Thru-Hiking the John Muir Trail: Days 1-4

Hi friends! As you all know, Dillon and I recently thru-hiked the John Muir Trail SOBO (southbound) from Tuolumne Meadows to Mt. Whitney. We spent a (mostly) incredible 19 days and ~214 miles together and came out of it stronger together than I thought was possible. I say “mostly incredible” because I’m not going to lie to you and pretend it was all sunshine and rainbows. There were moments (hours? days?) when we both would rather not have been hiking any longer, plenty of conversations about all the foods we missed, complaints about not showering for days on end, and several discussions about why we never take any “real” vacations. We joke now about how I had 3 crying meltdowns, and the fact that we got in 1 and a half fights along the way. But for being together 24/7 for 19 days, I’d say that’s not bad. And overall, I would do it all again in a heartbeat. I wrote journal entries for most of the days on trail, unless we were having too much fun, I was too tired, or my phone battery was running too low or had died altogether. I’ve decided to post those journal entries here along with some of the many pictures (262 to be exact) that I took along the way, in case anyone wants to live vicariously through our adventures without actually having to do any of the suffering or going 10 days without a shower. I plan on filling in the blanks as best as I can remember, however some days will likely be more detailed than others. Hope you enjoy!

Day 1: Lyell Canyon Trailhead to Upper Lyell Fork Base Camp (~11 miles)
We started the day with a 5:15 am wake-up call from my parents, a 6 am drive to Tuolumne Meadows from the Cedar Lodge, and breakfast at the Tuolumne Grill as soon as it opened at 8 am. After buying some last minute essentials (jolly ranchers and an extra lighter) at the store, making one last stop in a bathroom with a real toilet, and a quick drive up the road to the trailhead we said our goodbyes, took the obligatory pictures with the trail sign, and we were on our way.

The first several miles were nice and easy-going. We crossed several bridges (I was not expecting bridges. I was expecting treacherous water crossings at every turn.) where the water was flowing over and through the granite.

We walked through wide open meadows and through the trees, the trail often following beside a crystal clear river.

When we stopped for lunch (PB&J on tortillas), Dillon cast out a line and pretty much immediately caught a 6 inch rainbow trout!

After lunch, the trail began to climb up some rocky staircases and switchbacks which brought us all the way above 10,000 feet to our campsite at about 10,150 feet. Along the way, I got to use my Sawyer mini water filter for the first time on the trail and we stocked up on water for the night.

Once at camp, we quickly set up our tent and, exhausted, crawled right in and laid on the bare tent floor until we almost fell asleep. Finally we got up and unpacked our bags, set up our sleeping pads, sleeping bags, and pillows, and had another rest (nap?) before eventually deciding it was time to eat dinner (lasagna for me, beef stroganoff for Dillon). We paired our dinner with cabernet sauvignon and cheersed to completing Day 1.

For dessert we had freeze dried “dark chocolate cheesecake” which we might have added too much water to because the consistency ended up more similar to a thin chocolate pudding than a cheesecake, but I wasn’t complaining. We ended our meal with Nuun’s recovery drink after which I laid in the fetal position trying to recover from stuffing myself with all the aformentioned foods and beverages (we drank water too!). While I was trying not to die, Dillon was a saint and cleaned up after our feast, repacked our bear canister, and secured it the proper distance from our tent. Once I felt like I had successfully kept all the things down, it was time to get ready for bed. We brushed our teeth and then changed into our PJs. Since we’d stopped a few miles short of where we planned to camp for the night (we decided it wasn’t a good idea after all to attempt to go over Donahue Pass in the afternoon), we then looked through our maps/book to see what was ahead for tomorrow, elevation and distance-wise, and made a plan for where to shoot for in order to make it to our resupply on Day 3.

Day 2: Upper Lyell Fork Base Camp to Ediza Lake Junction (~13 miles)
Today we were up at 7:15 am, got ready, broke down camp, and packed Pro Bars for breakfast to eat along the trail as we had a long day ahead of us. We were on the trail by 8:30 am and got started with the last mile or so of climbing up to Donahue Pass.

We were so glad we’d decided against going over it the day before, because it was a tough climb and would have been even harder at the end of the full day of hiking we had already done. Getting it over with first thing in the morning was the way to go. After Donahue, we officially passed into Dillon’s favorite wilderness, Inyo National Forest.

The trail descended for a long time into a beautiful meadow and granite basin (a hiker we met later on put it the best when he said this area looked like it was landscaped. It was unreal) before ascending once again to take us over Island Pass. Yeah, that’s 2 passes in just a few hours! Island Pass was beautiful while kind of unusual for a pass to me, as we walked along the meadow- and tarn-covered plateau for a while before descending again. It wasn’t the typical quick up and over pass I’m used to, but like I said it was beautiful! Somewhere along the trail after Island Pass, we crossed a creek along a fallen log, and after successfully crossing said log and waiting for me to cross, Dillon took a step backwards and fell into the swampy waters. Luckily he was fine and none of his gear got wet, but he was suffering from literal Swamp Ass for miles onward. He was a good sport while we both had a good laugh at his swamp ass’s expense. It was getting late and we still had miles to make, so we decided to stop and eat dinner along the trail (lasagna for me, chicken teriyaki for Dillon) and then continue on until we got to the Ediza Lake Junction. We hiked up and down past Thousand Island Lake, Emerald Lake, Ruby Lake, and finally Garnet Lake, all of which were unbelievably beautiful.

It was almost a shame to have to pass them by so quickly, but at least we got to appreciate them before we were hiking in the dark by the light of our headlamps on the descent towards our campsite. Once we reached 13 miles for the day, we found a campsite about a half mile before the junction and decided that was good enough! Since we had already eaten dinner, all we had to do was pitch our tent, make the beds, change clothes, and climb in.

Day 3: Ediza Lake Jct to Red’s Meadow Campground (~12 miles)
Best. Day. Ever. But I’m getting ahead of myself. We had camped just before the Ediza Lake Jct and still had about 12 miles to hike before we reached our first resupply location, Red’s Meadow Resort. The problem was that I had read online that we had to reserve our dinner in person at the cafe at Red’s by 4 pm, so all day we had this 4 pm deadline looming over us. We started a bit later than we wanted, around 9 am, and quickly hiked to Shadow Lake where we finished eating our Pro Bar breakfast because the views were incredible.

A couple of northbound hikers had told us we were in for a good climb from there to Rosalie Lake. Well, they weren’t kidding. We climbed a series of seemingly never-ending switchbacks (seriously, to the point where we looked at the map once to count how many more were ahead) until we made it up to Rosalie Lake and then climbed a bit more to Gladys Lake. Finally we were headed downhill all the way to the Devil’s Postpile Junction. At this point we were really cutting it close to our deadline, so we basically ran past Devil’s Postpile Monument, looked up and said “that’s cool” without stopping. If you haven’t heard of this monument, you should google it, because we didn’t even stop to take pictures. It’s worth noting that the day hikers around the monument seemed more interested in us, the crazy backpackers speeding past, than the pile of rocks they were there to see. The last mile or so away from the monument and up to Red’s Meadow Resort was a very rude steep uphill climb, and don’t forget that a restaurant dinner was on the line here, after eating freeze dried meals out of ziploc bags for 2 days. I was dragging along at this point, defeated and dehydrated, while Dillon sped ahead and arrived at Red’s at exactly 3:55 pm to discover that in fact, the 4 pm reservation was no longer a real thing, after all. They are now open until 7 pm. We dropped our packs outside and wandered into the general store which sells a wide variety of camping/backpacking supplies, snack foods and drinks, etc. We got our resupply bucket from the store and bought some cold waters, Gatorade, and Snapple, and got to hydrating to bring ourselves back to life. I took off my boots and stretched on the grass. A PCT hiker gave us some leftover fresh cherries he didn’t want to carry, our first gift of trail magic so far. We sat around in somewhat of a daze for a while until some other hikers we’d met on the trail arrived and we got to catch up with them and talk trail things. Hiker small talk consists of when/where you started, when/where you’ll end, and all the places you’ve camped/plan to camp in between. Then comes your names or trail names, where you’re from, what you do in real life, etc. You learn a lot about some people you will likely never see again. There’s something about the shared struggles and triumphs that make the thru-hiking community so tight-knit. Something we were all talking about was showers. Dillon went into the store and got us tokens for the showers, which cost $5 for 5 minutes. Sounds like kind of a rip-off, but us dirty hikers would probably pay even more, honestly. A friendly hiker gifted me her leftover shampoo and conditioner and I had the greatest 5-minute shower ever. Then Dillon put our laundry in ($3.75 total for one wash and dry) and we were off to the cafe for the best cheeseburgers, chips, beer, and milkshake of our hiker lives.

During this time we had also set up our devices to charge on the power strip by the showers/laundry so once these were done charging we retrieved our laundry, packed our bags, and headed down the trail to the backpackers’ campground. I believe you normally have to pay $20 or so, but they hadn’t turned on the water yet or something at the campground so it was free! We put our bear canisters and resupply bucket in the bear box at the campsite and set up our tent, unpacked, and called it a night.

Day 4: Red’s Meadow Campground to Duck Lake Outlet (~11 miles)
We got up around 7 am and began breaking down camp/repacking our food in our bear canisters before hiking back over to the resort. We stopped in the store one more time to pick up some more ibuprofen and alcohol wipes to replenish our first aid kit, and ziploc bags to repackage some of our dehydrated meals in order to fit everything from our resupply into our bear canisters. I thought that since I had mailed my bear can to myself in this first resupply bucket, that we would have soo much extra room now that we both have cans, but I was sadly mistaken. Both are still full at the end of the day after eating pretty much everything we planned to eat today. Plus, carrying the weight of my bear can full of food in addition to the rest of my gear was a rude awakening, let me tell you. We have a lot of eating to do before our next resupply in 3 days. Luckily, that “hiker hunger” is starting to kick in for me and I actually got a little hangry on the trail today before lunch. Not to mention I devoured the “packer’s special” at the Mule House Cafe this morning-3 pancakes, 2 eggs, and bacon, plus the first cup of coffee I’ve had in 3 days.

Before leaving Red’s we also did some more trail chores-laundry, dishes, charging our devices, packing, etc. I’m still not sure how all of this took 5 hours, but we sadly eventually had to leave this hiker heaven and hit the trail again around noon. We were the first of our friends to arrive yesterday and the last to leave today. As we hiked uphill for 11 miles, just about every hiker we saw coming towards us was understandably barrelling downhill towards Red’s. After stopping for lunch (cous cous w/ veggies & pine nuts for me, ramen w/ veggies for Dillon, plus beef jerky for us both) 6 miles in at Deer Creek, I did not want to go anywhere. My feet are starting to hurt more every day and I wanted to set up camp right then and there, but like the Robert Frost poem I’ve been reciting in my head says, “I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.” We needed to make 5 more miles in order to stay on schedule, so Dillon put on the Hamilton soundtrack and we busted out those miles (and yes, if we saw any other hikers coming Dillon turned the music way down until they passed). In case you’re wondering, it takes about 4.5 uphill miles to listen to the entire soundtrack. It was pretty cool to see the terrain change today on the trail, as we went from hiking through forests on a sandy trail, to volcanic rock and quartz all over the place, back to granite rocks.

We finally made it to 11 miles around 7:30 pm and found a nice campsite with a fire ring. Fires are not allowed above 10,000 feet out here in Inyo National Forest, but luckily we are camped at about 9,800 feet.

After setting up camp, we made a fire and enjoyed our dinner (mac n cheese for me, shepherd’s potato beef stew for Dillon), some pinot grigio, Nuun recovery beverage, and a Milky Way candy bar for dessert. #Balance. It’s a cold night tonight so we’re all bundled up in our PJs and down jackets after giving ourselves a wet wipe bath.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!
-Allie aka Jane Goodall (trail name story to come later!)