I hiked part of the JMT last summer starting June 21st SOBO. For the most part we hiked continuously in the snow from the Half Dome turnoff to Red Meadow. It was a pretty brutal section with long long days.
My Spring break from school is the last week of march and I was wondering if there was anywhere along the JMT I could go where snow might be of minimal issue. Any suggestions?
Mr B
All of the JMT is high in elevation. The farther south you go, the higher the passes. It drops down between passes, but the trail won’t be snowfree anywhere in March.
What you might do is try part of the PCT. Start at Walker Pass and head south. Or start at Campo and head north. Avoid the sections above Idyllwild and Wrightwood.
Ginny
The Middle of the JMT is minutes behind where I live. I am at 5000 foot elevation and we just lost some of our snow. A mile up the road begins the serious snow and I ski every weekend 20 minutes from the house. There is about 10 feet of snow there as of last weekend (before it began snowing some more). I wouldnt suggest even trying JMT or any part of it for months. I am sched to go August and am a little concerned there may still be snow then. This has been an epic year of snow for us and we are sure to get more. We did a part of the JMT last July (a good snow winter but not as good as this one) and met up with some through hikers who endured miles of snow from Red’s to Florence Lake. If you want to check snow levels for the general area behind florence or edison lakes (middle of the JMT) check out www.skichinapeak.com it will give you a good idea of what it looks like at about 7000 feet. Hope this helps
Mari
What aspects do you think will be difficult? I was planning on doing a SOBO late May early June…Is it snow shoes all the way? Is navigation going to be difficult? JMT signs buried?
ed
Hi ed, we’re headed southbound leaving happy isles on june 22nd. I’m not too concerned, but i recently spoke with Muir Ranch, they are scheduled to open june 20th, but might push it back due to snow depth. I was planning on passing thru there on june 30, or july 1. Hopefully should be ok. They told me check back in may for better info.
Good luck, maybe see you out there.
Chris
chris d
I don’t think late May is gonna work. Reds Meadow opens on the 24th. TM is closed…Roads aren’t open to the public. There is just no way to resupply. I was planning on VVR as my last resupply point. They’re planning on being open the first week in June (If roads are open). I enjoyed my stay at Muir Ranch in 09. Hot springs were a nice break, but crossing that river might not be possible this year. It was running fast in late July 09. Not to mention you must hike down and back out. From a resupply standpoint-the hot springs=? It will be interesting to see what the PCT people are planning. Thank you. Good luck to you too.
ed
I was wondering how to get ahold of the resupply points to confirm they will be open. We want to head north from Mt. Whitney leaving the first week of June. I have the Map pack and trail guide but need info on the resupply points. Anything will help thank you.
hiker
http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~rbell/JohnMuirTrail.html
That link has good info. And simply googling the names of the different resupply points will get you contact info for them.
I think it’s a safe bet that leaving in the first week of June Muir Trail Ranch will NOT be open yet this year. They don’t tend to open until mid-June of normal years, and this is a heavy snow year. Vermillion Valley Resort probably will be open but that’s not a sure thing, so call. Red’s Meadow store also should be open, but not sure. Tuolumne Meadows is a toss-up.
markv
Tentative opening date for Red’s is June 24. I’d expect the store to be a day or two later than that also.
And here’s the link for the Tioga Pass road opening, which in effect is the opening for Tuolumne Meadows:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tiogaopen.htm
If you extrapolate the past years’ opening dates and snowpacks, a good guess is that they’ll open sometime between June 20th and 30th.
markv