JMT (Lyell Canyon to Whitney) starting 19th Sept 2017.

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cakeday
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JMT (Lyell Canyon to Whitney) starting 19th Sept 2017.

Post by cakeday »

hi all !

My first post on here..
i have permits to start my JMT from Lyell Canyon on Sept 19th, 2017. This will be my SOLO trip. I plan on finishing the trip around the 10th of October.

here are some questions i have:
A) Snow/Rain Conditions: what will be the snow conditions like this year ? -- I am guessing, i have to expect left over snow from earlier this year and maybe consider some new snow during my trip ? Any tips on snow expectations and how to deal with it (in terms of navigation, what all to carry with me (spikes etc) will be very helpful.

B) Best way to Navigate: is the trail well marked and easy to follow ? Any tips, suggestions on how not to get lost will be helpful.

C) Exit Points: i have the following exit points figured out, but since the time frame i am running into is late september, early october -- i need to find out what all exit points will still be functional. Am i missing any ? Any tips that you may have will be helpful.
1) Red meadows at 57 mile-marker to Mammoth Lakes to Tuolome meadows.
2) MTR at 106 mile-market to folorence lake to fresno.
3) LeConte Ranger Statoin at 135 mile-market to bishop pass to south lake to the town of bishop.
4) Kearsarge Pass at 178 mile-marker to onion valley, 15 mi ride to independence.

D) I will be travelling from Los Angeles. what are my options (assuming i finish the whole trail beginning from Tuolome Meadows and coming out in Lone Pine) to get to the trailhead in Tuolome meadows and coming back to LA from Lone Pine?

thank you so much for letting me pick your expert brains : )
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Dave_Ayers
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Re: JMT (Lyell Canyon to Whitney) starting 19th Sept 2017.

Post by Dave_Ayers »

There are tons of documents on transport, permits, alternate exits, etc., posted on the Yahoo JMT Group site. Many of those are also posted on the JMT Facebook site. In view of that, I won't go into a lot of detail here, just post some brief replies. I recommend that you check out the Yahoo JMT Group for full details on these topics.

A) John Ladd is publishing regular trail condition reports over at the Yahoo JMT Group. By Sept 19th, the only snow you'll walk on is any that falls while you are out on the trail.
B) The trail is marked like a superhighway. The only place close to confusing is the junction through Devils Postpile in the SOBO direction. Take a zoom in shot of the map at https://www.nps.gov/depo/planyourvisit/ ... POmap1.pdf with you, watch for the 4-way junction near the northern border, and stay high along the ridge there (take the trail on your right). Also consider getting a Tom Harrison JMT map set.
C) There are several more exits that you haven't mentioned like VVR, Agnew Meadow, etc.
D) The main problems you face in going so late are:
1) Will MTR or VVR be open to get your resupply? Be sure to check their web sites and perhaps phone them also to ensure you'll still be able to get your resupply the end of Sept/early Oct.
2) Bus schedules get abreviated late in the season. The Hiker's bus ends runs on 9/10 (http://www.travelyosemite.com/things-to ... bus-tours/). YARTS to Tuolumne Mdws runs only on weekends in Sept and not at all in Oct. See http://yarts.com/routes-and-schedules/m ... te-valley/ . Since you are starting on a Tuesday, you'll have some time to kill if you take YARTS in on Sunday. For transit from Lone Pine, start at https://www.estransit.com/ .
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cakeday
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Re: JMT (Lyell Canyon to Whitney) starting 19th Sept 2017.

Post by cakeday »

thank you Dave so much for your prompt response.

i feel 50% relieved by reading the following message you posted. -- 'By Sept 19th, the only snow you'll walk on is any that falls while you are out on the trail." so i think, i should be able to get away with microspikes ?

And i feel another 30% relieved reading your message about that JMT is marked like a superhighway. i am going NOBO.

i only plan to do 1 resupply at MTR. And the last date for MTR is 9/27 (on the internet, haven't called them yet.).

i will go through the sites which contains a wealth of information you have posted on here and will let you know if i have further questions.
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cakeday
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Re: JMT (Lyell Canyon to Whitney) starting 19th Sept 2017.

Post by cakeday »

Oops.. sorry, i meant SOBO. i am going SOBO.
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Dave_Ayers
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Re: JMT (Lyell Canyon to Whitney) starting 19th Sept 2017.

Post by Dave_Ayers »

You may also want to get a copy of Elizabeth Wenk's book titled "John Muir Trail". It has tons of good info you'll be interested in. For example, she lists all the intersecting trails in your question C (over 30 of them) in Appendix A.

I wouldn't personally take microspikes that time of year, just my trail runners. But of course, that's a personal risk trade-off decision and YMMV.
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