Photos from my 220 mile hike on the John Muir Trail

[geoffp]

September 9, 2015: Day 9, Palisade Lakes to Grouse Meadow. Distance: Approximately 11 miles.








Great coffee spot!

[geoffp]

September 10, 2015: Day 10, Grouse Meadow to . Distance: 11 miles.

Woke up to clear skies in Grouse Meadows, packed up and headed to Muir Pass. My stove wasn't igniting at camp this morning, so we had a Clif Bar, and some water and started hiking. The clouds started rolling in, we stopped for breakfast (mid morning snack) and my stove was working again. Eventually we got right below Muir Pass and the clouds were looking pretty nasty. We set up camp below the pass and napped for a bit. Eventually, the sun broke and we packed up and got to Muir Hut. The Muir Hut was incredible. We met "T-Mike" there, or "Travellin Mike". I'm pretty sure he was drunk, and he seemed a bit crazy (actually a lot). This was his sixth time doing the JMT. Anyway, we checked out the hut and headed down to Wanda Lake and set up camp.

[geoffp]

September 11, 2015: Day 11, Wanda Lake to Shooting Star Meadow. Distance: 19 miles.

Tough day, but fortunately it was all down hill, and some killer scenery. We got up early and hit Evolution Valley (incredible!!), we kept cruising and pushed to hit Shooting Star Meadow to set up camp. Tomorrow (Day 12) we hit our first resupply point at Muir Trail Ranch. We were hiking with food on our minds.

[geoffp]

September 12, 2015: Day 12, Shooting Star Meadow to Muir Trail Ranch. Distance: 2 miles.


Pretty relaxing day today. We woke up early and hiked the 2.0 miles to Muir Trail Ranch to resupply. The Ranch wasn't open until 9AM so we headed over to the hot springs outside the ranch for a nice morning soak. We were the only ones there and it felt amazing. We soaked for 30 minutes or so, and headed back to the Ranch to get our food. With all of the smoke from the Rough Fire there was a TON of extra food free for the taking. We pigged out for a bit, checked email, and then headed to the meadow outside the camp to setup camp. We washed ourselves, cleaned our clothes, ate, and relaxed. First day we've done anything like this since we started.




Natural hot spring we soaked in, had it all to ourselves.

[flyboyx]

i have a hard on for unimogs. digging that 416.

what are all those 5 gal buckets with tape on them for? storing food in trees?

also, when you slept, did you hang your food from trees so bears couldn't get to it?

[bikerbill2021]

awesome thread, very cool

[mrsleeve]

This is a awesome trip, and on my list of maybe someday. I have done plenty of hiking at 6-8k feet in my neck of the woods and start to feel the altitude some place in between, not a dramatic difference but noticeable. Chirst at 13-14k thats at least 7 days to just acclimatize from what I am used too and you guys did this averaging 10mi a day CONGRATS to you damm thats feat in and of it self even at 1/2 those elevations. Just trying to get in shape for Elk season has me hurting lol. This kinda thing makes me want to do more overnight hikes and run the entire length of our Alpine #7 trail but its hard when you can nearly see you house in sections in the binocs across the valley.

I didn't notice any bear spray in your gear, are you not allowed to carry that CA.... I see no firearms signs, I am not sure how comfortable I would be that deep into the back country with out at least something. I know there is very little risk of bears in those high alpine sections but what about below the tree line?? Black bears honestly worry me more than our Grizzlies, since they are a fair bit more unpredictable.

As far as the Mog, seems there is some more BS from the state of CA when it comes to the equipment the state gets to use and what the subjects are allowed to import and register ( though I suppose that could be a gas powered unit) and that is a topic of a different thread.

[Kershaw]

I noticed the Let's Do This buckets, do you put in your own resupply and they carry it out there for you?

That's an awesome adventure. Very cool.

[geoffp]

I'll try and answer your questions below:

Kershaw "do you put in your own resupply and they carry it out there for you?"

I mailed out two buckets prior to us departing. One to Muir Trail Ranch (pictured above). They had a ton of oversupply from people who either bailed on the hike, or sent too much food so we got to raid the buckets.

The second bucket was mailed to Red's Meadow near Mammoth Mountain, we picked that up later.

mrsleeve "I didn't notice any bear spray in your gear, are you not allowed to carry that CA.... I see no firearms signs, I am not sure how comfortable I would be that deep into the back country with out at least something. I know there is very little risk of bears in those high alpine sections but what about below the tree line?? Black bears honestly worry me more than our Grizzlies, since they are a fair bit more unpredictable."

No bear spray allowed. Seems crazy but those are the rules. We didn't have any bear encounters. Girlfriend thought she heard one near our camp one night, she made a bunch of racket and whatever it was went off on its way.

flyboyx "what are all those 5 gal buckets with tape on them for? storing food in trees?

also, when you slept, did you hang your food from trees so bears couldn't get to it?"

The 5 gallon buckets are our resupply I mailed out a couple weeks prior. We used bear canisters to hold our food that we carried on us, and we would hide those off from camp at night. Not many trees when we were up high, so this was the best option.

[geoffp]

September 13, 2015: Day 13, Muir Trail Ranch to Upper Bear Creek Meadows. Distance: 10 miles.

Woke up feeling refreshed today. We started the day with another hot spring soak, and once again had it all to ourselves. After that we packed up camp, cooked breakfast, had some coffee and stopped by Muir Trail Ranch (MTR) one last time. The hike out was uphill and steep. It was overcast and smokey, eventually after we passed Sallie Keyes Lakes a light drizzle started. This is the first rain we've seen since we started the hike. We hiked over Seldon Pass and had beautiful views of Marie Lake, unfortunately the overcast skies didn't do it much justice. We carried on and eventually settled into camp at Upper Bear Creek Meadows.

[geoffp]

September 14, 2015: Day 14, Upper Bear Creek Meadows to Mono Creek. Distance: 10 miles.

Got up to a cold morning. We packed up and cooked breakfast and we were on our way. The clouds moved in and it started to drizzle again. We pushed on and climbed Bear Ridge, as we topped out on the ridge it really started raining hard. We took a break and put our pack covers on, and our rain gear. We descended Bear Ridge and it was a little hairy. I could hear rocks crashing and possibly a tree fall. I was a little worried because the rain was coming down hard and it was a steep downhill. The rain just kept coming, with no signs of stopping. We stopped at Mono Creek (the first camp spot we found) and decided to spend the night there. Eventually the rain stopped, and we cooked dinner. The rain came back after dinner. We went to bed and throughout the night the rain continued to pelt the tent. We were wet (even with our rain gear) and pretty miserable.

[QUKBMER]

This is very beautiful mountain trails that you went on and great pic's to boot as well. Prop's to you for making it and thank you for sharing it with us !! I wish i could this but i'm way outta shape.

[LateFan]

Impressive place, impressive trek. Thanks for sharing it.

[bddog]

More Pics

Good job. Such a wonderful beautiful place.
Whitney is a tough climb, not for the inexperienced. Some days seem so lengthy; it can get horribly dusty at times. Kudos to your woman, she must be quite the trooper.
I hiked for two weeks around Yosemite. Tuolumne Meadows up through the back country to
Hetch Hetchy Reservoir (Mama bear and cubs raided a back pack at night; lemonade mix remnants in a pocket) then straight down Yosemite Falls to the Valley where we spent a few days as tourists.
We then hiked up Vernal Falls, past Nevada Falls on the Mist Trail. So many water falls. Kept hiking uphill to Half Dome just to look over the edge! Solid Granite.
My favorite part was water sliding down rapids over granite , over and over, about five miles before Hetch Hetchy. We spent an extra day there.
I have signed into several summit books, Anderson Peak, Mt. San Gorgonio. Mt. San Jacinto ( hiked the back side. NO tram!); I replace the book if none is there, so others can have the thrill of signing. Always leave it cleaner than you found it.
Many hikes in the Sequoya's south of Whitney. Love the large trees.
Post more pics please. Everyone enjoyed them!!!

[geoffp]

September 16, 2015: Day 16, Vermilion Valley Resort to Fish Creek . Distance: 12.4 miles.

Got up early and caught a killer sunrise over the lake. We had a great breakfast, then took the shuttle to the lake and the ferry across to get started. There was snow on some of the peaks from the storm that hung over the area for a couple of days. It was shaping up to be a great day. We got to Silver Pass Lake and had a quick lunch, then got over the pass. Quite the scenery up here, lot s of beautiful lakes. We stopped at Fish Creek for the night.

Sunrise after the rain storm by Geoff Potter, on Flickr

Signs of the drought
Lake Thomas A. Edison by Geoff Potter, on Flickr
VVR Yurt by Geoff Potter, on Flickr
Vermilion Valley Resort by Geoff Potter, on Flickr
Vermilion Valley Resort (VVR) shuttle by Geoff Potter, on Flickr
Vermilion Valley Resort by Geoff Potter, on Flickr
Old school soda cans by Geoff Potter, on Flickr
Vermilion Valley Resort by Geoff Potter, on Flickr
Lake Thomas A. Edison by Geoff Potter, on Flickr
Lake Thomas A. Edison by Geoff Potter, on Flickr
After the rain by Geoff Potter, on Flickr
Silver Pass by Geoff Potter, on Flickr
Silver Pass by Geoff Potter, on Flickr
Silver Pass Lake by Geoff Potter, on Flickr
Silver Pass by Geoff Potter, on Flickr
Looking towards Ansel Adams Wilderness by Geoff Potter, on Flickr
Silver Pass by Geoff Potter, on Flickr
Warrior Lake by Geoff Potter, on Flickr
Chief Lake by Geoff Potter, on Flickr
Chief Lake by Geoff Potter, on Flickr
Squaw Lake by Geoff Potter, on Flickr
Fish Creek by Geoff Potter, on Flickr