Have 2017 August SoBo Permit, too late to go?

[J-M]

Hello,

I already have a permit for mid August 2017 to go from Happy Isles (pass through) to Mt Whitney. However, work has been a bit unstable and up until a few weeks ago I was unsure if I could go, but now I can. Is it too late to go, in the sense of planning and getting everything in time? For instance, it looks like food has to be sent a few weeks in advance, and Red's Meadow requires a form to be sent two weeks before sending the food. I'm not sure how many of these situations that have to be done months in advance I'm missing? I know of: flights, hotels in Mammoth Lakes, where to camp night before starting, and sending food. Is there anything I'm missing?

For background, I did the AT a few years ago, and found I more or less did not need much planning.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
J-M

[MuddyWaters]

You got 8 weeks ish.
Plenty of time, your just overwhelmed by the fact it takes a bit of planning.
Your not going to ship food until right before you leave.

Fly into wherever, take amtrak and yarts to yosemite . Your gonna have to look at schedules. It might take 2 days of travel depending where you come from, and how cheap you are. You can ship stuff to yosemite p.o. too if dont want to carry on plane. You can buy fuel in yosemite, etc.

Its only hard if you agonize over $.
Easiest thing to do, is one way flights, dont be bound by a return flight.
Yeah, you gonna pay $$$ for the next day flight on return. Suck it up.
Stay in backpacker campground in yosemite the night before
Pick up permit day before, so get there in time , or lose it. This is hard part. Most have long day of travel and cant get to yosemite in one day, have to spend night somewhere. Outside the park with noin park reservations. I stayed at yosemite bug hostel/resort in midpines on yarts route, great restaurant and food. Yarts stops at their driveway.
And take early yarts the next day to park.
Send food to tuolumne meadows PO IF arive on a day can pick up
Send food to reds meadow
Send food to vvr
Send food to muir ranch
Have a big bear can

Then go

When get to whitney portal, hitch to lone pine
Stay at hostel or dow villa
Take esta bus to reno , or mammorh to fly home
Or hitch to la and fly from there.

Its easiest to get there flying into airports on west side, and get home from east side. If your starting happy isles, no need to even see mammoth lakes. Single flight per day from la at 5 pm ish really confounds schedules trying to go thru there. Yarts runs from fresno airport now I think, or SFO is easy. Train to merced, yarts to yosemite.

[Lyle]

If you are going to Mammoth Lakes, you can catch the shuttle up to Red's and drop your food box off in person. Also, Red's has a reasonable supply of food that you could re-supply from. For other re-supplies, both VVR and MTR had EXTENSIVE hiker boxes with abundant food available for free - just need to be open to using what is available, and probably some "Mystery" meals. VVR also has a reasonable store.

Also, according to the Recreation.gov website, the vast majority of campsites at both the old and new Shady Rest Campgrounds are not reservable, first come, first serve. These are both fairly large Forest Service campgrounds that are very reasonably located right on the edge of town, well within walking and trolley (free) service of Mammoth Lakes and the shuttles to Red's Meadow area. Transportation around Mammoth Lakes is easy. Could also recommend the Cinnamon Bear Bed and Breakfast, reasonably priced and right in the middle of town. Great breakfast in the AM.

[slbirdnerd]

Go! Just be watching the snow/water crossing conditions (lots of info being shared on the Facebook group John Muir Trail). If I had a coveted August permit I'd definitely go. I'm an over planner so I had my logistics worked out long ago, but am just getting started organizing my gear and food. Gear doesn't take much if you're experienced, you know what you need for the most part and have most of it... I feel like I should have more work done on the food thought. I know about what I'm taking, have a small pile of shopped-for stuff, and know when I need to ship my bucket though.

Have a great trip, hope to see you out there!

[gwschenk]

Resupply at the stores at Tuolumne and Red's Meadow. Skip VVR. Ship a bucket to Muir Trail Ranch. Have a packer meet you near Charlotte Lake with another drop. That's all.

[Lyle]

Having a drop delivered via packer is $$$$$.

[MuddyWaters]

Having a drop delivered via packer is $$$$$.

And totally unnecessary if in decent shape, with decent light load.

[J-M]

Great thanks guys. I'll be booking my airfare this weekend.

[Lyle]

Keep an eye out for two old farts out leisurely hiking along. My hiking buddy and I will be hiking in over Bishop Pass on the 23rd of August, heading south. We plan to take up to three weeks, exiting over Cottonwood Pass. May well see you out there. We did Yosemite to Bishop a few years ago, headed out two years ago to do Cottonwood Pass to Bishop, but my buddy had had recent surgery, so had to sit it out. I got to just below Forester Pass, but the smoke from wildfires made me decide not to push on, so I backtracked and went out over Whitney.

Just wanted to add, a re-supply at Onion Valley isn't too bad. The outfitter at Onion Valley will hold a box for a fee. Also, check out the motel in Independence. Run by a former PCT thru, they will do shuttles to and from Onion Valley and a night's stay, plus will hold a re-supply box for you. Either way, if my memory serves me right, it's about a 14 or 16 mile detour off the JMT over Kearsarge Pass to get to Onion Valley. My understanding is that the trail is pretty decent. We plan to make this a re-supply. Much cheaper than having the outfitter pack your re-supply in to you.

Have a great time, the Sierras are AMAZING!!!!!

[Lyle]

Should have said the Onion Valley detour is 14 or 16 miles ROUND TRIP, about Onion Valley is about 8 miles from the JMT.

[evyck da fleet]

Planning? It's just like the AT, only about 2000 miles shorter. You have to get there and back while arranging a mail drop at MTR. You can resupply without leaving the trail for the north half and if necessary bail into Independence? if you're not fit. Did you resupply in the 100 mile wilderness? The southern half of the JMT isn't much further and is doable in one shot.

[HooKooDooKu]

Fly into wherever, take amtrak and yarts to yosemite . Your gonna have to look at schedules. It might take 2 days of travel depending where you come from, and how cheap you are. You can ship stuff to yosemite p.o. too if dont want to carry on plane. You can buy fuel in yosemite, etc.

I found that it's pretty near impossible to get from the east coast to yosemite valley in one day using public transportation.
But it's a breeze to get it done in two days. However, you won't get into the Valley until after noon and therefore won't have enough time to get to your 1st night's camp site.

So plan on leaving two days ahead of your start date and the trip is a breeze:
1. Fly to Sacramento.
2. Stay over night in a hotel - I stayed at the Vagabond Inn. It's located across the street from the Amtrak station and they have an airport shuttle to pick you up.
3. Next morning, walk across the street to the Amtrak station and board your train.
4. A few hours later, you get off at a train station and wait about 30 minutes for a YARTS bus.
5. A few hours later, you're in Yosemite Valley.
6. Buy any last minute supplies in the Valley (such as fuel).
7. Hike
8. Hitch a ride from Whitney Portal to Lone Pine.
9. Stay in Lone Pine over night.
10. Next morning board an Eastern Sierra Transit bus to get to Reno (only runs -MT-TF-)
11. Fly home (if you can find a flight that leaves around 1:00pm or later)

because it is right across the street from the Amtrack station and they have an airport shuttle to pick

[HooKooDooKu]

The southern half of the JMT isn't much further and is doable in one shot.

Bearikade Expedition has over 900cuin of space, enough room (with some effort on minimizing the size of your food) for 9 to 10 days.
While it will cost you more than $350 to buy one of these, you can rent them for a 3 week JMT trip for something closer to $75.

[Lyle]

Don't forget the effects of altitude. It affects different folks differently, especially the first few days. Ignore those who say it's no different than the AT. The stunning views themselves will slow you down. To each their own, but I prefer to hike a very leisurely pace to thoroughly enjoy the environment I am hiking through. Does not really come down to "Not being fit."

[MuddyWaters]

Bearikade Expedition has over 900cuin of space, enough room (with some effort on minimizing the size of your food) for 9 to 10 days.
While it will cost you more than $350 to buy one of these, you can rent them for a 3 week JMT trip for something closer to $75.

Problem with renting is you dont have time to play with packing it much.

If buy it, you can resell it and total cost will be on par, or less, than renting. High demand for used, people in cali have to pay sales tax which adds a lot on for them

[HooKooDooKu]

Problem with renting is you dont have time to play with packing it much.
If buy it, you can resell it and total cost will be on par, or less, than renting. High demand for used, people in cali have to pay sales tax which adds a lot on for them

That's what I did... bought it for about $375 (with shipping) and then sold it for about $300.

But I found myself NOT spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to pack the food in the canister... but rather how to pack the loaded canister in a pack.

Fully loaded with about 10 days of food means that canister is going to weight around 20lbs. When I had the canister in hand and loaded it with 20lbs of dead weight, I realized I was going to have to re-think my pack. Wound up buying an Osprey Volt 75. Packed sleeping bag and cloths in the bottom, the bear canister vertically in the pack on top of the cloths, and everything else packed around the canister or in other pockets of the pack.

As for packing food in the canister, I never really got around to trying that until AFTER I picked up my MTR resupply bucket. I got to MTR late and only had enough time to make a cursory pass of my bucket to decide what to keep and what to leave behind. Then had to toss everything into the canister with the over-flow in an extra stuff sack until I could get to camp to organize it all. I setup camp in the pine trees beside Shooting Start Meadow just outside of MTR. Took over an hour trying to figure out how to organize my food in the canister until I finally hit upon the solution... don't try to be organized. Instead, I set aside one day's supply of food. Then placed everything else in the canister however tightly things would pack together regardless of how organized the food was. Had just enough room to place the next day's supply of food in the top of the canister. At the end of the next day, I started pulling stuff out of the canister until I had found another day's supply of food. Packed everything else back in the canister with plenty of room left to put the next day's food on top. Continued the process each day, with each day getting easier and easier until I could organize the food in the canister for better access.


As for what to pack in the canister, I concentrated on getting foods that would pack as tightly together as possible. So on the 1st half of the train where I spend only 5 days on the trail from HI to Red's, then another 5 days from Red's to MTR, I had things like instant rice and peanut M&M's. But between MTR and Whintey, I did things like replace Peanut M&M's with regular M&M's and instant rice with Couscous... because in both cases I could pack the same number of calories in a smaller amount of space because the shape of the food allowed it to pack tighter together with less "empty" space between the pieces of food. Also did things like had packages of pre-cooked bacon and beef jerky that I would cut a slit in the end of the bag, push out the extra air, and then reseal the bag with a sealer you can pickup on Amazon.com for around $30.

[evyck da fleet]

The OP's question was in regards to planning, which is no different than the AT, especially if considering doing the 100 mile wilderness with no resupply. Springer and Katahdin aren't any more difficult to get to than Yosemite and Whitney but will take more time. If the OP needed to find a way to resupply in the 100 he'll find a way in the second half of the JMT.

12 hours of available hiking time for six days is enough for some and not for others to enjoy a leisurely hike from MTR to The Portal.

[J-M]

For the AT, I almost always just resupplied in town. Maybe because I had a lot more time to plan for the AT it didn't feel like much was involved.

As for resupplying on the southern portion of the JMT, I plan on heading to Onion Valley. I'm just getting into shape.

Thanks for the help guys.

[MuddyWaters]

For the AT, I almost always just resupplied in town. Maybe because I had a lot more time to plan for the AT it didn't feel like much was involved.

As for resupplying on the southern portion of the JMT, I plan on heading to Onion Valley. I'm just getting into shape.

Thanks for the help guys.

Jmt is easier hiking than AT, youll do about 25% more mpd than on AT. No need to resupply at onion valley.

I left MTR with 8 days food, arrived at Whitney portal with 3 days left.

And I had one 10 mile day in that stretch because I was ahead of schedule. And a couple more cut short due to rain. I carried extra 2-3 days extra food the whole frickin way. Simply didnt know what to expect and planned conservatively.

Some climbs to passes take breath away, but then you have 8-10 mile gradual long downhills after where miles just tick off efortlessly.

DSC02077.jpgDSC02056.jpg

If I ever did it again, Id resupply at VVR , completely skip MTR. VVR is great, great food and people. Nice place to overnight in a bed, and eat dinner, bkfast, lunch, wash clothes, and hit trail feeling like a million bucks after a half day off. Get to socialize with other hikers too.

[CarlZ993]

I found that it's pretty near impossible to get from the east coast to yosemite valley in one day using public transportation.
But it's a breeze to get it done in two days. However, you won't get into the Valley until after noon and therefore won't have enough time to get to your 1st night's camp site.

So plan on leaving two days ahead of your start date and the trip is a breeze:
1. Fly to Sacramento.
2. Stay over night in a hotel - I stayed at the Vagabond Inn. It's located across the street from the Amtrak station and they have an airport shuttle to pick you up.
3. Next morning, walk across the street to the Amtrak station and board your train.
4. A few hours later, you get off at a train station and wait about 30 minutes for a YARTS bus.
5. A few hours later, you're in Yosemite Valley.
6. Buy any last minute supplies in the Valley (such as fuel).
7. Hike
8. Hitch a ride from Whitney Portal to Lone Pine.
9. Stay in Lone Pine over night.
10. Next morning board an Eastern Sierra Transit bus to get to Reno (only runs -MT-TF-)
11. Fly home (if you can find a flight that leaves around 1:00pm or later)

because it is right across the street from the Amtrack station and they have an airport shuttle to pick

FYI - The bus is scheduled to stop @ Reno Airport at noon. It was late the day I rode it (last Thu). Plan your flight for a couple of hours after that. Or, grab a room at a casino and pay for your trip by betting it all on black.