JMT - Day 1 - July 13, 2008

This is the first in a series of posts documenting Reuben’s John Muir Trail backpacking trip from July 13-26, 2008. Each day will have its own post–reposted from a handwritten journal kept on the trail and paired with photos from each day.

The John Muir Trail (JMT) is a long-distance trail in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California, running 211 miles (340 km) from the Happy Isles trailhead in Yosemite Valley south to the summit of Mount Whitney on the border of Sequoia National Park and Inyo National Forest. It is named for naturalist John Muir. The elevation of the John Muir Trail seldom dips below 8,000 feet (2,400 m), it crosses six passes in excess of 11,000 feet (3,400 m) with a total cumulative elevation gain of just over 46,000 feet (14,000 m) and descends just over 38,000 feet (12,000 m).

Day one started a little differently than we had planned. Due to thunderstorms in Chicago, most of my flights were delayed the day before and I was not able to get into Yosemite Valley the same day I left Hamilton. The travel day was long and stressful since I wasn’t sure how/when I would get to the park., and the idea of being off of our hiking schedule from day one upset me. Throughout the travel day, I communicated with Nick and Jess (who were already in Yosemite Valley) via Mom and Dad in Des Moines–who also did some internet research for me on the best travel alternatives after my flight delays — it felt like they were my “command centre,” as I did not have a cell phone or internet access and could not call Nick and Jess directly. Thanks Mom and Dad!

I spent that night in the small town of Merced, California, woke up at 5am, and hopped the first YARTS bus into the park. The bus dropped me off right at the Happy Isles trailhead at 8:45am, where Nick and Jess were waiting for me. We configured our shared gear and distributed our food, packing it into plastic bear-proof canisters that Nick and Jess had rented the day before. We drank a bit of coffee, ate a bagel, and then headed down the trail around 9:30am. Due to my travel delays, about 4 hours later than we had planned.

Signs for the John Muir Trail near the trailhead. It was hard to take group shots, so there are plenty of pictures of us separate!

Apparently a lot of my stair climbing training in Hamilton over the last few months payed off. Hiking was easy in the morning, even though it was all uphill. We climbed out of Yosemite Valley and arrived at Nevada Falls, were we stopped to enjoy the view and some snacks.

We continued on up the trail, still climbing, until we got to the Half Dome trail junction. Half Dome is one of the most iconic peaks of Yosemite, and is a very popular hike. Climbing it is not a part of the JMT, and it is a 4 mile round trip detour, but I had passed up the opportunity to climb it last time I was in the park, and couldn’t resist this time around. Our water supply was getting low, but we headed up the steep climb anyway, hoping to run into a small stream where we could fill up. However, we had no such luck and were shortly out of water, making the climb a lot more difficult.

Nick and Jess with the final climb to the top of Half Dome in the background.

We were all feeling a little nauseous and fatigued — partly from the altitude, but mostly from the lack of water. There were also some dark clouds moving in which made things a little scary, we did not want to be climbing Half Dome — the final accent of which is done while holding onto steel cables — if there was a threat of lightning. Jess decided to stay at the base of the cables while Nick and I quickly climbed up, snapped a few photos, and headed down. I wasn’t feeling well at all, and desperately wanted to get back down the trail and find water to drink.

At the top!

Half Dome with Yosemite below. We began the day down there! Notice the haze from the summer fires in California.

Descending the cables, its a bit crazy not being able to see over the edge as you head down.

As we headed back down to the main trail, it started to rain. We had just missed the storm on the peak! We rushed down to grab our packs before they got wet — we had left them at the base of the trail juction to make the climb a bit easier. After throwing on our rain gear, we continued down the trail until we found a stream where we filled up on much needed water. The rain was begining to come down quite hard, so we decided to pitch the tent for some shelter, and have lunch here. We waited out the worst of the rain, and then packed up to continue down the trail.

Lunch in the rain

With our late start and then waiting on the rain, we were a few miles behind schedule. We were all pretty tired and sore from our first day of hiking and decided to make camp short of where we had originally intended, knowing this would put us behind schedule. It was wet, we were tired and already blistered from the days hike. We ate dinner in the dark and then retired to the tent. As we talked about the day before we fell asleep, we all realized that the pace of this trip is going to be pretty intense.

Camp on Day #1

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Daily Stats
Began hiking at 9:30am.
Mileage: 14.3 (23km)
Estimated Ascent: 5,800 Feet
Estimated pack weight: 30 pounds
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Posted by reuben Monday, Aug 4th, 2008 at 3:33pm