Krista and I spent a three weeks in August-September 2015 hiking most of the John Muir Trail, northbound, from Horseshoe Meadows (near Lone Pine, around twenty miles south of Mt. Whitney) to Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite. The hiking itself took us twenty-two days, with resupplies in Independence at the wonderful Mt. Williamson Motel, Muir Trail Ranch, and Red’s Meadow.

The route was non-traditional in several senses: (a) most hikers go southbound, while we went northbound; (b) those hikers that go northbound typically start at Mt. Whitney, while we started south of Whitney; and (c) we skipped both of the trail’s official termini (Mt. Whitney and Happy Isles). (a) and (b) are due to permit difficulties: in the wake of Mile… Mile and a Half, permits out of Yosemite are very difficult to get (most people we met took around twenty consecutive lottery entries to get one), and permits out of Whitney, though easier, are still somewhat of a pain. Starting at Horseshoe Meadows meant that we could easily reserve a permit from Inyo National Forest via recreation.gov without any uncertainty. (c) is just personal preference: I’d like to climb Whitney some day, but doing it as an out-and-back would have broken up the trip more than either of us wanted, and finishing in Yosemite Valley felt perilously close to ending a wilderness excursion with a trip to Disneyland.

The next twenty or so posts will be be daily journals from the trip. We’ll post links here as we finish.

-Robin

Preliminary 

• John Muir Trail: Getting There

Part 1: Horseshoe Meadows to Kearsarge Pass and Independence 

• John Muir Trail, Day 1: Horseshoe Meadows to Chicken Spring Lake
• John Muir Trail, Day 2: Chicken Spring Lake to Rock Creek
• John Muir Trail, Day 3: Rock Creek to Wallace Creek
• John Muir Trail, Day 4: Wallace Creek to Forester Pass
• John Muir Trail, Day 5: Forester Pass to Bullfrog Lake
• John Muir Trail, Day 6: Bullfrog Lake to Onion Valley and Independence

Part 2: Independence to Muir Trail Ranch

• John Muir Trail, Day 7: Independence and Onion Valley to Glen Pass
• John Muir Trail, Day 8: Glen Pass to Baxter Creek
• John Muir Trail, Day 9: Baxter Creek to Lake Marjorie
• John Muir Trail, Day 10: Lake Marjorie to Lower Palisade Lake
• John Muir Trail, Day 11: Lower Palisade Lake to Big Pete Meadow
• John Muir Trail, Day 12: Big Pete Meadow to Sapphire Lake
• John Muir Trail, Day 13: Sapphire Lake to Aspen Meadow

Part 3: Muir Trail Ranch to Red’s Meadow

• John Muir Trail, Day 14: Aspen Meadow to Sallie Keyes Lake
• John Muir Trail, Day 15: Sallie Keyes Lake to Bear Creek
• John Muir Trail, Day 16: Bear Creek to Silver Plateau
• John Muir Trail, Day 17: Silver Plateau to Lake Virginia
• John Muir Trail, Day 18: Lake Virginia to Upper Crater Meadow

Part 4: Red’s Meadow to Tuolumne Meadows

• John Muir Trail, Day 19: Upper Crater Meadow to Trinity Lakes
• John Muir Trail, Day 20: Trinity Lakes to Garnet Lake
• John Muir Trail, Day 21: Garnet Lake to Rush Creek
• John Muir Trail, Day 22: Rush Creek to Tuolumne Meadows

Afterward

• John Muir Trail: Getting Home