Onward!

Monday, July 14

Day 2

Illiloutte Trail Overlook to Upper Cathedral Lake

17.5 miles

"We celebrate not the trail, but the wild places that it passes through" 
~Ray Jardine

Slept okay last night under the mostly full moon. I had to lay facing Half Dome, if I had lain the  other way the moon was like a spotlight shining brightly upon my face. Each time I awoke I would look over toward my backpack and the entrance to my perch to make sure I had no bear visitors. When I finally awoke for the day my right shoulder blade area sore, and it has remained sore throughout the day.

Got on the trail by 6:07 AM and made into camp at  6 PM. Long day on the trail, especially for only my second day. The hike back to JMT was uneventful. The remainder of the uphill to get back on the official trail was not too difficult. I met two girls a couple hundred yards before I rejoined the JMT  who wanted to know if they were on the correct trail to half dome. Nope!

I skipped breakfast, so I had my first snack of crushed Pringles by the bridge over Nevada Falls. I

clearly remember this area from Karen’s and my previous hike. The hike from the bridge to Little Yosemite Campground and past quickly and without much effort. from there I entered what I last time called the “Never Ending Forest”. However this time it did not seem to go on forever, and I was at Half Dome turn off before I knew it. From here on it is all virgin territory for me. The only confusing part of the trail today for me came just after the Clouds Rest turn-off, at the creek crossing. For some reason I thought the trail was supposed to follow directly upstream.  I took another break to refill my water bottles and pulled out my map.  Another pair of hikers headed up stream but quickly returned as they did not feel that it was the correct direction. Luckily a couple of hikers came from the other direction and set us all off in the right direction.  Once I actually looked around the trail crossing at the creek was pretty obvious.  I hope this is not an indication of my future route finding abilities along the Trail. My hope for tomorrow is to get past the avalanche shoot in Lyle Canyon  before setting up camp. I will supply resupply at Tuolumne Meadows, as I have sent a drop box there.  I will have to go through my food to make sure I am not bringing too much. I have not had any signs of the famous hiker hunger yet.

The hardest part of the day was a tough climb up the series of switchbacks  just before Sunrise Creek and Sunrise Camp. This climb had me questioning my commitment, as I seemed to rest longer than I moved. I kept telling myself to take it one step at a time and I would make it eventually. Eventually I did make it! I think I should have stopped and fueled up part way up it but, being lazy and wanting to keep moving I did not. Once at the top the trail  began to drop as it made its way towards Sunrise Camp.

As I started the descent the rain began; light at first, but after an hour I stopped to put on my rain jacket and pack cover. A steady roll of thunder accompanied the rain, but I only saw one lightning flash and it was far off. By the time I reach the Sunrise Camp area I had gotten my second wind and was feeling strong. Since the rain was still coming down I decided to push on as I did not want to put up my tent in the rain, and I figured I would get a cold if I stop while it was raining.

I pushed on over a mostly downhill trail to Upper Cathedral Lake, where I am this evening. I thought about trying to fish, but saw nothing rising so I did not bother. There are a few other groups here tonight, but quite quiet overall. I can't believe I hiked 17 miles today! Hopefully I do not pay for tomorrow with the sore body.

Upper Cathedral Lake

So It Begins!

Day 1

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Little Yosemite Valley to Half Dome overlook on the way to Illilouette Falls
~4 miles

"I'm not telling you it's going to be easy, I'm telling you it's going to be worth it!"

The day has finally come. I set my first foot on the John Muirr Trail at 8:50 AM. What great joy! Slept pretty good last night once I fell asleep. Anticipation of the day to come had my mind working overtime, making sleep hard to come by. I woke a few times during the night, but quickly fell back asleep. I was a little worried about bears, since I was in a campground but luckily none showed up. The temperature was warm most the night,  but I got a little chilled in the early morning hours.

I woke up around 5 AM as others started to break camp, but did not move for an hour or so. With it being a short day I saw no reason to rush getting up. After breaking camp I walked over Curry Village to grab one last soda before hitting the trail. I also looked at a topo to see how to get Illioute since it is not on my maps. I took the shuttle to Isles, the JMT Trailhead. On the bus I ran into Fiona and we decided to start the trail together. We took each other's photo at the "famous" JMT sign and hiked together for awhile.

Ten years has sure faded from my memory of the hike that Karen and I did up to Half Dome. I did not remember the trail being all uphill. But it is! I pulled ahead oh Fiona after 30 minutes and I did not see her again, as we are headed for different camps for the night. Hopefully I'll run into her on the trail again it has been fun talking with her.

At the JMT/Mist trail Junction I stayed true and followed the JMT, leaving the mist Trail for another day. Even though the trail continue to climb it was not too bad, the switchbacks were mostly gentle, enough not to feel like all you were doing was changing directions.  What I was most grateful about though with the trail was mostly in shade. Even this early in the day it was getting hot.

.2 miles before Nevada Falls the Illioute trail branched off. I was hoping to see the falls today, but will have to wait until tomorrow. From the turn off the trail continued to climb for nearly another mile. When it flattened I stopped for my morning break.  From there the trail started dropping. I really hated to lose any elevation as I knew I would have to re-climb this elevation loss in the morning. As I hiked onward and downward, I kept an eye out for places to camp. My thought was to hike to the falls area, restock water, relax, then do at least part of the climb back up today.

Finally reaching the bottom of the decent I sat in the shade of a conifer watching the river flow by, just below the bridge. Had a lunch a little, and took my first Sierra plunge,beneath the bridge. Not as cool as I feared; I managed to keep my breath and washed off the morning sweat. I decided to hang out a little while longer then tackle at least part of the climb out.

I decided that since I was in no hurry that I should take the time to do some fishing, with my new tenkara rod. I fished the large pool about 100 yards downstream from the bridge. Success on my first fishing attempt. I must've caught at least 40 fish, all on a #16 elk hair caddis. Most were very small 4 inches or so, but I still a lot of fun. I caught 2 or 3 the went isn 6-7 inch range.

The best lesson though was learned about the Sierra granite, and h the warning about wet granite being slick. As I fished I stayed on the edge of the dry/wet line from the water flowing down the river channel. One time my left left foot slipped over that line, as I was leaning to cast, and that was all took. Next thing I knew my feet were sliding down the pool and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I went completely in. I had a moment of panic as I frantically swam to the dry shore. The water was not more than 2 feet where I fell in. It was more from the fear of what could've happened that I panicked. I will be showing the wet rock here much more respect from now for sure! While my shirt and pants dried I finished a little more, wearing only my hat and undies. I can only imagine what a sight  it must have been.

Afterwards I hiked back uphill for about 25 minutes to make camp.  I found an amazing spot, directly across from Half Dome.  At the farthest edge of my site,  where one small step past it would have had me falling several hundred yards straight down, I found a USGS marker Scary, but way cool! My site for the night was like a 2 bedroom apartment, with a nice kitchen dining area and a separate area for sleeping.  With clear skies I decided that the first night on the trail would be cowboy camping.  After dinner I layed in my bag and wrote a little in my journal before turning into the night, my eyes closing with views of Half Dome.

Yesterday while eating lunch with the Connecticut guys a squirrel ate a dime size hole on one of my hip belt pockets in under 30 seconds, trying to get some of the sealed  GORP that I had in there. They are on my naughty list. I will be keeping a watchful eye out for them. And marmots!

Into the Valley

Saturday, July 12th,

Hurry up and wait seems to be the common theme of my journey so far. But as Dr. Keller said so many years ago, "to be early is to be in time to be on time is to be late!"  Being so close to a dream finally becoming a reality I slept fitfully. Tossing and turning I awake at 4:30 a.m. and could not fall back to sleep, so I watched a little T.V. before finally getting up and starting my day.  I had the biggest smile on my face as I put on my hiking clothes for the first time. This is for real! It is really going to happen!  I walked a short distance into “downtown” Lee Vining and caught the 7:20 YART’s bus into Yosemite National Park, for the second time in my life.  

A short ride brought me into Tuolumne Meadows, where I went to the backcountry ranger station.  I was hoping to be able to get my permit changed so that I could hit the trail today, rather than waiting for tomorrow. Talking to the ranger said he doubted it; in fact the park was busier than he had ever seen it.   I will check again with the rangers in TheValley later today, just in case. Worst case is I spend the day in The Valley.  From the store and post office at Tuolumne Meadows. I mailed my travel bag and extra clothes to the Dow  Villa in Lonepine. Michael the postmaster was awesome, very friendly and extremely helpful.  I guess it is hard to go “postal” with Yosemite as your work place.

Yosemite Fucking Valley!!! I am finally here! As we rode from Tuolumne to The Valley I was struck by how different this place is from Rocky Mountain National Park. The mountains stand out more here. Granite white mountains and cliffs stand in stark contrast to the green of the forest. The conifers here are much taller wider than the Lodgepole pines Colorado. Their bark appears to be much thicker as well; designed to withstand forest fires I would guess.  At times I found myself reaching out, just to touch them; to feel their grandeur. The bus ride down to the valley was awe inspiring.  There is nothing quite as inspiring as pulling into the Valley and instantly being dwarfed by the towering walls.

I stopped in The Valley backcountry office and picked up my permit for tomorrow.  No luck getting out of The Valley today or changing my destination for tomorrow.  This leaves me with a relatively short hike to Illoute tomorrow; an easy day to break me into the trail.Afterwards I headed over to the deli for lunch where I ran into Don and Karen again.  While eating I had my pack on the ground beside me.  In under 30 seconds a squirrel had made its way to my left hip belt pocket and chewed a dime sized hole in it, in an attempt to get to the trail mix inside.  Not even on the trail yet and I had my first negative animal experience. Damn squirrels!  Hope this is not a sign of things to come.

After lunch I bid Don and Karen goodbye, as they were heading out on the trail today.  I caught the bus to the backcountry campground and set up camp for the night, before heading out to see El Cap.  I wanted to stop at Camp IV, but decided to bypass it in favor of El Cap meadow.  El Cap Is magnificent!   My words fail to express its  awesomeness.  It was great to lie in the middle of a meadow and just stare up at it.  Talk about feeling small!    Lying on my back, staring up at those granite walls I relaxed and dreamed of days to come.

This evening I went to movie about Ron Kauk, one of my climbing heroes. He was actually there to introduce the movie and take questions. As I walked in the theater I saw him sitting there and went up and introduce myself to him. I told him he had been a real inspiration me when I was climbing. He seemed to appreciate that. I even got to take a selfie with him. What a thrill!

I made it back to camp, just as dark set in. No need to leave early tomorrow, except to beat the heat, as I think I'm going less than 5 miles tomorrow. I am sharing a site tonight with Fiona from the Facebook JMT group. It was funny as we talked we discovered that we had both read each other's blog as we prepared for our own journeys.

Time to Go -Travel Day

Friday, July 11th, 2014 

Travel Day

Finally after a year of dreaming and planning part one of my adventure is underway. I had an easy flight into Reno from home. Nice and smooth. Flying will hopefully be the scariest part of this entire journey. I did not enjoy it at all! At least no more planes for 21 days.

Now that I am here in Reno I have about two hours before I catch my bus to Lee Vining. I hope that I am waiting in the correct place, I would really hate to miss the bus!  While sitting here waiting for the bus I just saw my first JMT hiker's, recognizable by the yellow Scotland bandannas (from the JMT Hiker's book group) tied to the back of their packs. I made a comment to them about “nice bandannas” then help my pack to show I was a kindred soul. Not sure that they made the connection as they walked into the terminal. By the time the bus arrived I met five backpackers; the two from earlier, Don and Karen from Connecticut, and three others heading to the JMT for a week long outing.  Don was planning to do a yo-yo of the JMT

Arrived into Lee Vining at 5 PM. The ride was not bad. It was nice just to sit back and watch the scenery go by. The first few of Mono Lake was amazing. We came in from the opposite side of the lake that Karen and I came in from on my other trip here, 10 years ago. Unfortunately arriving from this side of the lake I missed the fun roller coaster road, that I had been looking forward to.

It was a short walk from the bus stop to the Murphy’s Motel in Lee Vining, where I had reserved a room for the night.  After getting settled in, my first chore was to find a fuel canister for my stove.  The only gear shop in town had them in stock, though a little pricey, $10.95 for a small canister (side note - the canister are available and cheaper in the valley). On the way back to the hotel I stopped for dinner at Bodie Mike’s Bar-B-Que.  Very tasty!  Had to have a Sierra Nevada on draft, just to celebrate making it here.

Back at the hotel I emptied my duffel bag and re-packed my backpack.  I decided to leave a few items behind, to save weight. I will mail the bag and left gear to Whitney Portal to pick up after the trip. The whole night I had a smile across my face. After over a year of planning, I am finally here!  The only disappointment was that the ice cream store across the street closed earlier than I thought it would, so I missed out on the treat I had been anticipating.

Trail-sick

I miss the trail!   Yesterday as I left the house for work it was raining, so I grabbed my rain jacket on the way out the door.  Instantly, memories of the trail came flooding into my mind.  In the short distance between my front door and car door I was out on the trail again.  It has been a month and a half since I finished the trail, and I have not had the chance to do any hiking since returning home.  The real world has closed in again, and it’s back to meeting responsibilities.  This is not a bad thing, it just has meant that hiking has had to take a back seat.  Life is all about finding a balance, and like most of us I am still searching for it.

I have not had a chance to upload my trip journal to my blog yet. It is on my to do list.  I have been working on creating my trip video.  Right now the rough cut is over 3 hours.  A little too long for radio play.  Finding the time to work on either has been a challenge. But I will get there with both eventually.  I hope you will hang in there with me, until I can get them posted.

I Made It! A Job Done Well!!!

I just wanted to do a quick update and proudly say that I completed the JMT.  I have been home about a week and will slowly start to transcribe by journal to share with you all.  Overall I have to say that the journey lived up to all my expectations. The JMT is a trail of grand views.  I am afraid that the pictures I took will not do it any justice, but I will post them soon as well.

I would like to give a big thanks to all of the JMT Yahoo! Group and JMT Facebook members, who provided great advice prior yo my departure.  I hope I can return to the favors and advice to others in the future. I would also like to thank all the other hikers I met out there who not only provided some friendship, companionship and inspiration when I needed it:

• Don and Karen - my first JMT "friends"
• Feona - hope your trip went great, and you are feeling good.
• James and Zohar from Jersey - thanks for inspiring me on those days when I really needed.  I hope Vegas rocked.  Next time ... Colorado- the door is always open!
• James and Avery - my Colorado buddies - Vail Rules! 
• Lee and Bob -Sorry Bob I did not get to fish Guitar.  I'll save that one for next time. Lee I can't wait to read the stories.
• Chris - we teachers must stay united!  Best wishes on the upcoming marriage.
• Patrick and Carter - best of luck in France
• Ruby - a jewel by any other name as well.

Stay tuned for the story of the entire journey:

A Few Muir Miles:  A solo Journey Along the John Muir Trail

He aint heavy, he's my pack

“All my bags are packed. I’m ready to go.  Standing here outside your door…”

All my resupply boxes are out of the house and on their way to their destinations.  I have already realized a couple of things that I forget to put in the boxes.  Luckily nothing that will end the trip early.  At least that’s my hope.  Let’s also hope that the hiker barrels are filling up as I write this, just in case.

I laid out all my gear on my living room floor the other evening.  It was depressing to look at the mass of gear assembled before me.  I felt like there was no way it was all going to fit in my pack.  I slowly started to fill up the pack on commercial breaks.  I tried to slim down my load once again.  When I compare my gear list to that of others on the web, it seems like I am taking a lot more.  I

read a great comment on Eric the Black’s website.  It is not necessary about being ultralight, but rather about being able to comfortably carry all the you bring for as long as you want each day. I am not sure that I am there yet, but I will give it another go and see what else I can leave at home.

I had planned on trying to get at least a single overnight trip in as a shake down before I leave, but that is not going to happen due to various reasons.  I did get out for a day hike today with my pack loaded with a 95% of my gear, and without a full food load..  My initial thought while climbing uphill… I have to lighten up!!! On the way down the pack felt great.  I will spend some time tomorrow going through the pack once again to see what I can get rid of.  What I really need is a local thru-hiker to give my pack a good shake down. It is hard to know what I can comfortably do without, with never having done a hike of this length before.  I am erring on the side of too much rather than too little. Rookie mistake I know but I can always donate to the hiker barrels!