Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Day-Hiking The JMT - OV -> Taboose Pass - 06.08.12

Here are some highlight photos from the Onion Valley to Taboose Pass section:



6 of these weren't enough for the day!
I need to go back to leaving my car key in the food bag so I can't leave home without it.
Everybody understood why I didn't even want one of the delicious WPS Burgers on Saturday.



My maps blew out of my pocket somewhere on the way up Kearsarge Pass, so I named this lake The Black Lagoon.



Glenn Pass panorama.



See the tent?
Little did I know that a few minutes after passing this campsite, I would start thinking about becoming a Squatter in the area.



Fin Dome starts to show itself.
Since I lost my maps, I was thinking this might be The Incredible Hulk.



Painted Lady reflection?



The wind was calm down on this side, so I got lots of reflections.



Fin Dome reflection with moonset.



Not a Skeeter in sight.
I'd bet this could be hell...



Woods Creek suspension bridge.
How much fun am I allowed to have on this hike.
Little did I know that I was about to start 8 miles of tough walking (hot and windy) to Pinchot Pass.


[img]http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/photos/i-xvtJtVw/0/L/i-xvtJtVw-L.jpg[/img]
The stream really did look almost purple.


[img]http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/photos/i-G5xggb7/0/L/i-G5xggb7-L.jpg[/img]
Marjorie?


[img]http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/photos/i-H7HpzzG/0/L/i-H7HpzzG-L.jpg[/img]
Yup, absolutely stunning shades of blue!


[img]http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/photos/i-9xcQW7H/0/L/i-9xcQW7H-L.jpg[/img]
Looks to me like Mather Pass is dry...


The rest of the album: http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/Whats-New-1/John-Muir-Trail-Section-3/23484134_dzxSvG#!i=1897971410&k=XchzKHb

Friggen beautiful Richard, congrats on yur double trip weekends..

mark

Once again, simply stunning pictures Richard!

Stacy

thanks always for the inspiring pictures ..
At picture #63 where are you and is that a ranger cabin ?
thx

Thanks to all of you.

That is the Rae Lakes Ranger's Cabin. It wasn't occupied. I was thinking I might like to break in and make it my home. :-)

What beautiful pictures Richard! This area is certainly one of the gems of the JMT! Were there many other people on the trail?

Thanks.

Yes, the traffic is starting to build on the PCT/JMT. I passed a few NB Hikers and saw a bunch of SB JMTers. (I'd guess 15-20.)

Hi Richard,
I really enjoyed your pictures very much.
By looking at your pictures,I know for sure that you are not going to come down L.A. to hike Mt. Baldy any time soon.
Please take me up there next year when you have nothing to do. I'll wait patiently.

Shin

Shin, I am probably going back over KP and Glenn Pass on 08/04.
You should come. Other than it being a 2 pass day, it shouldn't be too tough. Come back out to Onion Valley TH on the 5th.

When you guys come out, you can drive up to the house and join Curt, Yeti, and I for a barbecue!! 😃 We'll be climbing something somewhere on Sunday morning, but it would be cool to see you guys afterwards!

Stacy

Any way you can send Scully home early? :-)

Richard,
Let's join the BBQ party at the C&S ranch and resort after a hike.
I am going to train myself for a long distance hike next several weeks.

Stacy & Curt,
You open my eyes for lakes,mountains,mines,and ghost town over the Mt. Whitney now.

Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Richard:
Thanks for the detailed pics at your link! I will be solo SB starting on July 15th from VVR to OV to complete the rest of JMT and your pics are very helpful. Per your pics all the 12000 and up passes seem to be free of snow south of Taboose pass. Any word on Muir Pass, Mather pass snow conditions? I am scanning the PCT and JMT blogs, have not seen any recent pics of these passes. Thanks for any info.

I don't think snow is an issue on any of the passes any more.

Excellent!!

So now the next question in the nuisance category is the mosquito situation

Richard,

Fantastic photos!
Question: From Onion Valley, what is the distance, and is it normally a two day hike down the JMT and over to the Whitney Portal?

Thanks

Thanks Jim.

It really depends on how you want to do it. The first time I did it, I was very limited in time off from work, so I picked up a permit in the morning and headed over Forester to camp. I would have made it out the next day, but it was stormy and I didn't wan to climb down the E-Ledges when they were wet, so I camped at LBSL. (I decided to exit via the NF, rather than go over Trail Crest.) Exited the next morning. I've also done it with an early start and a camp at Guitar, before heading up to the summit and out. Laura and I did it in 26 hours a few years back during a full moon. Scott M did it in ~15 hours. Doug told me that a woman recently finished the WHOLE JMT in ~56 hours!

I would guess that the average is probably 4 days.

Most say it's 45 miles, but I've seen 48 thrown around also.

I do want to get it done in under 24, so I'll probably go back with my new GPS and then throw my number out there.

Richard:

Under twenty-four! Wow! If anyone can do that, you can. Most of the reports I've read are four to five days; from experience, I guess I'm good for two days, but twenty-four would burst my balloon. I've heard that it's about fifty miles, but your posts always seem a bit more acurate than some of the others.

Although you probably don't remember, I've been on a couple of the Kurt/Shin/Yeti hikes up Baldy that you joined.

Jimbo

There’s some differences in some of the older mileage charts vs. the newer ones. I’ve got an older chart that shows the Kearsage Pass/JMT intersection as mile 177.9 and Whitney Portal as mile 222.4 - that’s 44.5, plus the Kearsage Pass Trail from Onion Valley is 4.7, so that totals 49.2 miles.

But I’ve got a newer book showing the Kearsage Pass/JMT intersection as mile 177.3 and Whitney Portal as mile 218.5. That’s 41.2, plus the Kearsage Pass Trail from Onion Valley of 4.7, so the newer mileage totals 44.9 miles.

At first I thought maybe the difference was the 3.6 miles (or whatever) for back and forth on the Mt. Whitney Trail, but that was included.

Interesting – Mt. Whitney is getting taller and the JMT is getting shorter

The JMT map/poster that I just bought at WPS shows the JMT as 211; 222 to the Portal.
The KP junction is at about 180.5 and the trailhead shows as 7 miles east.
(My GPS called it 7.6)
That works out to about 49 for OV-WP.

All I know is that I've done ~115 GPS miles of walking for ~66 miles of JMT.

Doug thinks I need to re-think my strategy, so I'm looking at all of the alternative trailheads listed on this map.

Taboose Pass - 12 miles east.
Bishop Pass - 13 miles east.
Piute Pass - 18 miles east.
Blaney Meadow Trail - 11 miles west.
Bear Creek Trail - 9 miles west.
Lake Edison Trail - 6 miles west.
Mono Pass - 15 miles east.
McGee Pass - 10 miles east.
Duck Pass - 7 miles east.
Mammoth Pass - 3 miles east.
Red Meadow - No miles if open.

Looks like the easiest way would require jumping back-and-forth between the east and west. Don't see anything easier than the original schedule if I want to stay mostly on the east side.

TP-BP 25 miles of approach for 21 miles of JMT.
I'm planning on overnights for BP to Red's (or whatever).
So it looks like I may only be in for another 38 approach miles.

Anybody want to nominate me for an YAI Award and tell me a better way?