Miles - 33
Happy Birthday to me….lalalalalalala Can I really be 33? Wow. I don't feel any older. As a matter of fact I feel better and better with each mile I put behind me! Woke up at 5:45 to a very strange sight. A tall man standing above Mike in his tent saying something about a bear. I was sleeping outside the tent because it was such a beautiful night. I didn't quiet comprehend what he was trying to say for a minute or two due to being awoken out of a deep sleep. Turns out he was saying, "Excuse me….A bear ate all my food." WOW. Mike wasn't all that awake either and tried to locate our maps to help the guy find the shortest route out so that he could re-supply. Mike kind of gave up looking for the maps after one sleepy feeble attempt to locate them. This was about when I started to gain conciseness. I said one word that helped refocus Mike…"Inside" He immediately knew that the maps were inside of my backpack and pulled them right out. The guy continued to tell us that a bear had got all of his food and didn't we hear him? No…..I heard nothing…. Turns out that he had been yelling and blowing his whistle for over three hours as a mother and cub fought to get his food that was hanging in a tree. He said that he had been hiking in this area for 22 years and never had he had any bear trouble. Next time use a bear canister buddy! He left and we packed up. Hiked south towards Thousand Island Lake. We passed Chuck who was wearing twenty something layers of clothes and sweating profusely. Mike and I said "Hi" and walked on in our shorts and tee shirts. We saw him a few minutes later at the lake where he said to me, "I hate to do this, but could I ask you a favor?" I timidly, not knowing what he would come up with said…"Yea…" With that he pulled out a disposable camera and asked me to take his picture. No problem Chuck. He went on and on about how light this little 4 oz. disposable camera was. You should have seen how big this guy's pack was. Like this camera really made a difference? Anyway, as I took his picture Mike asked if he had seen any bears and Chuck told us that the other day, "While I was making a freeze dried dinner….you know one of those Mountain Top dinners ….beef stroganoff…. I heard something behind me and I turned around. It was a bear! It scared the pee turkey out of me!" Hmmmmm…What exactly is pee turkey? I'm not really sure….hehehehehe….As we were saying goodbye to him and walking away he yelled, "Wait!" We turned to look at him and he was pointing into the air and saying, "Look at the jets." We looked at the jets….we looked at each other and with a little chuckle (pardon the pun) said goodbye again and walked on. Interesting day I tell you. It wasn't more than 30 minutes later we passed a man who just started talking to us. He said, " Twenty-five years ago when I was 50 I hiked this trail and was with a 17 year old girl who had to stop at Red's Meadow to take a shower." Ok……whatever…..
Hiked on to Garnet Lake and did a little fishing… I caught my first fish of the JMT today on my birthday!! Yippee!! Continued hiking to Minaret Falls and hiked off the trail into a sunnier area and set up camp. Went down to the waterfall and soaked our feet for a while before making dinner having a small fire and conking out. Good birthday!!
7/30/01
Duck Lake Outlet
Miles Today -15.6
Total JMT Miles - 48.6
Dusty day!! Left Minaret Falls early and hiked to a spur trail that dropped down about ½ a mile to a spot that we could see Devils Postpile very well. Unfortunately, we couldn't take any pictures because the early low sun got in the way of all picture attempts. Oh well….. We continued hiking down on a very dusty trail towards Red's Meadow. There is a stable and store there. There were many confusing side trails and we ended up missing our Red's trail and hiking about ½ mile too far. We turned around and made it to Red's in no time. We bought some bagels, candy, and the girl behind the counter gave us a pen. We hiked out and past more horses on the trail. It's kind of a pain to have to get off the trail and let the horses pass. Not to mention the dust cloud that they kick up! Hiked up past Red Cones and through an area without any shade at all due to a fire years ago that burned all overhead vegetation. Took a long break in Crater Meadow. Soaked the feet, had lunch, played cards, and just rested. Hiked on to the Duck Lake outlet. The lake was up another 500 feet or so off the trail so we camped at its outlet and had a great camp spot.
7/31/01
Chief Lake
Miles Today - 10.3
Total JMT Miles - 58.9
Short day today. The feet aren't doing that great. I've got a pretty big and bad blister on my right heal and a smaller one developing on my left heal. Oh well……no broken bones!! Passed Purple Lake early this morning and then Lake Virginia. Then we dropped deep into Tully Hole loosing lots of elevation only to have to climb back up. I had seen Warrior Lake on the map and because it was not on the trail I was interested in camping there. We got to Chief Lake and Mike suggested that we stay there instead. I wasn't as excited about staying there because the lake was on the trail and we would have lots of traffic and maybe some people sharing our lake later in the day. All turned out great at Chief Lake. I decided to fish the lake. I walked in a clockwise direction and fished every inch of the lake. The good news was that I caught at least 50 fish! The bad news was that none of them were really keepers. They all were under 8 inches or so. Great fighters, but too small to eat. Mike walked around taking pictures for hours. He took…..Let's just say a lot…Beautiful sunset…. Great dinner of dehydrated lasagna!! Off to bed.
8/1/01
Vermillion Valley Resort
Miles Today - 12.6
Total JMT Miles - 71.5
Great night last night at Chief Lake. Woke up this morning and hiked over Silver Pass at 10,900 feet. We hiked down the backside into Pocket Meadow. We got to the Lake Edison Ferry stop a few hours before it picked hikers up to be taken to the Vermillion Valley Resort. We decided to hike the 4.2 miles to the resort instead of waiting. The trail was a dusty roller coaster. It took much longer than it should of to get to the resort. Once we arrived we picked up our mail drop and laid our stuff on the bunks in the tent cabin that Vermillion offers free to hikers. When I opened our mail drop what should I find????
Four cold beers that Mike had put in for us!
Met the "big group" as we called them. There were five of them hiking together and we hung out with them for a while before deciding to go into the Vermillion restaurant for dinner instead of cooking our own food. I ordered the only thing on the menu that I could eat….halibut. But when my plate came I got a piece of salmon….go figure….I like salmon better anyway. We also met Paul and John. John was in his mid 50's and his son Paul was about 20. They were from Scotland and John had hiked the JMT two years ago. He had brought his son out to hike it with him this time. Unfortunately, John had developed a bad big toe and was going to have to pull off the trail and let Paul finish on his own. It was very sad to watch the two of them and realize that their dream of hiking the JMT together was over. I went to sleep grateful that I am lucky enough to get to hike this trail!
8/2/01
Heart Lake
Miles Today - 16.6
Total JMT Miles - 88.1
Left Vermillion by a back trail that saved us the $8.00 ferry ride. We decided to leave using the Bear Valley Trail because we had heard that it was a much prettier route and it skipped the useless 53 switchbacks up the JMT. We hooked up with the JMT about 6 miles into our hike and continued up to Seldon Pass where we had planned to take a zero day in the mountains. My feet were really hurting today with blisters on the back of both heels now and a couple in between my toes. Mike built some heel lifters for my boots and it seemed to help after our lunch break at Marie Lakes. Went to the top of Seldon Pass where we took another long break and some great pictures before descending to Heart Lake for the night. After setting up camp we spotted a Bald Eagle circling above us. It was so graceful. I watched it forever. Hanging our food again tonight using the counterbalancing method…hope we have no bear trouble. Lost the pen we got at Red's Meadow…
8/3/01
McClure Meadow
Miles Today -16.4
Total JMT Miles - 104.5
Hiked between Sally Keys Lakes today on a small spit of land between the sister lakes. We continued down to the Muir Trail Ranch for our last food drop. It was heavy!! We picked up 9 more days of food which was about 15-20 more pounds in each of our packs! We later entered Kings Canyon National Park as we followed the San Joaquin River and then Evolution Creek for a while. Just before McClure Meadow we had to make a stream crossing that we needed to take our boots off. This was the first and last time we would need to take off our boots to cross a stream. Going on the trip this late in the season meant that most of the streams were rock hopable. After crossing the stream we just hung out on the shore for about an hour soaking up the silence and the sun before hiking the mile or so to McClure Meadow. We hiked through the meadow and on for a couple minutes before finding a good wind break and camp for the night. Sleeping outside again tonight and staring at the sky.
8/4/01
Wanda Lake
Miles Today - 7.5
Total JMT Miles - 112
Woke up to some frost on my sleeping bag this morning. Had to hang out in the sun for a while and dry my bag out before packing it up. Today was a gradual up through Evolution Valley past Evolution Lake and into Evolution Basin where Wanda Lake sits. The big news today was that I fell off the trail! Yep… only about 3-4 feet of a drop, but it could have been much worse. The trail was very cliffy and I could have fallen a very long way. My only injury was a jammed finger that would only bother me for about 24 hours. Mike and I set up camp and hiked a few hundred feet up to the top of the ridge behind our camp. We got a great look into an amazing volcanic canyon with sapphire colored lakes mirrored by Goodard Glacier. Amazing views and pictures. As I was brushing my teeth at the lake's edge, rocks fell from a nearby cliff. What a sound!! Mike and I watched the sunset over the Muir Hut at the top of Muir Pass. It was amazing how the shadows fell. As the sun went down the shadows crept up towards the hut from all sides. Just before the sun disappeared for good, the only thing left in light was the small hut 500 feet above us. Wow!! Off to bed.
8/5/01
Deer Meadow
Miles Today - 15.3
Total JMT Miles - 127.3
Woke up to a popped thermorest today! Tried to fix it at Wanda Lake but the glue had gone bad and I was only able to fix one of the two holes. We also ran out of our water purification today. We were using a product called Aqua Mira, but I had done the math wrong and only brought about half of what we needed. No problem…. There are lots of clean sources of water on the trail that do not need to be treated. If I'm careful and use the map well, I should be able to find safe sources for the rest of the trip.
Good size day. Checked out the Muir Hut. "The group" was there. We talked with them for a while and then headed down the other side of Muir Pass past Helen Lake. Helen and Wanda were John Muir's two daughters. The south side of the pass was beautiful! A very long down followed into Little Pete Meadow, 2500 feet down. Into LeConte Canyon and then east following the Palisade Creek. We were stalked by a deer today. Ok….not stalked, but the deer paralleled us for over two miles sometimes walking in the brush above the trail and sometimes walking on the trail in front of us. The deer was very thin!
Our destination was Deer Meadow. We walked right past it. There were no deer and there was no meadow. A woman walking towards me on the trail told me that I had passed it about a quarter mile back. We walked back to the "meadow" and set up camp. "The group" showed up about two hours later but not all at once. They arrived over about an hour span with the last two arriving as it was getting dark. There are too many of them. I guess I'll just leave it at that.
8/6/01
Just above the South Fork of the Kings River below Mt. Ruskin
Miles Today - 10.9
Total JMT Miles - 138.2
Hiked out early and fast today to hike ahead of "the group." We left a little too fast! We only had a energy bar instead of our usual granola and milk breakfast. Today was the hardest climb yet! The "Golden Staircase" with it's beautiful views back into Palisade Creek and it's valley. We got a little break on the gradual ascent to Palisade Lakes and then it was up, up, up, to the top of Mather Pass at 12,100 feet. It was a tough climb on a very rocky trail. Once at the top we took our usual break and pictures before descending the south side and into the Upper Basin. Clouds were gathering in the sky and we decided that since we were ahead of schedule we would cut the day a little short and hike up the side of the valley and well off the trail to find a camp spot. We were camped on a stream that looked like it was a clean water source on the map. Mike choose to boil the water, but I trusted it and drank it without treating. No rain…groovy clouds…..
8/7/01
Woods Creek
Miles Today - 12.1
Total JMT Miles - 150.3
Passed by Marjorie Lake early this morning and it was one of the two best views so far. Climbed Pinchot Pass at 12130 feet and towards the end of the day we crossed the "Golden Gate of the Sierra." This suspension bridge was a one person at a time deal. It was a thing of beauty. We decided not to camp in the area of the bear box because it looked like a camp ground with so many tents. We walked south for just a few minutes and then into the woods to find an area a little more secluded. We counterbalanced our food and it drizzled just a bit in the late afternoon. I took a walk through the woods and found a "Point Reyes" State Park map laying on the ground. I also saw a doe with her very young fawn. Great day and nice to have some clouds and a little cooler weather.
8/8/01
Charlotte Lake
Miles Today - 10.3
Total JMT Miles - 160.6
Saw that doe and fawn again this mooring. The fawn charged us like she was going to run right into us, but stopped about 30 feet away. She just starred for about a minute before trotting back into the woods. Mike and I were frozen in awe. Short walk today. It was a very hot start to the day walking up South Baxter Creek. I was sweating faster than I could hydrate. Got to Dollar Lake and washed my shirt, rung it out, and put it back on. This helped cool myself for the 20 minute walk to Rae Lakes. This valley is suppose to have the worst bear problems of the entire trail. We stopped at Rae Lakes to play some cards and go swimming. Clouds were starting to gather so we decided that we better get up and over Glen Pass at 11978 feet. The sky got blacker and blacker as we ascended. At the top it started raining and we took cover under some trees and waited until it stopped. We then decided to again cut our day a little short since we were still ahead of schedule. We hiked off the trail and in only ten minutes had dropped 400 feet and were at the shores of Charlotte Lake. I started boiling water for both of us since there was no clean source of water here. Mike was approached by a ranger and ended up yogging some iodine pills to cover us if we got into a jam with water.
We sat by the lake's edge for hours talking and laughing. We saw the sky turn black with clouds. We watched it start to rain…light at first, and then a little harder. We watched the sun come out as it continued raining. We kept sitting there until the sun came out and finally gave us a magnificent sunset to cook dinner by. As we were cooking dinner we were treated to the sounds of a family of coyote on the opposite side of the lake. Amazing……Off to sleep on my flat thermorest…..
8/9/01
Tyndall Creek
Miles Today - 16.7
Total JMT Miles - 177.3
My favorite day on the JMT! We hiked out of Charlotte Lake this morning and heard more coyotes on the way of the canyon. We hiked past the Kearsarge Pinnacles on our way to Center Basin. We were headed to the Basin because just as at Charlotte Lake, there were bear boxes to keep our food in, and we had been told by the ranger (George) at Charlotte Lake not to even try hanging our food in this section of the trail. So….. we passed Center Basin by and headed towards Forester Pass. At 13,200 feet, this was the highest pass on the JMT or the PCT. As we passed a couple of unnamed lakes at about 12,000 feet it started drizzling and just minutes later there was thunder, lightening and then the hail. Big hard hail. We put our pack covers and our rain jackets on and continued to hike looking for a flat spot to set up the tent and wait it out. Instead, I saw a large flat rock with a big enough area under it to let 10-15 people hide from the storm. We hiked faster almost running for the cover of the rock. What a show we got from under that bolder!
After about 15 minutes all quieted down. We came out from under the rock and continued hiking. Black ominous clouds lingered on either side of the pass. It was still another 90 minutes before we hit the top of the pass. We hiked quickly and when we arrived at the top the sky was once again black with clouds. We snapped some quick pictures and then headed down the southern side. The valley under Diamond Mesa was amazing! This was a canyon like none that we had hiked in before. We were greeted with long expansive views of rocky slopes and small pockets of high elevation pines struggling to survive. The sun was out just miles ahead of us. And then the dark clouds caught us! A sprinkle at first and then it mixed with light hail. Walking in the rain was so peaceful. The sun came out and as it continued to rain the sun warmed my damp clothes. This was peaceful hiking at it's best! I walked into Tyndall about 5:00 made dinner, talked to the ranger that walked though and got a decent night sleep on my flat sleeping pad.
8/10/01
Crabtree Meadow
Miles Today - 8.8
Total JMT Miles - 186.1
Not too many miles today because we are so far ahead of schedule. We didn't have too much water left this morning and we didn't hit safe water until about 5 miles into the day. We took a break there and drank a couple liters each of the clean safe water. There wasn't too much elevation today but it wasn't ever flat! We took a couple hour break in Sandy Meadow…. Read some and even cooked a hot lunch so that we could save the cold lunch for Whitney. We hiked on and saw two beautiful bucks with all of their felt still on their antlers. We took great pictures. We hiked on to Crabtree Meadow and Ranger Station and got there at about 2:00 P.M. Only one other group showed up for the rest of the day. We played cards, did all of our laundry, and ate! The mosquitoes were bad but the pair of squirrels chasing each other made up for it. Mike found a grave at the back of the meadow that we are camped in. Dr. William Pen Tuttle, Jr. January 6, 1913 - August 24, 1946. Hmmmmmmmm
8/11/01
Mt. Whitney
Miles Today - 8.9
Total JMT Miles - 195
The Summit! Well… I did some ill planning for and on this trip…the height of that misplanning was taking no journaling instruments. So here I sit on top of Mt. Whitney at 14496 feet high, using a pen that I found in the register (along with many others). I finally get to write about the trip.
Today….ahhhh today…. We left Crabtree Meadow at about 8:00 and started the nearly 3500 foot climb to the summit. Hiking felt great today! Legs and the lungs worked perfectly. The trail was a switchback style with the longest switchbacks that I have ever seen. Time flew by as we moved to the summit passing views to our east for the first time since the Red Cone Area near Red's Meadow. I'm feeling great. So many others on the summit are looking like they are going to keel over. Being acclimated for over two weeks sure has helped with this climb of all climbs. A glider has been flying around the summit for the last 30 minutes of so…. More later…..
Well the crowds are gone and it's just Mike, myself, and two teenage boys that are camped a ways away from us with voices that probably carry to the Pacific from here. At about 7, two rock climbers came over the summit after 1500 vertical feet. They were pretty pumped up but had to celebrate fast so that they could get down at least half the mountain in the light. We watched an amazing sunset from the summit and then watched the stars, satellites, and an intense lightening storm 100 miles or so to the north. Then at about 9:00 when it was pitch dark Sergio stumbled up the trail to the summit. He was with two others, one very sick from the altitude and the other had not been seen in about an our. Sergio walked back a ways and found his friend Marco. All were ok… unprepared…but fine. And Sergio told us that this was their training for their climb of Mt. Rainier next month. Crazy night….
8/12/01
Whitney Portal
Miles Today -10.2
Total JMT Miles - 205.2 + 26 Miles in 1999 = 231.2
Well I slept very poorly last night. Mike set the alarm for the sunrise, but I was already awake. I got up to watch the sunrise and Mike joined me a few minutes later. We watched the sun break the horizon and Mike went back into the tent. I stayed out and had the summit to myself for the next 30 minutes. I was the highest person in the contiguous U.S for that 30 minutes. I slept higher that anyone else, saw the sun first in California, and now held the high point all to myself. At about 6:15 I began watching a single engine airplane that was down 7000 feet or so over the town of Lone Pine. I had been watching the plane for about 3 minutes when all of the sudden it changed it's northern course and headed up and west. Straight at me! It got closer and closer and as it reached the summit it tipped it's wings and the plot and passenger gave me a thumbs up. The plane quickly dropped back to it's original elevation and course and continued on northward.
At 6:30 my time alone on the mountain came to an end as I heard a voice behind me. I thought it was Sergio and his friends or the two boys camped on the summit with us, but it was neither. A hiker and two of his friends had started hiking at 9:30 the night before and had just arrived 9 hours later! Crazyyyyyyyyyyy….
We packed up at about 7:30 and started our decent from the summit. I started out wearing all of my clothes because with the wind it was very chilly. In about 20 minutes my body temperature had risen and I stripped off everything down to my shorts and tee shirt.
It was a very pretty hike. All downhill. Carrie, Mike's girlfriend met us as we were hiking down about 2 miles before the bottom. We hiked with her to the bottom and took wonderful showers at the Portal. Drove into Lone Pine for a decent lunch and then hit the road for our 6 hour trip home.
The JMT was amazing! Completely different from the AT. There really is no way to compare the two. I feel very lucky to have such an amazing 200 miles in my backyard. Never would I have imagined that each and every day on the John Muir Trail, I would be walking through and area as beautiful as Yosemite, but so very different. I had always thought that Yosemite was the pinnacle of beauty in the state of California. Now I know different. There are 200 amazing miles out there between Yosemite and Mt. Whitney and I am so grateful that I was able to see and experience every one of them.
Peace, Love, Courage…..
Dreamer
Porcupine Campground
Miles Today - 0
Total JMT Miles - 0
Got back from Maine a little over 24 hours before getting in a car with Mike, Carrie and their friend Steve headed for Yosemite. We took some back roads that Mike's dad had told him would be shorter. Well….I'm not sure that it was shorter, but it was a different way and it was scenic. Got to Yosemite and had some lunch by the river. Then we went to pick up our back-country permit before trying to get a campsite for the night. The only chance was a first come first get campground in the park. If it was full when we arrived we would have to go outside of the park. It wasn't full! There were a few spaces to choose from, and we set up camp. We spent a lot of the afternoon trying to figure out how to prevent cars from driving into our area and turning around as they kicked up a ton of dust. No luck. The cars came throughout the night. Oh well…. Had a great campfire and then set off to sleep.
7/28/01
Marie Lakes Trail
Miles Today - 14.9
Total JMT Miles -14.9
Had breakfast at Tenaya Lake along the highway to the trail-head. The lake was glassy and beautiful! Took some beautiful pictures and then headed back down the highway to the trail-head. Day one on the trail and if today's beauty is any indication of the rest of the trail ….WOW!! Hiked the 8 miles through Lyell Canyon. The meadows were amazing! Then it was on to and up to the first of many passes on this trip….Mr. Phil Donohue Pass at 11056 feet. Ok ….it wasn't really Phil Donohue Pass…it was just Donohue Pass. It was HOT. There was almost no shade on the entire climb. On the way up we passed a woman who simply said, "Don't take the weather for granted." Ok….. whatever you say lady… At the top no vegetation existed….but the marmots were in full control. These small mammals like high elevations and granite. They are a lot of fun to watch as they scurry along the rocks and keep a watchful eye out on the whereabouts of hikers. We took a break on the south side of the pass in a sliver of shade before descending. We walked to the convergence of two creeks at the Marie Lakes trail. Another JMT hiker set up about 150 years north of us. Good dinner and the weather was so nice that I decided to sleep out of the tent under the stars. Ahhhhhh….
7/29/01
Minaret Falls
Miles Today - 18.1
Total JMT Miles - 33
Happy Birthday to me….lalalalalalala Can I really be 33? Wow. I don't feel any older. As a matter of fact I feel better and better with each mile I put behind me! Woke up at 5:45 to a very strange sight. A tall man standing above Mike in his tent saying something about a bear. I was sleeping outside the tent because it was such a beautiful night. I didn't quiet comprehend what he was trying to say for a minute or two due to being awoken out of a deep sleep. Turns out he was saying, "Excuse me….A bear ate all my food." WOW. Mike wasn't all that awake either and tried to locate our maps to help the guy find the shortest route out so that he could re-supply. Mike kind of gave up looking for the maps after one sleepy feeble attempt to locate them. This was about when I started to gain conciseness. I said one word that helped refocus Mike…"Inside" He immediately knew that the maps were inside of my backpack and pulled them right out. The guy continued to tell us that a bear had got all of his food and didn't we hear him? No…..I heard nothing…. Turns out that he had been yelling and blowing his whistle for over three hours as a mother and cub fought to get his food that was hanging in a tree. He said that he had been hiking in this area for 22 years and never had he had any bear trouble. Next time use a bear canister buddy! He left and we packed up. Hiked south towards Thousand Island Lake. We passed Chuck who was wearing twenty something layers of clothes and sweating profusely. Mike and I said "Hi" and walked on in our shorts and tee shirts. We saw him a few minutes later at the lake where he said to me, "I hate to do this, but could I ask you a favor?" I timidly, not knowing what he would come up with said…"Yea…" With that he pulled out a disposable camera and asked me to take his picture. No problem Chuck. He went on and on about how light this little 4 oz. disposable camera was. You should have seen how big this guy's pack was. Like this camera really made a difference? Anyway, as I took his picture Mike asked if he had seen any bears and Chuck told us that the other day, "While I was making a freeze dried dinner….you know one of those Mountain Top dinners ….beef stroganoff…. I heard something behind me and I turned around. It was a bear! It scared the pee turkey out of me!" Hmmmmm…What exactly is pee turkey? I'm not really sure….hehehehehe….As we were saying goodbye to him and walking away he yelled, "Wait!" We turned to look at him and he was pointing into the air and saying, "Look at the jets." We looked at the jets….we looked at each other and with a little chuckle (pardon the pun) said goodbye again and walked on. Interesting day I tell you. It wasn't more than 30 minutes later we passed a man who just started talking to us. He said, " Twenty-five years ago when I was 50 I hiked this trail and was with a 17 year old girl who had to stop at Red's Meadow to take a shower." Ok……whatever…..
Hiked on to Garnet Lake and did a little fishing… I caught my first fish of the JMT today on my birthday!! Yippee!! Continued hiking to Minaret Falls and hiked off the trail into a sunnier area and set up camp. Went down to the waterfall and soaked our feet for a while before making dinner having a small fire and conking out. Good birthday!!
7/30/01
Duck Lake Outlet
Miles Today -15.6
Total JMT Miles - 48.6
Dusty day!! Left Minaret Falls early and hiked to a spur trail that dropped down about ½ a mile to a spot that we could see Devils Postpile very well. Unfortunately, we couldn't take any pictures because the early low sun got in the way of all picture attempts. Oh well….. We continued hiking down on a very dusty trail towards Red's Meadow. There is a stable and store there. There were many confusing side trails and we ended up missing our Red's trail and hiking about ½ mile too far. We turned around and made it to Red's in no time. We bought some bagels, candy, and the girl behind the counter gave us a pen. We hiked out and past more horses on the trail. It's kind of a pain to have to get off the trail and let the horses pass. Not to mention the dust cloud that they kick up! Hiked up past Red Cones and through an area without any shade at all due to a fire years ago that burned all overhead vegetation. Took a long break in Crater Meadow. Soaked the feet, had lunch, played cards, and just rested. Hiked on to the Duck Lake outlet. The lake was up another 500 feet or so off the trail so we camped at its outlet and had a great camp spot.
7/31/01
Chief Lake
Miles Today - 10.3
Total JMT Miles - 58.9
Short day today. The feet aren't doing that great. I've got a pretty big and bad blister on my right heal and a smaller one developing on my left heal. Oh well……no broken bones!! Passed Purple Lake early this morning and then Lake Virginia. Then we dropped deep into Tully Hole loosing lots of elevation only to have to climb back up. I had seen Warrior Lake on the map and because it was not on the trail I was interested in camping there. We got to Chief Lake and Mike suggested that we stay there instead. I wasn't as excited about staying there because the lake was on the trail and we would have lots of traffic and maybe some people sharing our lake later in the day. All turned out great at Chief Lake. I decided to fish the lake. I walked in a clockwise direction and fished every inch of the lake. The good news was that I caught at least 50 fish! The bad news was that none of them were really keepers. They all were under 8 inches or so. Great fighters, but too small to eat. Mike walked around taking pictures for hours. He took…..Let's just say a lot…Beautiful sunset…. Great dinner of dehydrated lasagna!! Off to bed.
8/1/01
Vermillion Valley Resort
Miles Today - 12.6
Total JMT Miles - 71.5
Great night last night at Chief Lake. Woke up this morning and hiked over Silver Pass at 10,900 feet. We hiked down the backside into Pocket Meadow. We got to the Lake Edison Ferry stop a few hours before it picked hikers up to be taken to the Vermillion Valley Resort. We decided to hike the 4.2 miles to the resort instead of waiting. The trail was a dusty roller coaster. It took much longer than it should of to get to the resort. Once we arrived we picked up our mail drop and laid our stuff on the bunks in the tent cabin that Vermillion offers free to hikers. When I opened our mail drop what should I find????
Four cold beers that Mike had put in for us!
Met the "big group" as we called them. There were five of them hiking together and we hung out with them for a while before deciding to go into the Vermillion restaurant for dinner instead of cooking our own food. I ordered the only thing on the menu that I could eat….halibut. But when my plate came I got a piece of salmon….go figure….I like salmon better anyway. We also met Paul and John. John was in his mid 50's and his son Paul was about 20. They were from Scotland and John had hiked the JMT two years ago. He had brought his son out to hike it with him this time. Unfortunately, John had developed a bad big toe and was going to have to pull off the trail and let Paul finish on his own. It was very sad to watch the two of them and realize that their dream of hiking the JMT together was over. I went to sleep grateful that I am lucky enough to get to hike this trail!
8/2/01
Heart Lake
Miles Today - 16.6
Total JMT Miles - 88.1
Left Vermillion by a back trail that saved us the $8.00 ferry ride. We decided to leave using the Bear Valley Trail because we had heard that it was a much prettier route and it skipped the useless 53 switchbacks up the JMT. We hooked up with the JMT about 6 miles into our hike and continued up to Seldon Pass where we had planned to take a zero day in the mountains. My feet were really hurting today with blisters on the back of both heels now and a couple in between my toes. Mike built some heel lifters for my boots and it seemed to help after our lunch break at Marie Lakes. Went to the top of Seldon Pass where we took another long break and some great pictures before descending to Heart Lake for the night. After setting up camp we spotted a Bald Eagle circling above us. It was so graceful. I watched it forever. Hanging our food again tonight using the counterbalancing method…hope we have no bear trouble. Lost the pen we got at Red's Meadow…
8/3/01
McClure Meadow
Miles Today -16.4
Total JMT Miles - 104.5
Hiked between Sally Keys Lakes today on a small spit of land between the sister lakes. We continued down to the Muir Trail Ranch for our last food drop. It was heavy!! We picked up 9 more days of food which was about 15-20 more pounds in each of our packs! We later entered Kings Canyon National Park as we followed the San Joaquin River and then Evolution Creek for a while. Just before McClure Meadow we had to make a stream crossing that we needed to take our boots off. This was the first and last time we would need to take off our boots to cross a stream. Going on the trip this late in the season meant that most of the streams were rock hopable. After crossing the stream we just hung out on the shore for about an hour soaking up the silence and the sun before hiking the mile or so to McClure Meadow. We hiked through the meadow and on for a couple minutes before finding a good wind break and camp for the night. Sleeping outside again tonight and staring at the sky.
8/4/01
Wanda Lake
Miles Today - 7.5
Total JMT Miles - 112
Woke up to some frost on my sleeping bag this morning. Had to hang out in the sun for a while and dry my bag out before packing it up. Today was a gradual up through Evolution Valley past Evolution Lake and into Evolution Basin where Wanda Lake sits. The big news today was that I fell off the trail! Yep… only about 3-4 feet of a drop, but it could have been much worse. The trail was very cliffy and I could have fallen a very long way. My only injury was a jammed finger that would only bother me for about 24 hours. Mike and I set up camp and hiked a few hundred feet up to the top of the ridge behind our camp. We got a great look into an amazing volcanic canyon with sapphire colored lakes mirrored by Goodard Glacier. Amazing views and pictures. As I was brushing my teeth at the lake's edge, rocks fell from a nearby cliff. What a sound!! Mike and I watched the sunset over the Muir Hut at the top of Muir Pass. It was amazing how the shadows fell. As the sun went down the shadows crept up towards the hut from all sides. Just before the sun disappeared for good, the only thing left in light was the small hut 500 feet above us. Wow!! Off to bed.
8/5/01
Deer Meadow
Miles Today - 15.3
Total JMT Miles - 127.3
Woke up to a popped thermorest today! Tried to fix it at Wanda Lake but the glue had gone bad and I was only able to fix one of the two holes. We also ran out of our water purification today. We were using a product called Aqua Mira, but I had done the math wrong and only brought about half of what we needed. No problem…. There are lots of clean sources of water on the trail that do not need to be treated. If I'm careful and use the map well, I should be able to find safe sources for the rest of the trip.
Good size day. Checked out the Muir Hut. "The group" was there. We talked with them for a while and then headed down the other side of Muir Pass past Helen Lake. Helen and Wanda were John Muir's two daughters. The south side of the pass was beautiful! A very long down followed into Little Pete Meadow, 2500 feet down. Into LeConte Canyon and then east following the Palisade Creek. We were stalked by a deer today. Ok….not stalked, but the deer paralleled us for over two miles sometimes walking in the brush above the trail and sometimes walking on the trail in front of us. The deer was very thin!
Our destination was Deer Meadow. We walked right past it. There were no deer and there was no meadow. A woman walking towards me on the trail told me that I had passed it about a quarter mile back. We walked back to the "meadow" and set up camp. "The group" showed up about two hours later but not all at once. They arrived over about an hour span with the last two arriving as it was getting dark. There are too many of them. I guess I'll just leave it at that.
8/6/01
Just above the South Fork of the Kings River below Mt. Ruskin
Miles Today - 10.9
Total JMT Miles - 138.2
Hiked out early and fast today to hike ahead of "the group." We left a little too fast! We only had a energy bar instead of our usual granola and milk breakfast. Today was the hardest climb yet! The "Golden Staircase" with it's beautiful views back into Palisade Creek and it's valley. We got a little break on the gradual ascent to Palisade Lakes and then it was up, up, up, to the top of Mather Pass at 12,100 feet. It was a tough climb on a very rocky trail. Once at the top we took our usual break and pictures before descending the south side and into the Upper Basin. Clouds were gathering in the sky and we decided that since we were ahead of schedule we would cut the day a little short and hike up the side of the valley and well off the trail to find a camp spot. We were camped on a stream that looked like it was a clean water source on the map. Mike choose to boil the water, but I trusted it and drank it without treating. No rain…groovy clouds…..
8/7/01
Woods Creek
Miles Today - 12.1
Total JMT Miles - 150.3
Passed by Marjorie Lake early this morning and it was one of the two best views so far. Climbed Pinchot Pass at 12130 feet and towards the end of the day we crossed the "Golden Gate of the Sierra." This suspension bridge was a one person at a time deal. It was a thing of beauty. We decided not to camp in the area of the bear box because it looked like a camp ground with so many tents. We walked south for just a few minutes and then into the woods to find an area a little more secluded. We counterbalanced our food and it drizzled just a bit in the late afternoon. I took a walk through the woods and found a "Point Reyes" State Park map laying on the ground. I also saw a doe with her very young fawn. Great day and nice to have some clouds and a little cooler weather.
8/8/01
Charlotte Lake
Miles Today - 10.3
Total JMT Miles - 160.6
Saw that doe and fawn again this mooring. The fawn charged us like she was going to run right into us, but stopped about 30 feet away. She just starred for about a minute before trotting back into the woods. Mike and I were frozen in awe. Short walk today. It was a very hot start to the day walking up South Baxter Creek. I was sweating faster than I could hydrate. Got to Dollar Lake and washed my shirt, rung it out, and put it back on. This helped cool myself for the 20 minute walk to Rae Lakes. This valley is suppose to have the worst bear problems of the entire trail. We stopped at Rae Lakes to play some cards and go swimming. Clouds were starting to gather so we decided that we better get up and over Glen Pass at 11978 feet. The sky got blacker and blacker as we ascended. At the top it started raining and we took cover under some trees and waited until it stopped. We then decided to again cut our day a little short since we were still ahead of schedule. We hiked off the trail and in only ten minutes had dropped 400 feet and were at the shores of Charlotte Lake. I started boiling water for both of us since there was no clean source of water here. Mike was approached by a ranger and ended up yogging some iodine pills to cover us if we got into a jam with water.
We sat by the lake's edge for hours talking and laughing. We saw the sky turn black with clouds. We watched it start to rain…light at first, and then a little harder. We watched the sun come out as it continued raining. We kept sitting there until the sun came out and finally gave us a magnificent sunset to cook dinner by. As we were cooking dinner we were treated to the sounds of a family of coyote on the opposite side of the lake. Amazing……Off to sleep on my flat thermorest…..
8/9/01
Tyndall Creek
Miles Today - 16.7
Total JMT Miles - 177.3
My favorite day on the JMT! We hiked out of Charlotte Lake this morning and heard more coyotes on the way of the canyon. We hiked past the Kearsarge Pinnacles on our way to Center Basin. We were headed to the Basin because just as at Charlotte Lake, there were bear boxes to keep our food in, and we had been told by the ranger (George) at Charlotte Lake not to even try hanging our food in this section of the trail. So….. we passed Center Basin by and headed towards Forester Pass. At 13,200 feet, this was the highest pass on the JMT or the PCT. As we passed a couple of unnamed lakes at about 12,000 feet it started drizzling and just minutes later there was thunder, lightening and then the hail. Big hard hail. We put our pack covers and our rain jackets on and continued to hike looking for a flat spot to set up the tent and wait it out. Instead, I saw a large flat rock with a big enough area under it to let 10-15 people hide from the storm. We hiked faster almost running for the cover of the rock. What a show we got from under that bolder!
After about 15 minutes all quieted down. We came out from under the rock and continued hiking. Black ominous clouds lingered on either side of the pass. It was still another 90 minutes before we hit the top of the pass. We hiked quickly and when we arrived at the top the sky was once again black with clouds. We snapped some quick pictures and then headed down the southern side. The valley under Diamond Mesa was amazing! This was a canyon like none that we had hiked in before. We were greeted with long expansive views of rocky slopes and small pockets of high elevation pines struggling to survive. The sun was out just miles ahead of us. And then the dark clouds caught us! A sprinkle at first and then it mixed with light hail. Walking in the rain was so peaceful. The sun came out and as it continued to rain the sun warmed my damp clothes. This was peaceful hiking at it's best! I walked into Tyndall about 5:00 made dinner, talked to the ranger that walked though and got a decent night sleep on my flat sleeping pad.
8/10/01
Crabtree Meadow
Miles Today - 8.8
Total JMT Miles - 186.1
Not too many miles today because we are so far ahead of schedule. We didn't have too much water left this morning and we didn't hit safe water until about 5 miles into the day. We took a break there and drank a couple liters each of the clean safe water. There wasn't too much elevation today but it wasn't ever flat! We took a couple hour break in Sandy Meadow…. Read some and even cooked a hot lunch so that we could save the cold lunch for Whitney. We hiked on and saw two beautiful bucks with all of their felt still on their antlers. We took great pictures. We hiked on to Crabtree Meadow and Ranger Station and got there at about 2:00 P.M. Only one other group showed up for the rest of the day. We played cards, did all of our laundry, and ate! The mosquitoes were bad but the pair of squirrels chasing each other made up for it. Mike found a grave at the back of the meadow that we are camped in. Dr. William Pen Tuttle, Jr. January 6, 1913 - August 24, 1946. Hmmmmmmmm
8/11/01
Mt. Whitney
Miles Today - 8.9
Total JMT Miles - 195
The Summit! Well… I did some ill planning for and on this trip…the height of that misplanning was taking no journaling instruments. So here I sit on top of Mt. Whitney at 14496 feet high, using a pen that I found in the register (along with many others). I finally get to write about the trip.
Today….ahhhh today…. We left Crabtree Meadow at about 8:00 and started the nearly 3500 foot climb to the summit. Hiking felt great today! Legs and the lungs worked perfectly. The trail was a switchback style with the longest switchbacks that I have ever seen. Time flew by as we moved to the summit passing views to our east for the first time since the Red Cone Area near Red's Meadow. I'm feeling great. So many others on the summit are looking like they are going to keel over. Being acclimated for over two weeks sure has helped with this climb of all climbs. A glider has been flying around the summit for the last 30 minutes of so…. More later…..
Well the crowds are gone and it's just Mike, myself, and two teenage boys that are camped a ways away from us with voices that probably carry to the Pacific from here. At about 7, two rock climbers came over the summit after 1500 vertical feet. They were pretty pumped up but had to celebrate fast so that they could get down at least half the mountain in the light. We watched an amazing sunset from the summit and then watched the stars, satellites, and an intense lightening storm 100 miles or so to the north. Then at about 9:00 when it was pitch dark Sergio stumbled up the trail to the summit. He was with two others, one very sick from the altitude and the other had not been seen in about an our. Sergio walked back a ways and found his friend Marco. All were ok… unprepared…but fine. And Sergio told us that this was their training for their climb of Mt. Rainier next month. Crazy night….
8/12/01
Whitney Portal
Miles Today -10.2
Total JMT Miles - 205.2 + 26 Miles in 1999 = 231.2
Well I slept very poorly last night. Mike set the alarm for the sunrise, but I was already awake. I got up to watch the sunrise and Mike joined me a few minutes later. We watched the sun break the horizon and Mike went back into the tent. I stayed out and had the summit to myself for the next 30 minutes. I was the highest person in the contiguous U.S for that 30 minutes. I slept higher that anyone else, saw the sun first in California, and now held the high point all to myself. At about 6:15 I began watching a single engine airplane that was down 7000 feet or so over the town of Lone Pine. I had been watching the plane for about 3 minutes when all of the sudden it changed it's northern course and headed up and west. Straight at me! It got closer and closer and as it reached the summit it tipped it's wings and the plot and passenger gave me a thumbs up. The plane quickly dropped back to it's original elevation and course and continued on northward.
At 6:30 my time alone on the mountain came to an end as I heard a voice behind me. I thought it was Sergio and his friends or the two boys camped on the summit with us, but it was neither. A hiker and two of his friends had started hiking at 9:30 the night before and had just arrived 9 hours later! Crazyyyyyyyyyyy….
We packed up at about 7:30 and started our decent from the summit. I started out wearing all of my clothes because with the wind it was very chilly. In about 20 minutes my body temperature had risen and I stripped off everything down to my shorts and tee shirt.
It was a very pretty hike. All downhill. Carrie, Mike's girlfriend met us as we were hiking down about 2 miles before the bottom. We hiked with her to the bottom and took wonderful showers at the Portal. Drove into Lone Pine for a decent lunch and then hit the road for our 6 hour trip home.
The JMT was amazing! Completely different from the AT. There really is no way to compare the two. I feel very lucky to have such an amazing 200 miles in my backyard. Never would I have imagined that each and every day on the John Muir Trail, I would be walking through and area as beautiful as Yosemite, but so very different. I had always thought that Yosemite was the pinnacle of beauty in the state of California. Now I know different. There are 200 amazing miles out there between Yosemite and Mt. Whitney and I am so grateful that I was able to see and experience every one of them.
Peace, Love, Courage…..
Dreamer
