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.

September 14th to the 22nd, 2013

The John Muir Trail

Happy Isles to Kearsarge Pass

[Pics] [CalTopo] [Map] 

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.

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.

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]

Reasons why I look forward to desert season again

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.

August 31st to September 3rd, 2013

Seven Gables (13,080')

Gemini (12,880')

[Pics] [Map]