JMT start time - Appalachian Trail

imported
#1

Hi

I would like a rough idea of the best month to do the JMT next year.I know winter snow and melt will be a factor.From England mail drops are not an option without a lot of hassle ,is relying on resupply ok? I normally use an alky stove ,reading posts here that fuel maybe difficult to source,if so what stove is best .Any forage food on the trail ? Can I catch/ cook the odd fish? I wish then go to the App trail(AT), I have done 700 ml on the AT in 2004 from Troutville VA to MT Springer GA and would like to continue my hike .The JMT details will determine my AT start location and direction! I would also need to know about inexpensive transportation back to the east coast from Mt Whitney end. Are there cheap flight companies and options like in Europe? Is Greyhound a viable option ? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

English Stu

English Stu

#2

Unless it’s a high snow year - July is a good time to hike the JMT. Lots of flowers then. But lots of mosquitoes too. Later starts have fewer bugs but fewer wildflowers. The trail is busiest July and August. You can hike into September, which gives you time to play with.

You can’t really resupply as you go. You’ll need a box at either Muir Trail Ranch or Vermillion and maybe Red’s Meadow (though you can catch a shuttle to Mammoth from Reds.) Muir Ranch used to require a special critter proof container (five gallon bucket). I’m not sure if that’s still true. Vermillion has a small store, but it’s very expensive. Tuolemme Meadows has a small expensive camp store where you can buy food for the stretch from there to Reds.

There are fish in some of the lakes, but you need a license. The fish are very small. If you are out in August, you might find some berries, but that’s about it for foraging. (The AT has good foraging for berries in June and July.)

For flights, check out Jet Blue or Southwest. SW does one way flights. Greyhound is cheap but very very slow. Adding in food costs lessens the cost advanatage and the comfort issue cancels out the cost advantage completely. I was nearly crippled after 12 hours on a bus last summer. Three or four days of it and you won’t be able to hike.

You might consider starting on the AT in May or June, hiking for a month or so, mailing resupply packages for the JMT from one of the bigger towns on the AT (i.e. Waynesboro VA) then heading west. After your hike you can return to the east to resume your AT hike. That way you can start hiking whenever you’re ready instead of waiting for when the snow is gone. Also, you’ll be in better shape and thus prepared to deal with the high altitude issues out west. (Passes on the JMT range from 10,000 - 14,000’.)

Ginny

#3

We started July 25th, and finished 22 days later. Our experience was minimal bug problems, adequate water supplies even though it was a dry year, and about 4 hours total rain. It was very hot however. If I had it to do again, we would start about August 10th.
The fish I saw people catch were very small-I’d hate to live on them. Resupply is a problem. You can mail drop to Tuolumne Meadows, Reds Meadows, Vermillion Valley, and Muir Trail Ranch. Muir requires a 5 gallon bucket and a $45 fee to handle. That mail drop cost us about $85 exclusive of the cost of food. However, it is the last resupply so we didn’t have a lot of choice. We met hikers who hiked out to either Independence CA or Roads End to resupply. Both will add many miles and at least two days. Both require hitches that are not that hard to come by.
swamp fox

swamp fox

#4

Hi Stu, I’ve hiked the JMT nobo in June and sobo in September. Lots of snow and bugs in June & virtually no snow and bugs in September. The ideal time to hike depends on what you want. Generally speaking, June has lots of snow, very few people and lots of bugs. July and August are crowded with people, sine the JMT is so famous, but ideal conditions otherwise (especially late July and August) September - after Labor Day Weekend- is ideal if you like little or no snow, very few people and no bugs, and some nice Fall foliage. If i hike the JMT again, I’ll head SOBO from Yosemite just after Labor Day Weekend.

Both times I hiked it, I re-supplied as I hiked (no mailed food) and had no problem doing so.

As for transportation from Lone Pine to the East Coast, you might try to get to LA or Reno, NV after you summit Whitney. I have been fortunate enough to hook up rides with climbers leaving Whitney Portal heading for LA. I think there is some bus transportation available from Lone Pine, but you should check online.

Happy trails!

freebird

#5

The Inyo-Mono county CREST spelled out C.R.E.S.T. is what you need to go anywhere in the Eastern Sierra. It will be about 30 bucks to Reno. Just google them. THey are ran by the counties so they don’t rip you off. BUt I think they don’t run on Thursday, Saturday, or Sunday. Mammoth is the best town along the way for supplies, and the bus from Reds Meadow is just a few bucks to the Mammoth Mtn Inn. Then there is a free bus down to town and all around until after Labor day I think. (I live in Mammoth so this info is pretty good) Or you could just hitch down or up. The people are super cool about hitchhikers here and anywhere in the Eastern Sierra. You could hitch to Reno too. I’d be a little sketched about hitching to LA though since it might be hard to get a ride once your closer. There is public transit from Lone Pine to LA to and the CREST peolpe will tell you all about it, but it involes like 4 different busses two of which are greyhounds.

Guino

#6

I’ll add a couple of things. We met a couple from the UK who were very nice but a little lost. They were relying on a british guidebook for the trail that was full of misinformation. I would get the Tom Harrison map set for sure instead, and also check out this website:

http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~rbell/johnmuir.htm

Some of the transportation info is out of date, but it will point you to the right websites and ideas.

We hiked in late August to early September, and found it perfect. We came across on average 10 people per day, and that was remote enough for us. (plus we took one day to go off trail and climb, where we saw nobody.) Bugs were minimal, and climate was ideal.

If you don’t want to do mail drops, another advantage of going LATE summer is that at Red’s Meadow, VVR, and especially at Muir Trail Ranch, there is days and days worth of unopened free food in the hiker boxes, left there by earlier hikers who had to leave the trail incomplete for various reasons. I remember thinking i didn’t need to send myself food at all, but if you don’t send your own food, prepare to not be picky!

If you DO send yourself a package, consider sending your warmest/heaviest piece of clothing too, since the first half of the trail is at a lower elevation and will be somewhat warmer.

I’ll stop now before i get too nostalgic…but if you want to read my journal, it’s on this site for 2006. :cheers

markv

#7

Thanks to you all for the information .Ginny- good idea to move between the AT I had not thought about that.Certainly its so much easier to sort out mail drops and arrange things whilst in the US.I got great help booking flights at one AT hostel. Is an alky stove okay or is white gas stove better on the JMT.I also have a cone set up for a wind shield which would allows a twig fuel fire would that be possible -it would help with fuel resupply i.e are fires prohibited.

english stu

#8

I didn’t see alcohol stoves, but i wasn’t on the lookout. If you don’t get an answer here, ask the same question on the pacific crest trail forum…many/most of those hikers use alcohol stoves through the JMT section.

I wouldn’t count on making fires. There are many restrictions on where they can and can’t be. Also, they draw the attention of any bears in the area to come check out your camp, and there are problem bears in many places on the JMT.

markv

#9

I used a alky stove (Caldera Cone) this past August on the JMT and saw several other alky stoves being used - however cannister stoves still were the most popular. I would not rely upon wood stoves unless you camp low as there is not much tender about 10’000 (where most of the lakes are). You can purchase denatured alcohol at Muir Trail Ranch (MTR) (30 cents an ounce).

MTR did have a large amount of hiker throwaways and did a nice job of organizing them into separate buckets (almost a dozen buckets of stuff!). As Markv points out - you would not want to be picky with what you get! At VVR there was tons of Italian and Swiss food dumped in the two barrells - just need to translate gms to oz.

As for the time of the year - I saw few people this past August (13th thru the 30th) from Donahue Pass until I got to Guitar lake. Thus the trail was not very crowded and camp sites were plentiful - that is the good thing about the JMT is that you can camp almost anywhere and if that perfect campsite at a spot is full - walk another mile or two to another perfect campsite.

Markv’s comments were spot on as to people, fires and bugs. Fires are not allowed above 9500’ in Yosemite/Inyo and 10000’ the remainder of the trail (Kings Canyon/Sequoia). Thus there are only a few spots after you leave MTR that you can have a fire. As for the time of year, if possible you can see how the snow pack is building up and then make a decision early next year before the magical 24 week reservation time for the permits.

As for bears - this year was unique in that the low snow pack caused the bears to go down low for their food and did not pose too many problems in the high country. Most bear encounters where around the lakes where the pack stations had camps and food was abundant and more difficult to protect. King’s Canyon and Sequoia National Parks does a great job of providing bear lockers at all the popular camp spots.

OregonBeerMan