Originally Posted by
colorado_rob
Yeah, good point about finishing in Yosemite. But: just before Yosemite was some of our favorite places on the trail, like the Ansel Adams wilderness area, thousand island lakes, cathedral spire/peak whatever (in Yosemite), and of course Half dome. OTOH: guitar lake might have been our all-time favorite place to camp, basically the first or second night. Really, the whole dam trail is fantastic, except for the last few miles in Yosemite, so yeah, again, good point. But the last few miles going SOBO ain't much to write home about either. So even though you technically "end" the JMT on top of Whitney and on top of the continental USA (going SOBO), you're still hiking 11 more miles down and out, mostly gorgeous miles until the last few.