Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Section Day-Hiking The JMT?

I'll leave you the Ninja...

This also solves the problem of one person having to wait for the other (out in the backcountry) if one is having a bad day. When we start from opposite trailheads and swap keys (probably somewhere north of the half-way point - I'm doing each section north to south) Rick will get to wait with a beer in hand, in relative comfort.

I always wonder about the odds that one person will choose a bad time for a little off-trail work (perhaps bodily function related), resulting in no key exchange. In this case, copies of keys exchanged in advance might be a good idea, since there would be 8 chances to screw up.

Key-swap: I agree that advance trade of copies is best. You will be moving fast and might pass each other far from the intended spot- not like the more common scenario where you share a camp spot.

I had a misfortune that involved me walking 25 miles instead of 8 one day. The guy with the keys claims to have left his very distinctive pack right next to the trail while he went off to snap a picture. I never saw it- got to the Shepherd Pass trailhead without a key and decided to walk to Independence.

This is a good excuse to bring up an old story. A few years ago, two groups from the Theoretical Astrophysics and Relativity group to Caltech started from Heaton Flat and Vincent Gap in the San Gabriels. The plan was to do the challenging route in opposite directions and trade keys in the middle. The key exchange worked, but both groups took a bit longer than expected.

Ahh…the perfect plan for a key swap

I guess I should start planning to contact Toyota since I don't have a duplicate key right now...

Well, if this aint't the year, it'll never happen...

Got practically no snow in the backcountry... with more than two months until summer...

Got a truck to transport a motorcycle to the opposite end if nobody wants to join in on this fun...

I just need to get my legs used to the fact that 20 miles is much less than 40-50...

Found the most outstanding website: http://www.angelfire.com/trek/nz_usa/Miletable.html

Kudos to whoever Dances with Marmots is.

Yup! It's gonna be a great year for being on the trail!

Dances with Marmots' trip schedule was amazing. When I was looking at it I had wished that there were a few more details, and then I clicked on his link and realized he didn't include details 'cause he wrote a book and is selling them thru Amazon and the publisher. The book reviews listed on Amazon were pretty much spread out over the board, but I may order it anyway... if it's lightweight I'll just throw it in my pack for this summer.

Richard, the east-west issue seems to have a simple solution:

three day weekend.

1. Red's to Edison (free hiker cabin for thru's, but will need sleeping bag-mail to them, and talk to Jim, my buddy the owner, and let him know)

2. Edison to Florence (carrying the bag) There is nothing at Florence. I've slept on the parking lot pavement, and on the rocks. Stay near the trail, and avoid the issues. Perhaps can stay at Muir Trail, but they generally don't take one-dayers. This is the most problematic place.

3. Florence to South Lake (or bail at Piute Pass)(carrying the bag)..perhaps do North Lake to South Lake as a separate..there seems to be no hurry to this.

Great adventure!!!!

It's funny that I was having an e-mail conversation with Rosie and mentioned that I may change plans. I'd still do it in sections, but may choose to do overnights so that I can SEE the terrain I'll be hiking thru. I've done plenty of hiking in the dark and don't really care for it much anymore. (Of course, if conditions require hiking/climbing at night... like summer on the Whitney Trail when it's hotter than heck during the day... I'll still do it.)

I need to figure out where my high-mileage fitness is and then figure out approximate times for the segments and adjust accordingly.

Thanks for the input.

BTW, any word on when Tioga Pass is going to be open?

I think there is certainly some appeal to occasionally hiking at night, especially if there’s a full moon… there’s a magical quality to that light. Going over some of the passes in that light would be unreal, but I don’t know if I’d like to hike at night for the most part, I think you’d miss so much of the surrounding beauty on the trail.

Some things just can’t be rushed.

I know some hikers who've been able to stay on at the Ranch for a night, but they only offer it if there happen to be empty cabins... and they're not inexpensive. The hikers I met in 2006 who stayed there said that they also only accepted cash. I don't know if that's still the case.

There are a few campsites on the trail just past the Muir Trail Ranch. It's the last "trailside" resupply spot on a southbound JMT, so there are often several hikers camping there. The appeal to that area, though, is that if you cross the San Joachin (sp?) River there are hot spring pools on the other side. This shouldn't be a bad year for that crossing. Those hot springs are SOOOOO nice!

I have started to do this from the T-Mdws start as leaving from the Valley has goottn busy/hot and not all that interesting. I plan on ~12 miles per day [this changes a bit but it is just for planning purposes]
So you can go:
T-Mdws to Reds Mdws in 2 nites easy
Red to Muir Trail Ranch in 6 nites easy [I prefer MTR as you do not have to leave the trail and they are really ramping up on taking care of the Backpackers]
Then and I now prefer this ~ 12 nites to Crescent Mdw/Wolverton rather than out at Whitney. You can take the Upper Kern Cut-Off or make the right at Wallace Creek either will take you to Junction MDW and down to Kern Hot Springs. It only adds a couple of days to the trip but is an extremely nice finish in the Big Trees...

They have a shuttle from Sequioa Park to Visalia (http://reservations.sequoiashuttle.com/)
Then take a bus to the AMtrak station in Hanford and then you can go north or south from there. I live in Minden and have done this twice without a car it just takes a bit of planning and no car is kinda nice...If you need something detailed as far as camps etc let me know.

Going for it. WP to OV.
Lead PCTers ahead of me.
Exit SP as an alternate.
Have heavy overbite pack on my back.

Good luck Richard! I'll be anxious to hear how Forrester Pass was (or Shepherd)... and how long it takes you to do that stretch. I'm assuming that pack includes a sleeping bag, etc., but if you just left this morning at 2:00 a.m., and will be back for work monday morning, you'll be flying!... I don't know how you do it!

Stay safe. Looking forward to the report and pics!

Yesterday was a comedy of errors:

1. One of my crampons broke a couple of hundred feet below Trail Crest. It was very icy early. Thank goodness for lots of boot buckets up there.

2. Bugs apparently got into my food bag while I was on my way up and back from the summit. I stopped for an early lunch at Crabtree and when I opened the bag, it looked like I should have been training for Survivor.

3. If that wasn't enough, Tyndall Creek was raging. I wasn't about to try and cross in my bare feet, so I called it quits and exited via Shepherd Pass. (GPS called 39 miles, 12000' up, 14000' down.)

4. I rounded the corner at the top of the pass and a few choice words came out of my mouth. It is NOT a trivial crossing without crampons! I found a scree chute that I was able climb up to and down to get to easier terrain.

Please go back up Shepherd to finish this project! And please report on the condition of Forester Pass when you do!

-A Fan

So, last night I was doing some research:
- 45+ miles for WP to OV.
- 35+ miles for SP to OV.

I dislike SP enough that I may just go for the extra 10 miles.

Nice job Richard

I've thought this would be a good year to tackle this nutty objective.
I need to get up 395 and test the ol' legs on some of these sections

Thanks RG.

The tentative plan for this weekend is:

SP to OV on Friday
OV to Taboose on Sunday or Monday (depending how the recovery goes).

I feel fine this morning and yesterday was just trying to catch up on sleep. I didn't feel too sore.

According to what Doug said about PCTers getting stopped by Glen Pass, I think things north will have to wait a while. (I think I have this right... Glen is north of Upper Basin?)

Edit: answering my own question - Glen Pass is norht of Kearsarge Pass, so the OV to Taboose ain't happening yet.