John Muir Trail

Backpack, California, EasternSierras, Murica

John Muir Trail - Part II

Rae Lakes Basin from Glenn Pass

We hiked the JMT Northbound starting at Cottonwood Pass and finishing at Happy Isles over 19 days with 1 day for resupply from Onion Valley.

See here for Part I.

Day 6 - Bubb's creek to Wood's creek bridge

We started leisurely at around 8-8.30 for our hike up to Glen Pass. I absolutely underestimated how hard this pass was, and this was the hardest pass for me on the trail. The rest day seemed to have made it harder for me! An ever uphill trail, the pass was nowhere to be seen. After hours of slugging up, the pass finally came and opened up the famous Rae lakes basin. We took a break on the pass but it started to drizzle. We put on our rain ponchos and started the steep descent towards Rae lakes. The pass seemed strenuous both northbound and southbound. After a while, we were at the first Rae lake. We took a lunch break and lounged on a nice rock. Initially we had planned to stop at Dollar lake, but the subsequent day to Pinchot pass looked very long so we decided to keep walking till the end of the downhill. We were caught in a bit of rain between arrowhead lake and dollar lake, which we decided to wait out under a tree. Rain was invigorating and I enjoyed the rest of the downhill which I spent singing songs. We also met Gummy Bear, a PCT thru hiker on the way, who we hung out with for the next few days. We reached the campground just before Wood's creek bridge at about 5, and setup tent and cleaned ourselves in the cold water of Wood's creek. While we were setting up for dinner, Robert, who we had chatted with at various points in the previous few days, came up to us and invited us to come over to join him at his campfire later. We finished dinner and headed over to his tent after it became dark. The campfire was nice and warm, and we had wonderful conversations about everything under the sun. Robert is a teacher in Pasadena, and shared some wonderful stories about his life and previous hiking adventures. We finally went to bed quite late after the fire started dying down.

Lake enroute Glenn Pass

Lakes below Glenn Pass

Rae Lakes Basin from Glenn Pass

Glenn Pass from Rae Lakes

Fin Dome seen enroute Dollar Lake

Day 7 - Wood's creek bridge to Lake Marjorie

I know this day was going to be very long, the pass was a good 7-8 miles of uphill climbing. I left as soon as I got up and had breakfast, and started moving slowly towards the pass. The first few miles were filled with amazing wildflowers and waterfalls. The flowers gave way into some bushy trail after a while. A few people coming in the other direction told me that there was a bear mom and cub up ahead, which was a bit exciting, never got to see the bear though. From this point on, the hike felt like a slog for the next few hours. The landscape wasn't that exciting, and it kept moving uphill but very gently. At some point, I was walking ten steps and then stopping to take a break. The slog eventually passed when the vistas opened up a little bit, and we could see some nice mountains up ahead of us. The pass was still far away but the cloudy skies and the bit of drizzle made the hike more enjoyable. We finally reached the base of the pass, after which it was pretty much like scaling a mountain along steep switchbacks. Steadily I made my way up, and the views from the pass were amazing. We took a little break, chatted with the couple of folks hiking the PCT and then started our descent down to Marjorie lake which was our stop for the night. The downhill was beautiful, with the quintessential sierra lakes scattered around us. Another pass done, another day gone.

Wildflower bonanza along Woods Creek

Panorama along Woods Creek

Panorama enroute Pinchot Pass

View from the top of Pinchot Pass

Lake Marjorie

Day 8 - Lake Marjorie to Lower Palisades lake

Like most other days, I started this day early right after breakfast. The first part of the day was a nice downhill which I almost ran down. There was a log crossing at a pretty big river at the lowest point, after which the trail started moving uphill. With beautiful mountains around and in front, the day seemed promising. Soon, I was approaching the base of Mather pass. One of the fun activities to do on the trail is to figure out where the pass ahead actually lies. Typically its the lowest point in the mountains ahead, but I've been wrong about that. I chatted with a few people going in the opposite direction asking about the pass and the conditions there. Met a nice older lady who was carrying a little elephant soft toy outside her backpack. Took a mental note to carry a fun item with me for the next long hike. It started drizzling by the time we reached the base of the pass. The hike up was steeper than Pinchot pass, and I stuck to my slow and steady approach. Eventually I reached the pass, which was more crowded that other passes we've been on for some reason. There wasn't too much space on top and the wind was making it chilly. We quickly ate some lunch and started our descent down to the lower Palisades lake. After setting up our tent at the lake, we washed ourselves in the cold water of the lake and settled down to have some soup. Within a couple hours, we'd formed a group for the night. Along with Gummy Bear and Robert, we met a couple other solo hikers, one going north bound and the other going southbound. We shared after dinner tea and cookies, some fun stories and went to sleep quite late (compared to the other nights).

Descending from Lake Marjorie

View from the top of Mather Pass

From the top of Mather Pass

At the top of Mather Pass

Lower Palisade Lake

View of Upper Palisade Lake

Day 9 - Lower Palisades lake to Big Pete Meadow

This day was mostly going to be downhill, so we decided to start hiking together. After the usual breakfast and packing up routine, we started heading down the golden staircase. Boy was I glad I wasn't walking in the other direction, that was one steep section. But ahead of us lied the beautiful valley which make the hike down quick and fun. After reaching the bottom, we had a long flat section full of pretty Aspen trees and meadows. We finally took a short lunch break just before the beginning of the LeConte canyon section and started moving uphill thereafter. LeConte canyon was probably one of the prettiest sections on the trail. Beautiful meadows, quaint river, and big walls. What more can one ask for! The previous night one of our fellow hikers had told us about this rock next to the river where you could jump from and swim. PJ went for a swim while I pondered over when I'll become a good enough swimmer to do that myself. We kept moving uphill and reached the Bishop pass junction. Here we met Robert again, who was hiking out to get his resupplies. We exchanged information and said our goodbyes. From here, it was another couple miles before we reached Big Pete Meadow, our stop for the night. By the time we reached here, it had rained a bit and stopped. We quickly setup our tent, and right after it started raining again. We cooked dinner under the tent's rain cover, ended up spilling some of the food. Since it was raining, we just ate and caught a nap while waiting for it to let up. It stopped raining after a couple hours. We cleaned up, put our stuff in the bear box and went to sleep.

Lower Palisade lake at dawn

Descending towards Le Conte canyon from Palisade Lakes

Towards Le Conte Canyon

Grouse Meadows in Le Conte Canyon

Le Conte Canyon

Day 10 - Big Pete Meadow to Evolution Lake

Muir pass day! I had looked forward to this day so much. This was probably the day I was looking forward to the most. However, it was going to be a long one, and I left camp probably at 6.30. This was one of the first days I felt very good on the uphills, and I made good progress. The only stop I made in the first 3-4 hours was at the rock monster (duh!). The day was absolutely beautiful, lots of lakes. The ascent to the pass was a long one, and quickly became an exercise in navigating the trail to avoid the million streams running through which I enjoyed a lot. Monkeying around makes you forget the pain of hiking uphill at 12 thousand feet. The trail kept climbing steadily and reached the beautiful Helen lake. It would have made for a great campsite. Soon after Helen lake, the final stretch of the climb came, and the Muir Hut came into picture. The hut very much defined JMT for me and I was incredibly happy to be there. I waited an hour for PJ to come up there, he was convinced that I had lost my way and waited for me at various points below the pass. He eventually came and we took a nice long break, at lunch, checked out the hut and the pika running around. The view of the desolation below the pass was incredible. After about an hour, we started descending. Walking along lake Wanda was wonderful. It was an easy downhill to Evolution lake. The last hurdle to getting there was crossing the evolution creek which tends to run high. However we could easily rock hop across. It started raining by the time we reached the lake, and we took shelter under a sad little pine tree. Once the rain stopped, we put up our tent and washed up in the lake. This was an incredible camping spot, the sunset was beautiful. We relaxed under the beautiful mountains and retired for the night once it became dark.