[pct-l] John Muir Trail starting June 20th

[Tortoise73 at charter.net (John Mertes)]

Its been a l-o-n-g time since I've been on the JMT. Back in the 70's. 
Then the preferred guide book/reference guide was Starr's Guide. 
Generally a terse description of the trail, alternatives, and numerous 
laterals (think access / bail out) trails. I don't know if it is still 
published or how recent it is. But worth checking into.

John

dude wrote:

>I've been on the JMT on 4 different trips, all in August or September. 
>The winter of 1998 was very similar to the winter of 2005, so I will
>compare this year to that year.  IMO, you will encounter a *tremendous*
>amount of snow and it will significantly impact your trip.  I predict
>that you will encounter significant sections of the trail that will be
>completely covered in snow for miles on end.  I would highly recommend
>practicing your navigation skills with a map and compass or map/GPS
>because its really easy to lose the trail when its under 15ft of snow
>for 5-10 miles.
>
>During the last week in August 1998, most of the trail was clear, but
>the passes were still heavily covered in snow and an ice axe was
>preferable but not necessary since there had been an entire summer of
>hikers kicking steps over the snow laden passes.  My guess is that ths
>year in late June will present snow covered passes that will really
>require ice axes and may require in-step crampons.  In any event, you
>won;t be able to kick steps in trail runners, so I would highly
>recommend boots for this purpose.  Consider this photo that was taken
>last weekend and posted on the list:
>http://community.webshots.com/photo/357366143/357388712NjgHAE
>
>this photo is essentially the exact area in which the JMT travels, so
>you can see how much snow there is still.  to compare, here is the same
>area in late august 1998:
>http://dudedesign.com/photos/jmt/large/anseladams3.jpg
>
>here is a photo of a stream crossing in the last week of August 1998:
>http://dudedesign.com/photos/jmt/large/crossing.jpg
>
>as you can see, the crossing is fairly significant, so I would say that
>in late june of this year, you will have some crossings that are pretty
>dang bad.  if you can take a rope or small line to provide saftey during
>the crossings, I would.  if you can carry some Tevas or water shoes that
>can give you some traction during the stream crossings, this will
>probably help.
>
>Since you are giving yourself 19 days to complete the hike, you might be
>able to cmplete it, but I would thank that there is a good chance that
>you will not be able to finish the trail because you won't be able to
>cover as much ground as you'd like.  I'd definitely make sure that you
>are awar of the different bail out points along the trail:  red's
>meadow, south lake trailhead, onion valley trailhead, VVR (although they
>are not open yet and their website says that they will not open untill
>"late june": http://www.edisonlake.com).
>
>I'm not trying to scare you, but you really need to have a realistic
>outlook on what the trip will be like.  If you have alot of
>mountaineering experience, then you will probably be fine.  If you do
>not, I'd be extra careful and even try to read up on mountaineering
>skills (I suggest "Freedom of the Hiils").
>
>good luck.
>
>peace,
>dude 
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