First Things First

Hi everybody. My name is Mark, and this summer I was lucky enough to go on a backpacking trip with my father and brother. We hiked what is known as the John Muir Trail (JMT for short). Starting in the Yosemite Valley floor, it runs South through the Sierra Nevada Mountain range in California and ends at Mt. Whitney at approximately 220 miles. We finished in 13 days and had an amazing time.

I have two main reasons for writing this blog. First, I want to share the experience I was lucky enough to have with my family and friends. I have a couple of friends who used this site to blog about their study abroad experiences, and I think this blog will be a better way to share than to upload a hundred photos to facebook with little to no context, or to simply say that the hike was "Great" when asked "How was your trip?". I will try to include some of the better photos, my hiking journal entries for each day and not much else. Short and sweet.

Secondly, I want to share our experience with other people interested in hiking this trail. Our hike took months of planning (lucky for me this was mostly done by my retired father), and one of the best guides we could find were the online hiker journals and blogs. Hopefully the descriptions of trails and campsites will be useful.

Lastly a few quick things: At the start of our hike I was 21 and weighed 170 lbs. My brother, Nick, was 19 and my father, Clint, was 57. Nick and my father hiked the JMT in 2010, but this was my first time. I had done several long distance backpacking trips in the past starting in 2007, but this was my first time hiking exclusively with my dad and brother. We hiked starting in September 2011, which is late for the Summer hiking season. 2011 was a record year for snowfall in the Sierras, so there was plenty of water in the streams and lakes on our trip. This also meant that there were plenty of mosquitos, but more about that later. Alright, here goes. 

From left to right: My father Clint, me (Mark), and my brother Nick

Day 0: Home to Oakhurst

We will start our hike tomorrow morning on a Monday so today my mother drove us to Oakhurst, a town near Yosemite. We ate our last real meal, enjoyed our last showers, and are going to bed early. I'm pretty nervous about our hike, especially starting off with Half Dome. Dad and Nick recall that Half Dome is kind of sketchy and that last year the people at the top dropped a water bottle which exploded when it hit the ground next to them at the bottom. Yosemite reports that 15 people have already died in the park this year, nearly tripling their annual average of 6. Most of those deaths have occurred on Half Dome. Humans are something like 75% water, I can't help but wonder if the people who fell exploded like that water bottle. Sweet dreams.  

Day 1: Happy Isles to Sunrise Camp-18 Miles

"Introductions"
First day on the trail. I couldn't sleep, but my family woke up at 4:00am and were on the road by 4:30. We drove into Yosemite Valley and started hiking at 6:00am at Happy Isles Trailhead. Base weight my pack is 25 lbs, 35 lbs with food and water.

Nick and I at the Happy Isles Trailhead. Note that the last distance listed is 211 miles to Mt. Whitney. 

We reached the base of Half Dome by 9:00. The climb out of Yosemite Valley floor is fairly steep but the trail is wide and well maintained.The last climb up from the base of Half Dome is everything I had imagined it would be: straight up.

Standing at the base of Half Dome looking up.

I don't know why I was so worried about falling to my death. The climb up was actually fine, and the view from the top was amazing. You can see the entire Yosemite Valley and the back side of El Capitan. 

At the top, El Capitan in the background

We met two new hiking buddies who are also doing the JMT. First is Fred the Dutchman, a solo hiker from Holland. He is close to my fathers age and runs marathons and centuries (100 miles) for fun. He has huge calves and is a hiking machine.
Next we met Tom the Englishman. You guessed it, he's from England. He is also a solo hiker, and is in his mid twenties. He has a lightweight pack and also hikes fast.

They are both hiking the JMT and started today, so we hiked with them for the afternoon. The first day was hard on all of us, nobody is acclimated to the elevation yet and even worse our stomachs haven't shrank so we are starving. We got into Sunrise Camp around 5:30pm. I had Mountain House Lasagna with Meat sauce for dinner with Razz berry Crumble for dessert, all freeze dried of course. It wasn't that bad, maybe two weeks of this won't be so horrible. We had a nice campfire and compared first day blisters. First equipment failure: my digital watch smashed when I dropped my pack on it. Tragic. 

From left to right: Dad, Tom, Nick, Me, Fred.

I'm laying in my bed listening to this crowd of 50 year old women's bursts of  shrieking laughter. Sunrise Camp has a full ranger station, and for a fee the rangers will cook real food for you and even rent you a cabin to sleep in. This group of women have a cabin next to our campsite and hiked in today with a bunch of vodka and gossip, and are intent on sharing both with each other. Ear plugs were a good choice. 

Day 2: Sunrise to pre-Donahue Pass-16 Miles

"Fishing Attempt #1"
Woke at 6, slept fine, my inflatable pad had to be re inflated twice. We got on trail by 7:15, leaving Fred and Tom still packing up. We hiked to Tuolome Meadows and bought a cheeseburger and fries at their restaurant. We picked up our resupply bucket that contained food and other supplies that we mailed to ahead Tuolome several weeks ago, distributed it between Nick and myself, and left.

Nick and I leaving Sunrise Camp 

We hiked next to a stream and stopped after about 6 miles when we passed an especially beautiful wide spot. This year my dad bought collapsable fishing poles because the steams and lakes are full of fish, and according to fisherman "The trout practically jump into your arms." I normally don't like the taste of fish, but after a few freeze dried meals I bet I will have a change of heart. Just catching and releasing could be fun and is less messy then having to clean and cook a whole fish. 

Trust me that water is cold

We went swimming in the river (dipped in and ran out of the water) and fished for about an hour but did not catch anything. Fred and Tom caught up to us while were were fishing. We finished a few more miles down the trail and had a big campfire. 

Nick and Fred fishing

Day 3: Pre Donahue Pass to Shadow Creek-19 Miles

We woke at 6 today to a hard freeze. All our water bottles were completely frozen, and our tent had a thick layer of ice on the inside from the condensation from our breath. It took until 7:30 to thaw out and get on the trail.

Nick and I thawing out our gear

We left Fred and Tom packing up again and didn't see them for the rest of the day. 

Missed you guys.

We started up the trail and powered over Donahue pass which peaks at 11,000 feet. It was a good trail that was well maintained. We passed a trail crew that was busting up granite and working on the trail close to the top that included several women. Try not feeling completely emasculated after struggling for breath while walking next to girls who are basically the same age as me swinging sledgehammers. Whatever, they're acclimated to the elevation. 

Sure, they can swing sledgehammers at 11,000 ft, but can they do this?

After Donahue pass we descended to 1000 Island Lake, a large beautiful lake peppered with small islands.

Nick resting and me sitting on a bridge at 1000 Island Lake

This was the hardest day so far, we continued hiking until 6:30pm and set up camp at Shadow Creek. We were attacked hard by mosquitos and retreated to our tent quickly after dinner only to find our tent was full of them. 

Nick enjoying making some new bloodsucking friends

We are all tired and going to sleep, we have another long day tomorrow. Goodnight.

Day 4: Shadow Creek to Deer Creek- 17 Miles

Dad and I slept hard from 9-6. Nick did not sleep well at all, he dreamt of mosquitos biting him and tossed and turned all night. I know because he tossed and turned into the guy sleeping next to him (me). We need a bigger tent. We are getting faster at tearing down camp and getting on the trail, today it only took us 30 minutes. 

A New Record!

Hiking to Reds Meadow and picked up our resupply we saw the Devil's Post Pile National Monument which was a neat rock formation that had regular hexagons growing vertically out of the ground.

We picked up a 3 day load of food, which brought my pack up to around 40 lbs. All of this was made worth it because there is a restaurant at Red's Meadows. Nick, Dad, and I each ate a double cheeseburger and had a shake. I won't bother describing how delicious it was but trust me we were much happier this afternoon than in the morning. Trying to get our food to fit into our bear vaults (bear proof canisters) took awhile.

Like Tetris if bears could eat you if you lose

In the afternoon we completed the long climb out of the Red Meadow Valley floor, which snaked through a burned area that offered little cover from the sun and not much wind. We got to Deer Creek early, before 5 pm, and set up camp. Lots of mule deer around us. What a surprise. Lots of mosquitos too. We are going to bed early, we need to cover some good distance tomorrow, probably 20 miles. Lasagna with Meat Sauce for dinner. Again. 

Mountain House Freeze Dried Dinners, you make the world taste better

Another equipment failure (Nick broke them): R.I.P. Aviator Sunglasses. You served me well, I will have a hard time pretending to be a cop without you.

You will be missed.

Day 5: Deer Creek to Pocket Meadow-18 Miles

"What Goes Down Must Come Up"
Woke at 6:20 to a soft freeze. Out of camp by 7. Long slow climb up to Duck Creek, then downhill for miles. We crossed a beautiful bridge and then had to gain back up all the elevation we spent the morning losing.

Hike down into the creek. Now hike back up out of the valley and over the mountain on the other side . 

My left knee started to hurt in the afternoon, probably from the heavy resupplied pack combined with all the steep downhill. We started back uphill for the climb up to Silver Pass.

On top of Silver Pass

Several people we passed had dogs with them and most of they were very friendly. We crested Silver Pass at 3pm and finished the 4 miles down to Pocket Meadow, but camped above the Meadow itself to avoid the mosquitos. There was really only 1 campsite above the meadow itself and water was 100 yards away but I highly recommend it to anybody who doesn't want to be bug food. 

You can't see them, but there are about a gazillion mosquitos attacking Nick and I

We met Chris and Deborah, a friendly couple from Lake Arrowhead who are close to my Dad's age. We shared our campsite and enjoyed their company for the evening. They plan on taking the ferry across lake Edison tomorrow, like us, and spending a day at Vermillion Valley Resort (VVR from now on). Chris and Dad set the alarms on their watches to wake up at 5:30 so we can hike to the ferry which arrives at 9am. We had a nice dinner together and are all looking forward to flushing toilets and showers at VVR.

From Left to Right: Back of my big dumb head, Nick, Chris, and Deborah