John Muir Trail: Days 0 & 1

After only three days of serious planning, I crossed my fingers that my creaky Toyota was up for one more trip across the Sierra and I started driving. My car was loaded with all of my camping gear, all of my backup camping gear, and what seemed like months worth of food. My destination? The town of Bishop on the eastern side of the Sierra and ultimately, the North Lake trailhead in the Inyo National Forest that was to be my gateway to the heart of the high Sierra along the John Muir Trail. For those less familiar with the High Sierra, the John Muir trail is a 220 mile trail that extends from Yosemite Valley to the top of Mt. Whitney and shares most trail sections with the Pacific Crest Trail. With only two weeks to hike, I had decided to attempt a 120 mile section, joining the trail just before it enters Kings Canyon National Park and hiking south to Whitney. This was to be the longest hike I had ever done by myself and I was more than a little nervous and felt a bit unsure about what I was getting myself into....

Day 0: North Lake Trailhead to Piute Lake
Miles: 3.6 mi
Vertical feet: 1458 ft

A fully loaded pack. After getting my permit and trying to kill as much time as possible (Wilson's Eastside Sports... such trouble) in the hundred degree weather in Bishop, CA, I finally decided to go ahead and drive to the trailhead a few days ahead of schedule. After parking my car, I proceeded to explode everything in my car over the parking lot and in the next two hours carefully find every tiny nook in my backpack to try to stuff in just one more thing. Around four in the afternoon my backpack was fully loaded and probably weighed about 55 pounds; I could no longer avoid the inevitable... it was time to start hiking. I started up the trail toward Piute Pass wondering exactly what I was getting myself into and if I just go to a spa for the next two weeks instead.

Day 1: Piute Lake to the Junction of Piute Creek and the JMT
Miles: 13.4
Vertical feet: 465 ft

Piute Lake from the top of Piute Pass. After climbing up to 11,000 ft on my first evening, I finally found a camp site at Piute Lake and tried to get used to being in the backcountry by myself. Dinner that night was my first inkling that I might have brought too much food. As I cooked dinner, I found myself stuffed after I had eaten less then half of the chicken and pasta I had made, with no hungry hiking partners to help me finish the last of the food. Despite setting the rest of it aside for breakfast (cold pasta? eew...), I still went to sleep with quite a stomach ache.

Looking back at the west side of Piute Pass from Humphrey's Basin. The alpine area up here was absolutely incredible with wide open expanses looking up toward the Glacial Divide to the south. I can't wait to get back here to explore the hundreds of alpine lakes that are scattered throughout the area.

Crossing the 10,000 ft line on my way down the Piute Creek valley.

Hiking 13 miles on day 1? Bad idea. As the trail winded down Piute Canyon toward the South Fork of the San Joaquin River, it felt absolutely endless. Here I first learned the lesson that I kept learning over and over again throughout my hike; hiking downhill can often be just as difficult as hiking uphill. As I stumbled across the scree filled slopes that characterized the lower sections of this valley, all I could think of was how much I wanted a flat place to camp. When I finally fell into camp, I discovered that it is possible to get blisters on ones hips... but food and sleep are the best cures to help make it all better.