Thru-Hiking the JMT: Lone Pine to Yosemite Valley

This day, three years ago…

We woke up early and at 6am, were the first customers at the Alabama Hills Cafe. There’s something great about guilt-free eating, knowing that you’ll be running a caloric deficit for three weeks and, why yes you can have the pancakes and an omelet. What the heck! We gorged ourselves to the point of feeling ill, then wobbled back across to the Dow Villa, grabbed our backpacks, and waited for our shuttle.

One of the logistic challenges with hiking the John Muir Trail is transportation. If you’re lucky, you might be able to coordinate with friends who want to spend a day or two in Yosemite to see you off. Even then, you’ll need room for your crew, your stuff, and all of their gear as well.

Or you can take two vehicles, dropping one off at the end (Whitney Portal in our case) and then carpooling up to Yosemite. The problem with this is that when you finish the JMT, you’ll have to drive all the way back up to Yosemite to retrieve the other car.

200 miles from Lone Pine to Yosemite Valley

Public transportation is an option, but this too, is challenging. You’ll save money, but need more time to make your way, as you switch from bus to shuttle and so forth. If you have more time than money, it’s probably the best option.

In our case, we had scheduled just enough time to drive up to Lone Pine on one day, drive to Yosemite the next day, hike the JMT and then drive directly home.  That meant hiring a driver to shuttle us from Lone Pine to Yosemite Valley. We booked Mt. Whitney Shuttle, and the fare for all four of us ran a whopping $595 bucks! Split four ways, it worked out to roughly $150 apiece. Gulp!

Our driver — Richard — was awesome. He was waiting for us right at the scheduled time — 7am, and kept us entertained with his stories on the way up. When we reached Tioga Pass Road, we made a stop at The Mobil and then joined the throngs snaking our way up and over Tioga Pass.

Before dropping down into the valley, we stopped at Olmstead Point and took in the views. There were some tourists who had setup telescopes pointed at Half Dome, and you could make out the hikers clambering up the cables to the top — something we hoped to be doing this time tomorrow!

The Owens Valley

Heading up to Tioga Pass

Yosemite!

Our shuttle, at Olmstead Point

Our shuttle driver, Richard

Views from Olmstead Point

A sculpted relief map

Viewing Half Dome. I put my Canon up to the eyepiece of a telescope to capture this (hence the circular border)

The Weigh-In

Jeffrey’s back-breaking “winner”

Richard drove us down into the Yosemite Valley and dropped us off at the Ranger Station. We picked up our permit (you get an email confirmation, but still have to show up in person to claim your actual permit). They grilled us about our plans and whether we had bear canisters (we did). Permit in hand, we took turns weighing our packs on the scale out front.

The results?

• Hari: 33 lbs
• Joan: 35 lbs
• Jeff: 45 lbs
• Jeffrey: 69 lbs — The Winner!?

Clearly Jeffrey was either an animal or slightly demented. Time would tell.

Backpacker’s Campground

We headed to the backpacker’s campground. This is a small campground where hikers with backcountry permits may spend one night (since you typically have to pick up your permit the day before you start). It’s pretty close to a car camping area, but you take a beautiful bridge over a stream where there are no cars, and it’s a little more quiet. We stowed our food and smelly items in the bear locker, setup our tents and relaxed a bit.

As I laid on my back, looking up a the clear blue skies, I watched and listened as the towering pines swayed in the breeze, dancing to the rhythm of nature.

The bridge to the Backpacker’s Campground

Contemplating the Universe

My view

For our last dinner before the trail, Joan and I ambled over to Curry Village for a cold, hops-based beverage, crowds and pizza. This place is insanely crowded in the summer, but it’s an awesome place to people-watch. Joan got lucky, and nabbed a couple seats at the bar while I waited in line for pizza.

We made it back to the backpacker’s campground in the dark, and were surprisingly tired. Maybe it was the anticipation of what was to come, but we went to sleep pretty early.

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Tomorrow morning, we  start hiking the John Muir Trail! 

Originally hiked on July 26, 2010.