The Mountains Are Calling

John Muir, of whom you will hear more about in my national parks post (coming soon!), once said, "the mountains are calling, and I must go." So I went. Luckily this also coincided with the CBWC, where we walk (or move) at least 10 minutes per day in October. Count me in! 

Muir quote - BC, Canada
(In every walk with nature one receives
far more than he takes)

At the end of September, I heeded his words and went to hike the John Muir Trail (JMT) with a friend, whom I shall call Donatello. The reason for this is that long distance hikers get a trail name, and my friend kept "turtling," aka bending over to take the weight of his pack off his hips and neck, so his pack was like a turtle shell, and when he did it we would say, "turtle power" like one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (remember them!?) 

Bear cannister, backpack ready to go, JMT sign at Lyell Canyon

The JMT is officially a 211 mile trail that goes from the Yosemite Valley to the summit of Mt. Whitney, which is the highest mountain in the continental US, at 14,505 feet. Once you are done, you have to get off the mountain, so really it is another 11 miles to the trailhead at Whitney Portal. 

Mt. Whitney - 1995

The JMT is mostly above 9,000 feet, and goes over 11 passes, the lowest being around 10,000 feet and the highest being over 13,000 feet. I have been to the summit of Whitney several times before, and have actually covered most of the 211 miles over the years in drips and drabs, but I was very excited to do it all in one go. However, we had a few issues right from the get go. 

It is hard to get a permit. This is the understatement of the year. Permits are issued by trailhead by a lottery system that you must apply for 168 days in advance. If you want to start at the official start (Happy Isles trailhead), only about 15-20 permits are issued per day. Because of this, we started at the Lyell Canyon (Tuolumne Meadows) trailhead instead, which is about 20 miles from the "real" start. Also, we had to do it late in the year, as summertime permits are highly sought after. 

Happy Isles trailhead - 2012

There are no towns on the trail. For the entire 211 mile trail, there are no towns, meaning there is no way to get food, meaning you have to get creative. Normally there are three seasonal near trail mountain resorts where you can send food to, but they all close down...guess when...at the end of September. This means that in order to get food after that, you have to get off trail. Did I mention that most of the trail is above 9,000 feet? So this means that to get off trail you have to go up and over a pass and back down to civilization which often means a long uphill climb and an even longer descent, and extra miles. 

Kearsarge Pass - extra miles!

Da Bears! As Mike Ditka says, there are bears. This means you have to carry all of your food in a bear cannister, which adds about 2-3 pounds to your pack, and is an odd shape, making it hard to fit a lot of food in it. Also, due to (see above) the fact that there are no towns, we ended up having to carry eight days of food for one section, meaning that you have to fit enough food to keep you going but you have limited space! Also the average calorie burn per day is about 3,000-4,000 calories, and on some days is closer to 4,500 calories. Due to size limitations, I carried about 3,000 calories worth of food per day. 

8 days worth of food

However, despite some of these challenges, we figured it out. It did mean a lot of logistics discussions, sending food to places, figuring out how to get off trail and into town to get our food, and coordinating rides, but it was doable, and completely worth it. 

Gratuitous Pika photo. You're welcome.

I won't bore you all with a day by day of the hiking trail, but I will go over some of the highlights, challenges, lessons learned along the way and a couple of interesting bonus hiking facts. 

Highlights: 

Fall colors, one day of snow, lack of people on trail, surprisingly good weather, swimming in the alpine lakes and creeks, spending time with my friend, quiet mornings, sunrises and sunsets, sleeping under the stars, seeing bighorn sheep (only 400 left in California), being home among the big rocks and trees. 

Some highlights

Cowboy camping (no tent)

Nighttime view

Challenges: 

Sore feet, a bit of nausea due to the elevation on the first and third day, rocky downhills, warm uphills with no shade. 

Getting snowed on!

Snow falling on firs

Lessons Learned: 

A lot of animals start hibernating or migrating in September (marmots, snakes, birds) so we did not see as many as expected. Tree squirrels never hibernate, some birds don't migrate at all (Stellar jay, some woodpeckers, some chickadees), there are only 400 bighorn in CA, the yellow leaved trees are aspens not birches, and much more! 

Quaking Aspens

Here all year!

Bighorn bachelors

Bonus Hiking Facts: 

I know you are all wondering, where do you go to the bathroom!? Well...there are no toilets. You must dig a six inch deep cathole in the dirt at least 100 feet away from any water, campsites or the trail, and bury your waste, but not the paper! You have to carry the paper (and any female supplies, which I also had to do) to a trash receptacle in town. In the Whitney zone, since it is more impacted, you actually have to carry your waste completely out of the backcountry. This sounds gross, but I know many of you are dog owners and you pick up their waste, or have had kids whose diapers need changing, so really it is not that different. 

In Montana some campsites have shovels. 
In the Sierra you have to carry your own trowel!

But what about showering? Did you really go eight days without a shower? The answer is yes. I swam three times, but you are not allowed to use soap in the streams or lakes so I just scrubbed my pits with water (but the water is COLD). I also either wash off my legs, feet and face in a stream in the evening or I use a dry wet wipe to scrub off any dirt before getting into bed. Sure I smell bad, but the good thing about being a JMT hiker is that the PCT hikers always smell worse than you do (they are on trail much longer). 

Dirty legs!

What about safety on trail, or animals at night? There is no cell service on trail, but I carry a satellite messenger that I can use to contact emergency services if needed. Donatello also carried one and we can communicate with each other if needed via our messengers. Regarding animals at night, for the most part they are just curious, and 99.99% of the time they run away from  you if you say hello to them (or I like to say, "go away doggie"). The only time this has not been true is when people have fed them (PS please DO NOT feed wild animals!) or they have gotten used to human food (PS please DO NOT leave food out in your campsite!) which is why we have to carry bear cannisters and I always hang my food when I am not in cannister areas. 

Trail rules

Unfortunately, Donatello had a family emergency and we had to get off trail early, but all in all, here are some of our stats! 

Total trail miles, including going off trail to get food: 180

Total days on trail: 13

Total cups of hot chocolate consumed: 12

Total power bars eaten: 25

Times went swimming: 3

Times snowed on: 1

Days over 70 degrees: 11

Nights below freezing: 0 (got lucky! Two very close at 33 degrees)

Audiobooks listened to: 2 (I spent a lot of time in silence actually)

Animal count: Marmot 0, Snake 1 (racer snake), Bear 0, Coyote 1 (heard many more), Pika 3, Squirrel many, Woodpecker 0 (heard but not seen), Deer 20, Chipmunk many (including one that ran right over my foot), Mouse 1, Bighorn Sheep 10 (?), and my favorite, the Cheeseburger bird (aka mountain or black capped chickadee) 1, We also saw and heard many Dark Eyed Junco, Stellar Jay, Clarks Nutcracker, Mallard and American Coot. 

Any questions? 

Have you ever been to the Sierra Nevada? Where is the weirdest place you have gone to the bathroom? Have you ever seen a bear?