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Anyone familiar with the JMT, know a reliable place to look up access points? Hope to start this this summer, but will need to break it into 2 or 3 summers, depending on access point availability. I know they are quite limited but figure there have to be some at least.

Hank put together a nice route
http://hikearizona.com/map.php?GPS=26881

I think that map misses the best first stop after leaving Yosemite ... Devil's Postpile / Mammoth. The HAZ JMT folks can confirm that much better than I.

chumley wrote:I think that map misses the best first stop after leaving Yosemite ...

Just for the record, this TH access map which I spent a whole lot of enjoyable time on, "did not miss the best.." I just stopped the north TH access points off Hwy 395 at the Rock Creek Road entrance ;) Up to this TH road entrance is where I was most familiar from my Eastern Sierra trips in years past..

azdesertfather wrote:Anyone familiar with the JMT, know a reliable place to look up access points?

http://hikearizona.com/map.php?GPS=26881

http://hikethru.com/hiking-information/ ... -1/permits

I did not see on the list: Piute Pass Trail, which will get you to the point on the JMT where you enter Kings Canyon NP GREAT! camping at/past this junction along the creek. The trail is 17.6 miles and takes you over 11,400' just to reach the trail. Another more obscure option is the Florence Lake Trail.
I have hiked the JMT N-S, but this past summer hiked S from Duck Lake, which was an easier permit to get as well.

This is a good book for these sorts of details > http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/ ... ikearizona

hikeaz wrote:I did not see on the list: Piute Pass Trail..

Yes, it's on the reference map. I did not list trails on this map rather I listed the driving routes off Hwy395 and the TH Start locations. Piute Pass is accessible from the "North Lake TH Start" in from Bishop, CA.

I have experience with section hiking the JMT. I'll detail the eastern trailheads I used and will add suggestions. Scoring a permit to section hike the JMT will be much easier than trying to thru hike the entire trail. It will also make setting the shuttle much easier.

Start with the trailheads from Mammoth Lakes. You can get to the starting trailheads here using public transportation. There are three trailheads you can choose from. I recommend taking the River Trail to Thousand Island Lake. This is a spectacular area and securing your permit should be easy. Head south from there.

High Trail - A9
Agnew Meadow on the River Trail - A8.
Shadow Creek - A7

Heading south you'll come to the Muir Trail Ranch around the JMT halfway point. Near the ranch is the option to exit off the east side over Piute Pass (J15). This will place you near the town of Bishop at North Lake.

Continuing south the next eastern exit departs from LeConte Canyon and heads over Bishop Pass (J21) leading to South Lake. You can reach Bishop from here as well. And FWIW you can make a 50ish mile loop from South Lake to North Lake or vice versa. This goes through Evolution and is truly heaven on earth!

The next east exit starts near Charlotte Lake and heads over Kearsarge Pass (J31) exiting at Onion Valley.

The next southern one worth mentioning is Whitney Portal. You'll need to score an exit permit for Whitney (J36) which is hard to do. Chumley and I were out here last July and camped at Guitar Lake and day hiked to Whitney from the west side. We returned to camp & continued south leaving the JMT.

The southern exit we used followed the PCT and exited over New Army Pass putting us at Horseshoe Meadow (J39). This worked really well and was easy to score a permit for.


There are more eastern exits but they are more rugged trails that lead to remote trailheads. All of the trailheads I listed are fairly busy during the summer. For shuttle logistics, I recommend parking in the major cities like Lone Pine or Independence or Bishop. Look up the public transportation options or hitch hike to/from the major trailheads. A combination of the two will work well. People are fantastic up there! I have a few photosets with GPS routes you can look through for more info. Good luck!

Grasshopper wrote:

hikeaz wrote:I did not see on the list: Piute Pass Trail..

Yes, it's on the reference map. I did not list trails on this map rather I listed the driving routes off Hwy395 and the TH Start locations. Piute Pass is accessible from the "North Lake TH Start" in from Bishop, CA.

I did not see the reference map to which you refer - sorry. Do you have a link to it?
I was presuming that the OP had wanted the trail name as well as the trailhead, as he would need to contact the pertinent agency for his put-in permit. As always, folks are looking for the easiest egress/ingress, but that often overloads the permits in those areas - if I have missed a cut-off for permits I generally find that there are 1 or some available at the more difficult-to-access TH's. Piute Pass is not a direct get-to-the-JMT-as-fast-as-you-can trail, but it is more scenic than most access trails (Bishop Pass can be nice but seems crowded to me) - and likely scenery would be at the top of anyone's list as to why to hike the Sierras, especially if section-hiking.

Inyo permit quota by starting/finishing point https://fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUME ... 143453.pdf.

The JMT is a real showcase on just how many layers of gub'ment can be involved (and with contradictory regs) in one relatively small area.

hikeaz wrote:I did not see the reference map to which you refer - sorry. Do you have a link to it?

Please see Joe B's 2/28 comment here with my linked "gps routes" .. thx

Joe, John9L & Grasshopper, THANK YOU!! This is just the info I was hoping to find. You're amazing.

One other question: bookwise, which one would you say is the BEST definitive guide for the JMT? If you were to get 1 book to take with, which one would it be (if you feel there is a good one)?

@azdesertfather
The Elizabeth Wenk guide book seems to be the standard Dave...I used that book on John's suggestion, it s eems to be one of more popular on trail...