John Muir Trail, 19 July - 13 August

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vegematic

Active member
Joined
Sep 8, 2003
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Location
Bethel, ME
My 19-year-old niece and I hiked the JMT and after several days of traveling home, many loads of laundry, and getting back in touch with family I am finally sitting down to wade through the 700+ pictures I took. That's going to take a while so until the full report is complete, here is the summary:

Sun, bright sun, hot sun, big trees, altitude acclimatization, great views, no snow on the first pass, Tuolumne Meadows is a zoo of humanity, miles of snow on the second pass, less snow on the third one, deep turquoise blue lakes, mule deer, Devil's Postpile, lots of smoke from the Lion Fire in Sequoia, three days of thunderstorms, tons of wildflowers, marmots, Vermillion Valley Resort for shower, laundry, resupply, skipped over big scary stream crossing, Evolution Basin is amazing, lots of rotting snow over Muir Pass, more marmots, more mule deer, wicked hot days, nice cool nights, not much snow over remaining passes, snow-filled lakes, incredible views, thin air, very chilly swimming, Sky Pilot everywhere at high elevations, party on Forester Pass, a night spent on otherworldly Bighorn Plateau, Guitar Lake smells rather like an old outhouse, more Lion Fire smoke, middle-of-the-night departure for Mt. Whitney, early morning summit, switchbacks, more switchbacks, enough with the switchbacks, MORE switchbacks, I can see Whitney Portal, 48,502,459,603 more switchbacks, Whiney Portal, beer.

-vegematic
 
Sounds like you had a great time.

FWIW - the Lion Fire is mostly out, thank goodness. Was getting tedious looking north day after day, wondering how much smoke would blow into the valley I live in.
 
What a great trail!! Sounds like you had a great trip to me!

Deep blue turquoise lakes and incredible views :)

Big scary stream crossing...... Bear Creek?
(that was my scary one!!)
 
Kevin, I'm glad the fire is on its way out. It only blew over the Trail a couple times and the smoke was really thick and nasty. I can't imagine living down wind of it.

Michelle, yes, Bear Creek. It was already high from snow melt and we would have hit it right after three days of heavy rain storms. Small-ish women (like me) were getting swept off their feet. We were offered a ride from Vermillion to Florence Lake and took it.
-vegematic
 
Well, nearly four months after summiting Mt. Whitney I have finished putting together a slideshow of our hike. Here is the link if you are looking for a way to pass half an hour.
-vegematic
 
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