Monday, February 14, 1972

June 21-30, 2014 - Giant Forest to Junction Meadow, then Horse Corral Meadow

Backpack Trip: Giant Forest to Junction Meadow, then Horse Corral Meadow
Proposed Itinerary
June 21-30, 2014


I am still working on trying to figure out getting this down to 8 days instead of 10 days.
May 21, 2014 - The mileages are approximate and I am still verifying.


Day Date Destination Description
Miles
Elev Gain
End Elev
0

Giant Forest Starting point. Previous night in Fresno
0
0
6760'
1 06/21/14 Buck Creek

10.5
1,720'
7200'
2 06/22/14 Hamilton Lake May be able to Nine Lakes Basin, about two miles farther and other Kaweah Gap
5
1475'
8235'
3 06/23/14 Big Arroyo Trail Jct

5.7
2460'
9600'
4 06/24/14 Moraine Lake

8.3
995'
9290'
5 06/25/14 Kern Hot Springs

8.7
202'
6922'
6 06/26/14 Junction Meadow

6.3
1114'
8036'
7 06/27/14 Kern-Kaweah River

6
2280'
10170'
8 06/28/14 Colby Lake May be going further down Cloud Canyon
4.7
1830'
10584'
9 06/29/14 Scaffold Meadows

11.3
0'
7400'
10 06/30/14 Horse Correll Mdw

14.5
2320'
7650'



References:

  • Starr's Guide to the John Muir Trail – Has a section on going across the High Sierra Trail
  • Miguel Vieira's High Sierra Trail preperation site
  • NPS High Sierra Trail site
  • Examiner Article

Monday, January 31, 1972

JMT-2013: SPOT E-Mail

Dear Friends and Family,

Sherri and Gary are trying to walk the John Muir Trail again this year--starting Tuesday morning, June 25th. Last year the Trail got the better of us. So we are off again to complete our walk. For those of you who do not know, the John Muir Trail (JMT)  is 211 miles,  from Yosemite Valley-we are starting at Glacier Point--to Mt Whitney.  We anticipate it will take us about three weeks—maybe a few days longer depending on how many rest days we include. Some of you have said they would like to follow us. Here's how:
  • Each day after we set up camp, we will send out a message through our Personal Locater Beacon (SPOT Messenger).
  • It will appear on a map, which you can see at bit.ly/mapritto1 (if that does not work, try clicking on this link.). The link should be updated each night by about 7 or 8 .
  • A map should appear in your browser, when you click it. You will see our locations from the past 5-7 days. Take a look at the map below for an example.
  • SPOT Map-Corrected from Original e-mail
    Most messages will say, we are OK. But if you see a “Custom” message, we are probably on a day hike, or communicating with our support team.
  • If a campsite does not appear for a day or two, do not panic, we may not have been able to transmit. If we are in trouble, we will have set of
    f an alarm for our support crew to help us out.
For those of you who want to know more, here is a little more detail. We own a SPOT Messenger GPS. It uses satellite communications to transmit messages and coordinates. There is a limited number of message types which can be sent—see the list below. It's most important function is if we are in a terrible fix, to alert a national rescue center to find us. But its more common use is to let people know where we are and to help them follow us or to coordinate with our support team. Sherri's and Gary's support team consists of Gary's brother and our children. The SPOT has five buttons, which we mostly use the first one:
  • “I am OK”,
  • “Custom Messages”-which we use to say we are on a day hike,
  • “Help”-to coordinate with our support team,
  • “Tracks”-leaves a set of tracks on the map showing where we have been, and
  • “SOS”-notifies the national rescue center.
Finally, for those of you who cannot get your fill of us, there are two blogs of our summer travels which you might be interested in. They will not be updated until we get back:

JMT Planned Campspots

Day
JMT
Camp
Site Description
Total Miles
Day Miles
Altitude Gain
Altitude Lost
Est Hours
Travel
Restock
Close Trailhead
0


Glacier Point Beginning
0.0
0.0
0
0
0
Initial
Glacier Point
1


Illilouette Ck or Sunrise Ck Depends on what permit says
4
4
0
70
2.2

Happy Isles
2
1.12 Sunrise Creek or Sunrise Mdw Good uphill
13.4
9.4
2900
509
7.4

Happy Isles
3
2.01 Tuolume Mdws Cathedral Pass. Backpacker or regular campsite
26.8
13.4
1721
1514
8.5
Steven
Tuolumne
4
2.06 Upper Lyell Cyn At the end of Lyell Canyon, after your first climb, at a creek crossing.
34.6
7.8
1786
651
5.5

Tuolumne
5
4.01 Island Pass Donahue Pass, Island Pass. If I remember right, there was a nice pond and some trees on this gentle pass
43.3
8.7
2373
1693
7.2

Silver Lake
6
4.13 Trinity Lakes While Johnson Mdw has a lot of good camping places, there has been pesky insects there each time.
55.1
11.8
2143
2803
8.9

Red's Meadow
7
5.01 Crater Creek Stop in Red's Meadow for lunch. Long uphill afterwards
67.6
12.5
1966
2466
8.9

Red's Meadow
8
5.12 Squaw Lake or Fish Creek May stop before this and spread out to next day.
84.4
16.8
2961
2127
11.7

Edison
9
6.05 Edison Lake Silver Pass. Lay over day?
92.5
8.1
526
3134
5.8
Drop
Edison
10
6.08 Bear Ck (9080') After stopping at Edison
99.8
7.3
2539
1149
6.4

Edison
11
7.07 San Joaquin River Sheldon Pass. May need to backtrack a little
113.7
13.9
1701
2969
9.5

Florence
12
7.24 Evolution Lake Will probably stop about 2 miles before the Lake
125
11.3
3000
0
8.1

Piute Creek
13
8.09 Middle Fork of Kings Muir Pass
139.1
14.1
1000
3242
6.4


Piute Creek
14
8.3 Palisade Lake

151.9
12.8
2789
661
8.9

Piute Creek
15
9.09 Marjorie Lake Mather Pass
162.1
10.2
2502
2789
8.5

Cedar Grove
16
10.08 Dollar Lake Pinchot Pass. Just before Rae Lakes
174.9
12.8
2446
3316
9.9

Cedar Grove
17
11.03 Jct w/Bullfrog Glenn Pass
182.6
7.7
1729
1243
5.9

Kersarge Pass
18
11.06 Virdette Meadows

184.1
1.5
0

1.5
Steven
Roads End
19
11.2 Before Forester Long uphill
190.5
6.4
2500

5.4

Road End
20
12.02 Tyndale Creek Forester Pass, Little lake by junction
197.4
6.9
997
3034
5.7

Shepherd Pass
21
12.19 Guitar Lake

209
11.6
1793
1446
7.8

Whitney Portal
22


Whitney Portal Mt Whitney
224.1
15.1
2894
6081
12.8

Whitney Portal

We will probably lose a day around Day 12-16.

Lay Over Days:
Days 4-9:   1 Day
Days 10-18: 2 Days, but which may be used if targets are not met.