In August and September 2011, we backpacked the entire John Muir Trail (JMT) in California. We did it in two trips. The first, from Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park to the summit of Mount Whitney, was 22 days and 21 nights. The second was from Tuolumne Meadows to Happy Isles in the Yosemite Valley over three days and two nights. John was 58 and I was 57.
We were excited to begin this trip. It would be the longest backpack trip either of us had ever done. We both felt up to the challenge. We left Tuolumne Meadows feeling confident.
The hiking was easy through Lyell Canyon. We enjoyed the views of Lyell Fork.
We encountered our first of many stream crossings. Fortunately, this was shallow and there were stepping stones.
The JMT crosses six mountain passes over 11,000 feet, and Donahue Pass was the first.
Once back in the valley, we continued down the trail.
We thoroughly enjoyed the views we were getting of Banner Peak and Thousand Island Lake.
The trail periodically took us through wooded areas …
… and past lakes, including Rosalie …
… and Lake Virginia.
We were also getting views of jagged mountains …
… and rushing streams.
Not to mention seeing green meadows …
… and more mountain lakes.
John did quite a bit of photography at Chief Lake, and the photo below is my favorite.
At some point, someone from Getty Images contacted us. This large company provides stock images, and they wanted to pay us to add some of John’s photos to their collection. This photo was one that they chose. We never knew what happened to any of his photos …
… until one morning when I turned my laptop on. I was very surprised to see this photo on the start screen.
There is a lot of water along the JMT. In addition to the many lakes, there are quite a few creeks, streams and rivers. There are often gorgeous waterfalls.
Sometimes we had to cross these bodies of water. The smaller ones can often be crossed by rock hopping. Fortunately, the larger ones had bridges over them. These were most appreciated!
But others must be waded. We both had water shoes with us, so our boots stayed dry.
As much as we love mountains, we thoroughly enjoy seeing the beautiful lakes nestled amongst them.
On the tenth day of the trip, we needed to get to the Muir Trail Ranch (MTR) to pick up our food resupply. MTR is a guest ranch just off the JMT, and we had reservations to stay one night there. The day before we arrived, we talked to three reserved middle-aged backpackers, and we were interested to learn they had spent a night at MTR. They quietly confirmed my hope that we could get showers and do laundry there. Then John asked them about the food. All three immediately became quite animated, and all talked excitedly. I was able to pick out things like “Oh, it was great … Chicken Marsala … side dishes … roast beef … salads … the desserts … and the breakfast … it was amazing!” It was like a comedy routine, and we couldn’t help but laugh (and couldn’t wait to get there).
We had one final descent to make before getting to MTR. Even though it was hot and that section of trail was exposed, I was feeling particularly happy. Then I saw a guy slowly making his way up the steep trail. He had his head down and was leaning heavily on his trekking poles. I couldn’t tell his age, but as he got closer, I could tell he fell into the “older than me” category. I stepped aside to let him pass. Feeling sympathetic, I gently said, “How’s it going?” He stopped. He looked up. His face was covered in sweat. And then, he broke out with a huge smile and said, “I’m alive and I am here. It doesn’t get better than that.” His words have stayed with me.
MTR exceeded our high expectations. After the hot showers, we did our laundry and impatiently waited for the dinner bell. The food was more than we had imagined. It was all-you-can-eat, and we went from eating 3,000 calories a day to eating more than that in one meal.
Muir Trail Ranch
After the food, the next greatest luxury at MTR was the private hot springs. We decided to take a day off and spent a second night there. It seemed like a great way to celebrate our upcoming 32nd wedding anniversary.
Feeling rejuvenated from our time at MTR, we happily continued down the trail, which was good because we were carrying 11 days of food and our packs were quite heavy.
We encountered another creek crossing, this time Evolution Creek.
Evolution Creek would be our companion for a while as the trail followed it upstream …
… revealing its many moods.
After gaining more elevation, the terrain became more austere.
At times, the only color in an otherwise gray landscape was the bright blue of the lakes.
This continued as we descended from Muir Pass.
Once we had descended, the color green was in evidence again.
Once again, we saw lovely waterfalls …
… and rushing water. Surprisingly, this robust river …
… calms down when it flows through this lovely meadow.
The trail gained elevation again, and we encountered another rushing stream. I couldn’t imagine this one ever calming down.
Before long, it was time to ascend another pass.
Once at a pass, we rewarded ourselves with a short break to enjoy the view to the other side.
Once over a pass, we set our sights on the next one.
All this hiking is hard on feet. So, we developed the habit of taking our lunch break at a stream.
After putting our boots back on, our feet were willing to carry us down the trail.
A particularly beautiful area is Rae Lakes and the nearby Painted Lady.
There are six passes over 11,000 feet, and we had two more to go. We headed up the steep switchbacks toward Glen Pass. On our way up …
… we encountered the most photographed natural wonder seen on the trail. Carol, at 77 years young, was backpacking the entire JMT. Everyone wanted to take her picture! She was so inspirational!
The final pass we needed to get over was the highest, Forester Pass.
It was challenging. But as I slowly made my way up the steep switchbacks, I recalled the words of that old guy I had encountered. I thought to myself, “I’m alive and I’m here. It doesn’t get any better than this.”
At this altitude, we sometimes needed to stop and catch our breath. But that gave us the opportunity to look back and enjoy the view.
The higher we got, the better the views.
We were both tired but quite happy to reach the pass.
We had left Kings Canyon National Park and entered Sequoia National Park when we crossed Forester Pass.
We enjoyed seeing the lovely jagged peaks of Kearn Ridge in the distance.
We planned to camp near Guitar Lake for our last night on the JMT.
We found a secluded spot above the lake.
We got up early and headed up the trail.
Standing on the summit, we both felt a strong sense of satisfaction.
We then started the long descent …
… and headed down the countless switchbacks …
… to Whitney Portal.
We couldn’t be happier with how this trip went. The weather was great, and wildfires were not an issue that summer. This trip sits firmly at the top of our list of favorite backpack trips.
All photos from this trip are on Flickr.
As we had started this trip at Tuolumne Meadows, we still needed to do the short section of the JMT from Tuolumne Meadows to Happy Isles in the Yosemite Valley. We did it over three days and two nights.
Cathedral Peak is a lovely sight.
We camped there the first night …
… and John took some time to do some photography …
… including Cathedral Lake.
During this trip, we also did a side trip and climbed Half Dome, probably Yosemite’s most famous feature.
This is one of those iconic hikes and is extremely popular as a day trip from the valley. However, we would camp nearby on our second night out. We wanted to get to the top by sunrise, so we left camp at 3:30 a.m. Initially, it was easy to follow the trail by headlamp. However, once we reached Subdome, it was disconcerting to not be able to see our destination as there is no marked route across the rock surface. In daylight, it would have been no problem. We were quite relieved to finally see the beginning of the cables on Half Dome.
The last 400 feet of elevation gain, and the most challenging for many individuals, require the use of two cables to climb the extremely steep rock. It is slow and extremely crowded for much of the day. However, with our early start, we had the cables completely to ourselves. We were the first people on the summit. We had it to ourselves for about 15 minutes before a few more individuals arrived.
There were only about a dozen of us there for sunrise, much more pleasant than being with the hundreds of people who would be there later in the afternoon.
The cables still get quite crowded around midday. I heard from a fellow that it had taken over an hour to get down the cables the previous afternoon. However, when we started down about 7:30 a.m., there were only a few individuals coming up, so it was pretty quick (but not too quick!).
I am the first to admit it had not been easy to get up in the middle of the night. But it was well worth it for the rare privilege of being in such an iconic spot in solitude.
As we headed down the trail, we encountered countless day hikers. Nevada Falls is a very popular destination.
Compared to our hike down from the summit of Mount Whitney, this hike down to the Yosemite Valley was a bit anticlimactic. However, once we got down to the Yosemite Valley, we could now say we had hiked the entire JMT!
All photos from this trip are on Flickr.
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