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| Backpack | 43.06 Miles |
10,007 AEG |
| | Backpack | 43.06 Miles | 3 Days | | |
| 10,007 ft AEG | | 40 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | I have wanted to hike the JMT ever since I hiked Mt. Whitney years ago, and this was my official beginning, hiking southbound. Next trip starting at Tuolumne Meadows! Did this trip on the JMT over 3 days (2 full days and 2 half days).
Day 1: 9/4 5.02mi, 82’, 2:33
Not really counted as part of the backpack trip. Hiked around Yosemite, watched two girls climb El Capitan with ropes through telescopes, and walked around the North Pines backpacker’s campground.
Day 2: 9/5 13.27mi, 5453’, 6:39
After staying the night at backpacker’s camp beyond North Pines in Yosemite (and enjoying the pizza in Yosemite the night before!) we began our journey up the mountain. We hiked over to Happy Isles (the northern terminus for the JMT), crossed the Merced bridge, and made our way to Clark Point to soak in the killer views. Our next stop was at Nevada Falls, where we met an older Israeli man named Saul who had just started the JMT as well and had plans to do it all. By the time we left Nevada he was following us, and never left us the rest of the trip…hiking, eating and camping with us. We pushed our way past Little Yosemite Valley to the turnoff for Half Dome. Both Bills in our group stayed behind at the junction while Jason and I dropped our packs and headed up.
I’m not sure what I was expecting… maybe a little something more than Picacho Peak, but it was well beyond that! Trail went to steps along the bare mountainside, then when we hit a flat spot we looked ahead and saw the cables. Wow! Straight up on a sheer rock face, with just a couple of cables to hang on to. I was told about the ASU grad who did Half Dome with her Dad just a couple of months ago when a storm came up and the rock got slippery and she fell to her death. I have a little fear of heights but managed to push through it.
Near the top we ran into British climber Oliver Tippett https://www.instagram.com/oliver_tippe ... JlM3loag==, who is also a free soloist; he had just free climbed Half Dome again without ropes and was jogging back down.
Everyone on the cables wore gloves and cabled themselves in the whole way; Jason and I were the only two there at that time with neither! But it was fine. The cables didn’t get hot. The views up top were incredible! On my way back down I found it easier on the steeper parts of the cables to bend my knees and sit, holding each cable above my head with my hands and but scooting down face forward, using my shoes as brakes.
Once down to the junction, we hiked about a half mile to Sunrise Creek where the burn damage kicks in, and camped there for the night.
Day 3: 9/6 8.3mi, 2832’, 5:35
Continued down the JMT to Sunrise High Camp, then hiked over to Sunrise Lakes to swim and camp on the NW side of the eastern lake. Incredible views of the middle lake, which has an island on it.
Day 4: 9/7 7.9mi, 1064’, 6:10 with 2:30 in breaks. Lower Cathedral Lake Trail: additional 1.9mi, 200’.
Half day, only hiked the morning. Hiked out of Sunrise Lakes. Took a pit stop at Sunrise High Camp, then we headed up to Cathedral Pass. Amazing photo spots with Tresidder Peak coming up to the pass, then Cathedral Peak (which looks like it has a nic Nike swoosh on top) on the other side of the pass. My altimeter at the pass registered 9976’.
Ran into NPS rangers close to Upper Cathedral Lake, one of them told us that bear spray is illegal in Yosemite NP. When I asked how to defend yourself from a bear, he said they never hurt anybody, and if they did start to do something just look very big and very loud and they would run away. Honestly, I don’t buy it, I’m sure that work most of the time but not all the time, I’d rather a NPS officer give me a hand slap than a black bear to give me a paw slap.
Hiked past the upper lake to the Lower Cathedral Lake Trail, and around the lake to the northwest tip to set up camp. The lake drains off a smooth granite cliff, I climbed down that area to find a remote spot to take a private bath in cool water with an amazing view of Tenaya Lake below.
Watched sunset with the hiking crew with that view, then I treated the team to hot tea and we had 2 French couples visit who were hiking from the south and will come out at Yosemite in a couple of days. They gave us great stops of future beds and showers on the JMT, and the two ladies talked about how they have done a couple of weeks of the Camino from their home in central France.
Day 5: 9/8 4.65mi, 754’, 1:29. Soda Springs: 2.02mi, 92’.
Half day, only hiked for part of the morning. Hiked out of the lakes, and though there was a little elevation, it was mostly downhill…ahh, my sweet spot! Even with my pack I averaged over 3mph. Hiked on the JMT just behind/past the Tuolumne Meadows visitor’s center to the Soda Springs turnoff, then a left into the center. Dropped the heavy pack and hiked to Soda Springs and visited the cabins in the area. |
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| "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." — Henry David Thoreau |
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