What can I say, the Sierra Nevada's are one of the greatest ranges anywhere and after given the opportunity to enjoy them with some friends along the John Muir Trail, I was all for it.
I'd hiked the same stretch of trail last year during my Pacific Crest Trail jaunt and was really looking forward to getting back out there, stretching my legs and covering some miles. Not to mention enjoying the woods after spending the summer on the edge of the LA Basin with 11,599,999 other people.
The plan was to hike the 212 mile trail in 9 to 10 days and given my joining the crew a day or so after the start, my version of the hike was going to be 200 miles, give or take. The longest stretch without resupply was going to be about 6 days or 120 miles during which there are no road crossings or other structures on the trail, just a lonely brick hut on the top of Muir Pass built to shelter folks caught in lightning, snow or heavy rain on the more than 8 miles trail above 11,000 feet.
Glenn Pass
The first day brought me up and over Kearsarge Pass as well as Glenn Pass, the former of which yielded the picture above.
Each day brought another pass, or two, as well as long hikes in tree covered valleys next to gushing streams. The weather was close to "golden" save one episode which involved a dozen or more lighting strikes on an exposed pass with 3 inches of accumulating hail. Yeah, that was a little more than we'd bargained for.
All in all, one heck of a trip.
Hello Ben,
Glad to hear you made it back safely from your hiking trip; it looks beautiful there! So, now what's your plan? Looking forward to hearing what your next adventure may be!
Posted by: Krista | October 05, 2009 at 01:40 PM
Hey Hosehead!!
U planning on getting a real job anytime soon?
Posted by: Hose B ;) | October 12, 2009 at 02:52 PM