The John Muir Trail is quite addicting. After the first time I attempted it in 2012, I swore I would never return. It was that hard. Since then I have returned numerous times and enjoyed either a section of it or completed it end to end. In July 2020 I started at Horseshoe Meadows with friends and marched forward to Tuolumne Meadows.
Pre-Trip:
It was a long and worrisome spring wondering how the Covid19 virus was going to affect our plans to hike the John Muir Trail in the Sierra starting July 1st. Then in late June 2020, a 5.8 earthquake shook the ground and split off a huge chunk of mountain above Whitney Portal which may impact any desire to climb Mt Whitney (rangers closed trail due to inspections). Starting at Horseshoe Meadows and traveling northbound almost 200 miles, we will finish our grand adventure on July 22nd at Tuolumne Meadows. We've doubled up on our hand sanitizers and will be wearing our masks at any public places where people congregate and on sections where it is impossible to keep six feet distant from other hikers. To start, my hiking companions will be Seasoned Strider (Linda) and Pebbles (Carole). Halfway through we will detour over Bishop Pass (11,972 feet) drop off Pebbles and pick up Vicki (no trail name) and our five day resupply at the trailhead. It was a low snow year in the Sierra so we don't expect too much snow travel. That's good because we're leaving the spikes and ice axes at home!
Everything in the pic except the visor and fannypack went in the backpack. The bear canister is required and was currently packed with six days of food and weighed 10 lbs 2.5 oz. Ugh.
Our personal trail angel, my hubby Dave, did not go on this trip. Pebble's husband Greg and friend Duane were our personal trail angels this time and actually packed in our resupplies at Kearsarge Pass and at Bishop Pass. More on those stories later.
The daily adventures are listed at the right hand side, but to get you started, click here for the first day's adventure.