JMT itinerary

[schultz104]

Does anyone have an itinerary for the JMT they would like to post? I am putting my itinerary together now. I would like to do 12-15 miles per day.
Thanks
Eric

[QiWiz]

I'm working on mine. Starting Sunday 8/31 in Yosemite and finishing either Wednesday 9/17 or Thursday 9/18 in Lone Pine, so I need an 18 or 19 day plan. My first attempt ended up as a 17-day trek, with some pretty big days in the second half. I need to rework the second half and decompress it a bit. I'll post the plan when I have it ready for scrutiny.

[Spirit Walker]

My journal is at http://spiriteaglehome.com/jmt90.html It was a 19 day hike.

[Dogwood]

I'm working on mine. Starting Sunday 8/31 in Yosemite and finishing either Wednesday 9/17 or Thursday 9/18 in Lone Pine, so I need an 18 or 19 day plan. My first attempt ended up as a 17-day trek, with some pretty big days in the second half. I need to rework the second half and decompress it a bit. I'll post the plan when I have it ready for scrutiny.

September, before the first heavy snowfall which usually occurrs in Oct is IMHO the BEST time to be on the JMT and in the Sierras. It's a wonderful time to be in the Sierras. Bugs, crowds, competition for permits, and heat are gone and the nights are crisp. You'll have some fall color too.

[saltysack]

September, before the first heavy snowfall which usually occurrs in Oct is IMHO the BEST time to be on the JMT and in the Sierras. It's a wonderful time to be in the Sierras. Bugs, crowds, competition for permits, and heat are gone and the nights are crisp. You'll have some fall color too.

How cold on avg is it early sept? Reds and mtr still open for resupplies?


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[Lyle]

I have a 25 day hike planned with 6 additional days in Mammoth and/or Yosemite Valley before (acclimation, exploring, food drops, plus that's when we could get our flights at a reasonable rate) and a one day lay-over in Lone Pine after. Plan two full-on zero days during the hike, and plenty of time for contemplation, exploring, and photography.

The joys of being very very close to retiring, and just telling the boss "I'm taking five weeks off in Aug and Sept. If you have a problem, I'll retire the end of July instead of the end of the year". His response, "Alright". I'm pretty certain he meant alright I can have the time off. :-)

We leave Happy Isles to Little Yosemite on Aug 20th, exit at Whitney Portal Sept. 13th. Also have the Half Dome permit reserved.

Let me know if you'd like a copy of our plan, but it is definitely lower miles - mostly in the 10 to 12 mile range. I can email it if you'd like.

[Dogwood]

How cold on avg is it early sept? Reds and mtr still open for resupplies?


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As high as 80* in the not stataspheric elevations w/ sometimes chilly to damn it's cold nights if camping atop one of the 10K passes(30's possibly into high 20's at elevation). Late Sept into early Oct in my experience is the pivotal time when it starts getting cold w/ a higher risk of some snow and deepper cold the deeper into Oct you hike. I would want to be out of the Sierras BEFORE the end of Oct! Early to mid Sept JMT hiking doesn't usually present extremes in weather though.

MTR, since they have a harder time to close up and get out(they are 10 miles from a road) before the first hard snow, closes around Sept 20 with Vermillion Valley Resort, since they are at the end of a road, staying open perhaps until aroundish Oct 1, sooner or perhaps a wee bit later depending on weather. I don't know when Reds Meadow closes; check their site. Tuolomne Meadows Store and campground stays open, just as an estimate, until around the last wk of late Sept perhaps Oct 1-2 depending again on weather. I've caught the TM Store open on Oct 2 one yr which was supossedly their last day. Good thing because I had to buy some grub there to complete a Sierra High Route NOBO hike.

[Dogwood]

(30's possibly into high 20's at elevation) as night time lows in mid Sept on occasion

[saltysack]

Thx...perfect weather!


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[Dogwood]

Thx...perfect weather!....

That's my contention too for Sierras in the early to mid/lateish Sept.

[evyck da fleet]

http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=15835 is the link to my hike last year. I was hoping to do a 15 day 15 mpd hike. After a couple of 12s I wound up doing more miles than I thought. Check the MTR website for what day they are open until and just as important when the last day is that they go to the Post Office to pick up your resupply bucket. Thankfully I didn't have to resupply after MTR. My plan became to take a zero outside MTR at the campsite hoping to finish in 6 days, since I could only fit 5 days of food in my canister, pick up my food as soon as they opened knowing I had the option to head out over Kearsage Pass to resupply if I didn't think I could make it to the Portal in 6 or 7 days.

[saltysack]

http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=15835 is the link to my hike last year. I was hoping to do a 15 day 15 mpd hike. After a couple of 12s I wound up doing more miles than I thought. Check the MTR website for what day they are open until and just as important when the last day is that they go to the Post Office to pick up your resupply bucket. Thankfully I didn't have to resupply after MTR. My plan became to take a zero outside MTR at the campsite hoping to finish in 6 days, since I could only fit 5 days of food in my canister, pick up my food as soon as they opened knowing I had the option to head out over Kearsage Pass to resupply if I didn't think I could make it to the Portal in 6 or 7 days.

Obviously you've hiked a lot more miles than me with the AT thru....I'm from north fl mostly hike AT from Damascus south....iyo how was difficulty compared w southern AT? I'm on a limited schedule..hoping to thru in 14 days plus day or two travel...i avg 15+ mpd on AT...thoughts???thx enjoyed your trail journal...



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[Berserker]

I did the JMT last year and my journal is here (so I'm not going to repeat the itinerary): http://www.trailjournals.com/Berserker/. I did it in 20 days, and was usually in camp between 2 and 4 PM everyday (with the exception of a few days). So 12 - 15 miles per day would be a nice pace, and get you done a few days earlier than the pace I was on. Mine was a little slower by design as I wanted to take everything in.

[tcmbnd]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...JVU/edit#gid=0

Comes out to 12.1 miles per day. I'm happy with it for the most part. The mileage is a mix between Wenk's book and Harrison's map pack, so I'm sure there are some discrepancies in there. I'm still getting the details together, but I'm happy with the 22 day trip (I end on Thursday, so I can get the last bus out of Lone Pine to Reno before the weekend). Day 7 I only have 2 miles or so on the trail, but I plan on doing a bit of hiking in the area that day. I'm going to take a shot at getting to the top of Banner Peak, but if the snow is too much for me on the way up, then oh well, I'll just turn back around and find something else to do.

[QiWiz]

My journal is at http://spiriteaglehome.com/jmt90.html It was a 19 day hike.

Thanks for your journal link. It has helped me decide where I need to add a day (to the section between Little Pete Meadow and Guitar Lake). Need to go back to my guidebook and plan!

[QiWiz]

OK, here's the current plan for an 18-day itinerary

Day	#	Starting Camp	Ending Camp	JMT	Addl.	Miles
				Mile	Miles	Hiked
Sun	1	Happy Isles	Little Yosem Valley	4.3	8.4	12.7
Mon	2	Little Yosem Valley	Upper Cathedral Lk	17.5		13.2
Tue	3	Upper Cathedral Lk	Vogelsang Trail	30.0		12.5
Wed	4	Vogelsang Trail	1000 Island Lake	44.2		14.2
Thu	5	1000 Island Lake	Red's Meadow	59.6	0.3	15.7
Fri	6	Red's Meadow	Purple Lake	73.2	0.3	13.9
Sat	7	Purple Lake	Pocket Meadow	85.6		12.4
Sun	8	Pocket Meadow	Marie Lake	99.4		13.8
Mon	9	Marie Lake	Aspen Meadow	111.2	1.1	12.9
Tue	10	Aspen Meadow	Sapphire Lake	124.4		13.2
Wed	11	Sapphire Lake	Little Pete Meadow	136.2		11.8
Thu	12	Little Pete Meadow	Upper Palisade Lake	149.0		12.8
Fri	13	Upper Palisade Lake	Lake Marjorie	160.7		11.7
Sat	14	Lake Marjorie	Dollar Lake	172.9		12.2
Sun	15	Dollar Lake	Center Basin Creek	185.3		12.4
Mon	16	Center Basin Creek	Tyndall Frog Ponds	195.0		9.7
Tue	17	Tyndall Frog Ponds	Guitar Lake	205.4		10.4
Wed	18	Guitar Lake	Whitney Portal	208.5	11.9	15.0
					Total mi.	230.5

[MuddyWaters]

Not firm on mine
except that will take day in Yosemite to do HD and Clouds rest
And a zero at VVR
Still about 18 days total

[Berserker]

OK, here's the current plan for an 18-day itinerary

Day	#	Starting Camp	Ending Camp	JMT	Addl.	Miles
				Mile	Miles	Hiked
Sun	1	Happy Isles	Little Yosem Valley	4.3	8.4	12.7
Mon	2	Little Yosem Valley	Upper Cathedral Lk	17.5		13.2
Tue	3	Upper Cathedral Lk	Vogelsang Trail	30.0		12.5
Wed	4	Vogelsang Trail	1000 Island Lake	44.2		14.2
Thu	5	1000 Island Lake	Red's Meadow	59.6	0.3	15.7
Fri	6	Red's Meadow	Purple Lake	73.2	0.3	13.9
Sat	7	Purple Lake	Pocket Meadow	85.6		12.4
Sun	8	Pocket Meadow	Marie Lake	99.4		13.8
Mon	9	Marie Lake	Aspen Meadow	111.2	1.1	12.9
Tue	10	Aspen Meadow	Sapphire Lake	124.4		13.2
Wed	11	Sapphire Lake	Little Pete Meadow	136.2		11.8
Thu	12	Little Pete Meadow	Upper Palisade Lake	149.0		12.8
Fri	13	Upper Palisade Lake	Lake Marjorie	160.7		11.7
Sat	14	Lake Marjorie	Dollar Lake	172.9		12.2
Sun	15	Dollar Lake	Center Basin Creek	185.3		12.4
Mon	16	Center Basin Creek	Tyndall Frog Ponds	195.0		9.7
Tue	17	Tyndall Frog Ponds	Guitar Lake	205.4		10.4
Wed	18	Guitar Lake	Whitney Portal	208.5	11.9	15.0
					Total mi.	230.5

Nice itinerary...similar to what I did. If you're like me you probably came up with this itinerary to plan out food, but it's open to change. I'll just throw out there that I think no camping is allowed at Dollar Lake. The Rae Lakes are only a mile or two past Dollar Lake, and it's significantly more scenic around that area. Plus, there's a lot of camping around there. Man I'd love to go out there again...have fun!

[QiWiz]

Nice itinerary...similar to what I did. If you're like me you probably came up with this itinerary to plan out food, but it's open to change. I'll just throw out there that I think no camping is allowed at Dollar Lake. The Rae Lakes are only a mile or two past Dollar Lake, and it's significantly more scenic around that area. Plus, there's a lot of camping around there. Man I'd love to go out there again...have fun!

Thanks for the heads up on Dollar Lake and Rae Lakes. The campsite I had in mind is actually listed as at the trail junction to Bishop Pass just before Dollar Lake SOBO. I just figured why not go to Dollar Lake. As you say, by then I am likely to be ahead of schedule or behind schedule anyway, so no worries.

[Coffee]

Thanks for the heads up on Dollar Lake and Rae Lakes. The campsite I had in mind is actually listed as at the trail junction to Bishop Pass just before Dollar Lake SOBO. I just figured why not go to Dollar Lake. As you say, by then I am likely to be ahead of schedule or behind schedule anyway, so no worries.

I think you are referring to the trail to Baxter Pass, not Bishop, which starts near Dollar Lake. The camping opportunities at Dollar Lake were indeed limited last year as I passed through since a large area was closed for restoration. That's probably going to be the case again this year, I assume. Both Arrowhead and the Rae Lakes have lots of camping. I camped high above the middle Rae Lake, a wonderful location isolated from the large official camping area. To find that spot, start looking uphill right after passing the side trail to the Middle Rae Lake camping area. I ventured up the hillside maybe two tenths of a mile past the side trail and found a flat area to pitch my tent with excellent views of the lakes and mountains leading to the pass.