Trip report on John Muir Section hike

[futureatwalker]

This is a short trip report of a recent hike from Tuolumne Meadows to Reds Meadows on the JMT.
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This is my tent, with my sleeping bag on top. I like to air it out a bit if the sun is out when setting up camp in the afternoon.

I couldn't upload all the photos that I wanted, so I've attached the trip narrative as a pdf file. I hope it whets your appetite for the JMT - or brings back fond memories.

[fredmugs]

Nice! I was trying to hike most of the JMT and dislocated my finger and had to skip that section.

[colorado_rob]

We just returned from a northbound JMT trek, Bishop to Yosemite (happy isles) ourselves. You don't mention dates, but we started 9/22, finished 150 miles later on 10/1. I wonder if we crossed paths? You don't look familiar though. Anyway, absolutely outstanding hike, 9 nights out, my wife and I had a fantastic time, including a nice little Half Dome climb to top it off. And it was a fine gear tune-up for next year's AT attempt.

We did have a bear incident at 1000 island lakes though.. we lapsed on our discipline, and left some drink mixes (in an OP sack) in my wife's pack. 2am, big crash, looked out and a black bear was tearing her pack open. I yelled/screamed and chased it away, but we lost some Gatorade powder, our tea bags and Starbucks Vias. The damn bear wouldn't go completely away, so no way to get back to sleep at that point, so at 3am, we packed up and headed north all the way to the last legal camp south of Tuolumne.

[futureatwalker]

We did have a bear incident at 1000 island lakes though.. we lapsed on our discipline, and left some drink mixes (in an OP sack) in my wife's pack. 2am, big crash, looked out and a black bear was tearing her pack open. I yelled/screamed and chased it away, but we lost some Gatorade powder, our tea bags and Starbucks Vias. The damn bear wouldn't go completely away, so no way to get back to sleep at that point, so at 3am, we packed up and headed north all the way to the last legal camp south of Tuolumne.

Bummer about the Starbucks Vias - almost worth standing your ground for. We were fortunate not to have any bear incidents, but on a previous trip we had a bear toss our bear barrels around in the early morning when we were camping in Lyell Canyon. Since that experience - we saw the bear doing it - we're pretty mindful of keeping a clean camp.


I bet your early morning stretch-of-the-legs over Donahue Pass got the blood going....

[colorado_rob]

Bummer about the Starbucks Vias - almost worth standing your ground for. We were fortunate not to have any bear incidents, but on a previous trip we had a bear toss our bear barrels around in the early morning when we were camping in Lyell Canyon. Since that experience - we saw the bear doing it - we're pretty mindful of keeping a clean camp.

I bet your early morning stretch-of-the-legs over Donahue Pass got the blood going....

Yeah, HUGE loss with those Via's! But my son, bless his heart, hiked south from Tuolumne the next day to meet us for a night and brought us FOUR COLD BEERS (plus he had some extra tea bags). Raise a fine son: Check!

We lucked out on Donahue pass, we reached it right at sunrise and it was magical. In fact, the whole Bear incident including the wee-hour hiking was the high lite of the trip. I wish I knew how to post pics on here, maybe it's time to figure this out.

[ndwoods]

Nice story.

[Rambler]

If you have an extra day at Mammoth, hike up to the base of the Pinnacles. You will pas a long falls and have plenty of camping choices along some wonderful lakes. You might even see mountaineers roping up the Pinnacles.

[Rambler]

BTW I enjoyed your report and pictures, futureatwalker. Amazing terrain. The hike through Lyell canyon is a meander for several miles. Looks like we camped at the same area on the other side of the pass. What a country!

[HikerMom58]

I enjoyed this... Thanks for sharing!

[Cookerhiker]

We base-camped at Tuolumne Meadows for about 8 days during which we day-hiked including an 18 mile slackpack down to the Valley. This consisted of a 5 mile side trail from Tenaya Lake to Sunrise followed by 13 miles down the JMT to the Valley. We also slackpacked Cathedral Lakes parking lot to Sunrise via the JMT. Started the backpacking portion on August 19 following Lyell "Canyon" and ended the hike at the Duck Creek Trail. We had intended - and had permits - for all the way to Whitney but decided to end prematurely for various reasons.