Money
Insurance
THE NATURAL WORLD by Dr Charles Aitchison
Geology of the Sierra Nevada
Vegetation and Flowers
Birds of the John Muir Trail
Mammals along the Trail
Day 1 Yosemite Valley (Happy Isles) to Half Dome Trail Junction/Sunrise Creek and the Ascent of Half Dome
Day 2 Half Dome Trail Junction/Sunrise Creek to Sunrise High Sierra Camp
Day 3 Sunrise High Sierra Camp via Cathedral Pass to Tuolumne Meadows
Day 4 Tuolumne Meadows to Upper Lyell Canyon
Day 5 Upper Lyell Canyon via Donohue Pass and Island Pass to Thousand Island Lake
Day 6 Thousand Island Lake to the Devil’s Postpile
Day 7 The Devil’s Postpile via Reds Meadow to Deer Creek
Day 8 Deer Creek to Tully Hole/Cascade Valley Junction
Day 9 Tully Hole/Cascade Valley Junction via Silver Pass to Edison Lake
Day 10 Edison Lake to Rosemarie Meadow
Day 11 Rosemarie Meadow via Seldon Pass to the Muir Trail Ranch
Day 12 Muir Trail Ranch to McClure Meadow
Day 13 McClure Meadow via Muir Pass to Unnamed Lake North-East of Helen Lake
Day 14 Unnamed Lake North-East of Helen Lake to Deer Meadow
Day 15 Deer Meadow via Mather Pass to Kings River
Day 16 Kings River via Pinchot Pass to Woods Creek
Day 17 Woods Creek via Glen Pass to Vidette Meadow
Day 18 Vidette Meadow via Forester Pass to Tyndall Creek
Day 19 Tyndall Creek to Guitar Lake
Day 20 Guitar Lake via Mount Whitney and Trail Crest to Trail Camp; and the ascent of Mount Whitney
Day 21 Trail Camp to Whitney Portal
Epilogue
APPENDIX 1 Camping Areas on the JMT
APPENDIX 2 Ranger Stations along the JMT
APPENDIX 3 Escape Routes on the JMT
APPENDIX 4 Bear Box Locations on the JMT
APPENDIX 5 Mountain Passes and Peaks on the JMT
APPENDIX 6 Useful Addresses and Websites in the UK and US
APPENDIX 7 Bibliography
APPENDIX 8 Trail Summary Table
Hiker on the steep descent from Forester Pass (Day 18)
INTRODUCTION
The John Muir Trail (JMT) is one of the world’s greatest treks and is North America’s best-known middistance walking trail. It runs for 216 miles through the high Sierra Nevada mountains of California, from Yosemite Valley in the north to the summit of Mount Whitney (14,496ft) above Lone Pine in the south, and takes about three weeks to complete.
The route is largely a wilderness experience, and this intensifies as one progresses along the Trail from the relative civilisation between Yosemite and Tuolumne, where there are many day-trippers and other walkers, to the huge wilderness areas further south, particularly after the Muir Trail Ranch. Tourists are once again encountered, in the form of day walkers on Mount Whitney, during the very last stages of the Trail.
The Edison Queen approaching Mono Creek ferry pick-up point (Day 9)
However, although the JMT passes through areas of genuine wilderness, the Trail by its very nature confines backpackers to a narrow corridor through that wilderness. The Trail was man made and is maintained by rangers, and along its length there are Ranger Stations where officials are found during the summer season. You will undoubtedly pass many other hikers during your sojourn along the JMT, and will rarely be more than a mile or two from other human beings. Only by leaving the man-made trails would one truly be entering the huge wilderness that is the Californian High Sierras.
While the John Muir Trail passes through high mountain country where spectacular peaks and high passes abound, the JMT itself is a relatively easy trail to walk. Gradients are rarely very steep, as the trail was expertly engineered and was originally intended for pack animals, mules and horses. So although the JMT often goes over high passes, the routes over them are nearly always well graded. You may, however, marvel that horses were expected to traverse such narrow and dramatic trails as those over the Forester and Glen passes; both an experienced rider and horse would be necessary!
There is little in the way of exposure along the entire length of the JMT, no scrambling is involved and no particular head for heights is required. The only exception is perhaps on the descent from the Forester Pass, but most mountain walkers would hardly give even this a second thought. The ascent of Half Dome, which is not part of the JMT, is a rather different matter. The climb to the top of the mountain is over very steep and polished granite, but the route is well protected and those with some scrambling ability in the mountains should again have no worries. Navigation along the Trail is relatively straightforward, and users of this guidebook who also carry the recommended maps for the JMT should experience few route-finding problems. The Trail is well waymarked on the ground. Note that the above analysis, of course, applies only to good summer conditions; snowedand iced-up passes and rivers in spate would be altogether far more difficult and dangerous.
The Route
While the official Trail runs for 216 miles, the fact that it terminates on the top of Mount Whitney, the highest point in the 48 contiguous States of the US, means that the route is, in reality, somewhat longer, as walkers must descend and return to civilisation. There is a good continuing trail from Mount Whitney down to the roadhead at Whitney Portal to the east, and this is the one usually used to finish the JMT.
The dramatic peak of Half Dome lies a little off the route of the JMT at the northern end of the trail in Yosemite National Park, and few adventurous walkers would want to pass by without making a detour to climb this sensational mountain.
With these two extensions to the JMT the total distance of the trek amounts to some 233 miles, with a total cumulative ascent of about 46,700ft (14,234m), over 1½ times the height of Everest. By walking from north to south the total descent is only around 42,000ft (12,800m), as Yosemite Valley lies at a much lower altitude than Whitney Portal.
Much of the JMT is coincident with the ultra-long-distance Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) that crosses the western US north to south between the Canadian and Mexican borders.
Half Dome from Yosemite Valley (Day 1)
The first section of the JMT heads eastwards