Saturday, June 30th
I slept
well the first night. Tuolumne Meadows
is in the northern section of the park at 8,600 feet elevation in the High
Sierra county. It generally takes most
people a few days to a week to get acclimated to the altitude, but so far it
appears that I am not experiencing any headaches or sleep issues. The JMT actually starts down in the Yosemite
Valley, the major hub of the park where you find Yosemite Falls, El Capitan,
Half Dome and thousands of tourist especially on a summer weekend. The JMT official starts from the Happy Isle Nature Center in the Yosemite
Valley, which is 21 miles away, but because of quotas placed on the number of
wilderness permits issued each day, I was not able to secure a permit from
there. Our permit, which we pick up
today, actually has our hike starting from Tuolumne Meadows.
However, I want to hike the entire
trail so I came up with this work around.
I could cover the first 21 miles in a single day since a wilderness permit is not required to day hike, only to overnight camp. Plus I would be much lighter, as I could leave my backpack up in Tuolumne
Meadows . Also there is a park bus that I could use to get down to the valley from the high country. One small problem is
that the bus only travels once a day, leaving the Tuolumne General Store at
10:20am and arriving in the Valley around noon.
Still it doesn’t start getting dark until around 8:00PM in the summer
and that gives me 8 hours to hike/run 21 miles and all I would be carrying is some
food for the day, mostly trail bars, my water filtration bottle and a
camera. Even hiking through the
mountains I should be able to maintain 2 to 3 miles an hour without a heavy pack so
the plan has been set.
The bus pulls up right on time; I
board it and promptly fall asleep in my seat while overhearing a couple of
people talking about their experiences on the PCT. The PCT stands for the Pacific Crest Trail
which runs 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada, takes several months to hike and
uses the JMT as it passes though the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I would later learn that a majority of PCT
hikers look down at JMT hikers as wet behind the ears amateur hikers - whatever. The
bus arrives in the valley swarming with tourist at noon and once there I hop on a
second bus to make my way over to Happy Isle.
The service is good though and I arrive at the starting point of the JMT
at 12:45am with the brilliant mountain sunlight poring through the pines urging me on.
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| Mt. Whitney or Bust |
The mileage sign at the start of
the trail indicates 211 miles to Mt. Whitney, the terminus of the JMT. This makes sense, since the after finishing
the trail at the top of the mountain, one still needs to hike down another 7
miles making the total hike 218 miles as expected. What I didn’t expect to see was that it was
27 miles to Tuolumne Meadows! The sign
must be wrong I hoped, or else … somehow I miscalculated the distance and it’s
6 miles longer than I thought. That
would add 6 miles to my day hike/run and I would definitely be pushing dark by
the time I got finished. Shoot, I wasn’t
counting on that at all and although right now standing there in my shorts and
nylon running shirt felt pretty good, I would be freezing up there at 9,000 feet after the sun
went down. What to do? Chicken out and return
via the bus? That would mean missing the
first part of the JMT. Not the end of
the world but I had my heart set on hiking the whole shebang. Or
forge onwards and risk a miserable night in the mountains. Thinking, that the sign may well be wrong, I
have someone snap my picture at this
official start and text Amy and the rest of my family and friends “JMT ahead – let
the adventure begin!”
 |
| Nevada Falls |
Up the mountain I go, running what
I can but fast hiking most of it as the trail is steep. There are lots of day hikers here to weave my
way around, but I also encounter some overnighters with large packs coming in
and heading out. The first few miles are
paved before it gives way to dirt. Water
drips down on us from a cliff of green ferns providing a welcome cooling mist
on this warm day. About four miles up
the hill, the trail divides and I am not sure to go left or right. To the left, it’s 0.2 miles to Nevada Falls and
I ask some people coming down if the trail dead ends at the falls. One guy says yes it does, so I decide to go
right which makes sense because the trail keeps going up the mountain which is
where I need to go. Eventually I need to
cross Cathedral Pass, elevation 10,000 feet, before I come down the other side
to Tuolumne Meadows.
Another mile or so of very steep
climbing and I come to another trail divide.
This time there is nobody around so I take off my day pack and look at
my map. Oh, no I say to myself as I
realize I should have went left at the falls as the trail does cross
there. In my haste to make good time I
have just added at least 2 miles and over half an hour to my already extended
trip as I would be forced to double back now.
I should have looked at my map back there to confirm the direction. "My bad" as they say and I feel a mild panic
build in me as it seems that my 21 mile “fun run” has now turn into a 29 mile
do or die hard core effort. I better
just keep moving now and I race down the hill.
I fly back down in just 10 minutes and at the falls I see another sign
says that I am now 22 miles away from Tuolumne Meadows. Doing some quick calculations I see that it is
still possible to get back before 9:00PM, as long as I don’t make any more
wrong turns.
 |
| Park enthusiast enjoying the midday sun at Nevada Falls |
After, Nevada Falls there aren’t as
many hikers on the trail. About half a
mile of more climbing, and the trail nicely levels out and becomes runnable. In places I start to catch glimpses of Cathedral
Peak which marks the high point of my hike for the day which is
encouraging. I come along another runner and together we
stop at another confusing trail divide and together we decide to go left which
fortunately proves right. His name is
Chance and he is trying to make it back to his High Sierra Camp in time for
dinner. He’s been running since dawn and
also went down to the valley today. We spilt
ways at his trail junction and I keep climbing definitely feeling the elevation
now as I gasp for air. It’s going to
take some time to get acclimated to the altitude but my Garmin GPS watch indicates I am
still putting out a 30 minute mile so my progress is good.
 |
| Cathedral Peak in the distance |
 |
| Top of Cathedral Pass |
At 9,500 feet, I hit the first open level meadow
and I sense that Cathedral pass is not far now.
It is a hot day, but I've got plenty of water at the frequent stream
crossing I encounter along the trail. A
couple of hikers stop me and ask me to take their picture. I do, quickly moving on and finally I’ve got Cathedral Peak on my right and Cathedral Lake on my left. The hardest part of my day
is now behind me as I hit the top of the pass. The Lake brings back some good memories as it
is the location of my very first overnight backpacking trip into Yosemite about
8 years ago. It was springtime, the lake
was still half covered with ice, water was running down the trail from melting snow, and it
was a glorious hike that infected me with a bug for this wilderness ever since. It’s 6:00PM now and the sun is losing some of
its warmth but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to get too cold. Plus the feeling of
my lungs bursting with that crisp fresh air would overcome any chill that might
come on. It’s probably 10 more
miles from here and all downhill – maybe I can make 10 miles in 2 hours before
sunset.
 |
| Cathedral Peak |
 |
| Cathedral Lake |
Down the north side of Cathedral
Pass remembering the terrain I hiked so many years ago I start hitting 10 to 12
minute miles. Everything flows well and
I get to the bottom at 7:30PM where I realize my initial miscalculation in the
mileage for the day. The bottom of the pass
is not the end of the hike. I still need
to traverse another 4 miles to get to the campgrounds. However, I am in safe territory now, off of
the pass and in relatively level terrain.
An hour later as twilight starts to fall I spot the campground sign next
to our creek. I jump in the water with
only my shoes and shorts on bracing for the sting of the cold water, but it
actually feels real good as I take my first wilderness swim/rinse of the
trip. Back at camp my friend An is waiting
for me with a welcome cold beer and some hot sausages. It turned to be a good first day.
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