The John Muir Trail — What We Saw, What We Read

On Tuesday, September 5th at 6:30 in the morning, we set out for a walk from the Horseshoe Meadows campground. 18 days and roughly 220 miles later, we arrived in Yosemite National Park.

Hiking northbound on the John Muir Trail, we passed through Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon National Park, John Muir Wilderness, and Ansel Adams Wilderness. We ascended (and descended) ten passes (Cottonwood Pass, Elev: 11,140', Forester Pass, Elev: 13,110', Glen Pass, 11,970', Pinchot Pass, Elev: 12,130', Mather Pass, Elev: 12,100', Muir Pass, Elev: 11,980', Selden Pass, Elev: 10,900', Silver Pass, Elev: 10,740', Island Pass, Elev: 10,200', and Donohue Pass, Elev: 11,060') the first six of which we climbed (and painfully descended) in our first eight days.

Our feet blistered, our knees ached, and our food supply ran a little low in our first week once our hunger kicked in. Our packs felt far too heavy and our sleeping bags most nights were far too cold. Some days we hiked in rain, sleet, hail, snow, and howling winds. And because we chose to endure those challenges, for 18 days we walked in awe of the magnificent beauty of California's High Sierra.

Day 3: Slowly descending from Forester Pass

We originally intended our hike to take 21 days, using the John Muir Trail book by Elizabeth Wenk as a resource to learn about the trail's history, geology, and wildlife. Our morning routine would involve slowly rolling up our many layers, sleeping liners, bags, and mats. We'd then boil some water for coffee and tea, eat some breakfast, and start our hike for the day. Nearly every day begin with an ascent, usually to the top of a pass. We would stop along the way to look back at the trail behind illuminated by the rising sun. In the late afternoon when we would reach our camp for the night, we unpacked our tent, cooked dinner and listened to a podcast before falling asleep. As each day passed we adjusted our schedule for the next day based on the weather and how we were feeling and so our itinerary ended up with a bit more mileage and no zero days as we had originally intended:

Day 1: Horseshoe Meadows to over Cottonwood Pass Lower Rock Creek Junction (14 miles)
Day 2: Rock Creek Junction to Tyndall Creek (officially meeting up with the John Muir Trail) (16 miles)
Day 3: Tyndall Creek to Vidette Meadow over Forester Pass (15 miles)
Day 4: Vidette Meadow to Woods Creek Junction over Glen Pass (14 miles)
Day 5: Woods Creek Junction to South Fork Kings River Crossing over Pinchot Pass (12 miles)
Day 6: South Fork Kings River Crossing to Middle Fork Kings River over Mather Pass (17 miles)
Day 7: Middle Fork Kings River to Starr Camp (8 miles)
Day 8: Starr Camp to McClure Meadow over Muir Pass (16 miles)
Day 9: First Resupply! McClure Meadow to Muir Trail Ranch (12 miles)
Day 10: Muir Trail Ranch to Bear Creek Junction over Selden Pass (16 miles)
Day 11: Selden Pass to Vermillion Valley Resort. Treat day! (10 miles)
Day 12: Vermillion Valley Ranch to Mott Lake Junction (6 miles)
Day 13: Mott Lake Junction to Deer Creek Junction over Silver Pass (20 miles)
Day 14: Second Resupply! Deer Creek Junction to Reds Meadow to Devil's Postpile to Minaret Creek Junction (10 miles)
Day 15: Minaret Creek Junction to Rush Creek Junction over Island Pass (16 miles)
Day 16: Rush Creek Junction to Evelyn Lake Junction over Donohue Pass (15 miles)
Day 17: Snow Day! Evelyn Lake Junction to Sunrise High Sierra Camp (16 miles)
Day 18: Sunrise High Sierra Camp to Happy Isles (15 miles)

We will be posting a day by day breakdown of our adventures on the JMT page!

Day 16: At the top of Donohue Pass. We had no idea that night our tent would be covered in snow!

Based on our experience, we don't believe there is one perfect way to hike the John Muir Trail (Northbound/Southbound/Section). Everyone's experience is unique. We were lucky to meet so many kind, generous, and caring people on the trail each with their own story, and many helping us along our way. We experienced incredible days and there were also some days where we felt like the sum of our experiences came out to a draw; some fantastic moments, colored by some significant physical challenges. The we wouldn't want to change a thing about our experience as a whole, if we could go back in time and hike the trail again, here are a couple things we would have done differently knowing what we know now.

1. Carry smaller, lighter packs!
2. Bring warmer lightweight sleeping bags
3. Pack a greater variety of meals
4. Pack salty and savory snacks (BBQ potato chips!)
5. Wear a different pair of shoes (in Pat's case)

Day 17: Walking through a snow-covered Yosemite National Park