John Muir Trail - Happy Isles To Kearsarge In 9 Days

September 14th to the 22nd, 2013
The John Muir Trail
Happy Isles to Kearsarge Pass
[Pics] [CalTopo] [Map] 

The  John Muir Trail is 220 miles of some of the more spectacular scenery the Sierra has to offer.  The trail runs from Yosemite Valley in the north to Mount Whitney (the highpoint of the continental US) in the south and its a popular goal to hike it from end to end resupplying along the way.

I've eyed doing the John Muir Trail for the last few years but always stopped well short of making serious plans due to not having 2+ weeks away from work.

Then came this year where the eternally "it's really bound to end sometime" Boise project was in a convenient place and a combination of events in my personal life left me with more flexibility than I figured I was likely to see again anytime soon.

And so I went for it.

North & Conness 3rd Class Routes From Lundy Canyon

September 6th to 8th, 2013
North Peak (12,242')
Mount Conness (12,590')
Day 1: 4.3 miles, 2,300'
Day 2: 8.3 miles 2,900' (Conness)
Day 3: 9.2 miles, 2,100' (North & Out)
[Pics] [Map]

With summer largely over and with my compressed JMT trip looming I wanted to fit in  trip or two with a little more relaxed party bent to them.

But of course I still wanted peaks!  To that end Neal Robbins and I planned a max permit size outing to the Saddlebag Lake area to grab the 3rd-class-if-you-really-want-them-to-be peaks North & Conness aimed at WTC students for the weekend before I was set to start the JMT.

Seven Gables & Gemini From Lake Thomas Edison

August 31st to September 3rd, 2013
Seven Gables (13,080')
Gemini (12,880')
[Pics] [Map]

Seven Gables was one of the trips I'd planned last summer only to have it derailed by the mystery illness that took me out for a good chunk of the season.

The trailhead at Lake Thomas Edison is a bit of a drive from OC but after hearing repeatedly how spectacular it was camping back there I was determined that the trip was going to happen this summer.

This time I decided as long as we were doing the long haul (the drive + 13 miles hiking in) I might as well add nearby Gemini and push it out from 3 days to 4 making it a relatively laid back affair as they go.