Too early? - John Muir Trail

imported
#1

Hubby and I have vacation in June. Does anyone do the JMT in June or is it too early in the season? We only plan to do segment one and two.

Cinda Tribble

#2

A lot depends on what part of June and how the spring snow (and/or melt) is going. But that said, a few people do the JMT in June each year, and several more do it northbound as part of a Pacific Crest Trail thru-hike.

Likely there will be a lot of snow on the ground early in the month, and a little bit late in the month. Are you ok with route-finding over snow? Really it’s stunningly beautiful that time of year, and if you can handle the snow you’ll get a prettier JMT than any other time of year, maybe even with the possibility of beating the annual mosquito hatch.

It just depends what you want, and how you are with snow.

mark

#3

I was warned about the mosquitoes in June when I was planning my JMT hike. It certainly isn’t impossible, as Mark mentioned most PCT thru hikers pass through the Sierras in June. There are websites that post data from snow depth monitoring stations in the Sierras.

Celt

#4

Are you talking enough snow for snow shoes or just some snow that covers a bit of the trail? We could handle some snow,but what about water crossings? I guess I’ll have to wait and see what the winter brings. I hope it’s not another year like the 2006 snow. We had to cancel our trip that year in June.

Cinda

#5

Anyone could walk through June snow in flat areas. The problem is the passes where the snow is steep and scary. In '07 there was no snow anywhere on the trail in june besides small insignificat patches. That was the lowest snow year on record. This year was a slightly below average year for the sierra for snow, but late spring was cold and snowy so the snow didnt melt and it was very scary. People made it through (I didnt I skipped north on PCT) If you want to know what the snow is like watch the ski area websites like a hawk, and look at weather.com to see how hot it is everyday in spring and if it is still dumping. Mammoth Mountain ski area (by Reds Meadow) is a good indicator of snow on the trail in the Sierra. Though it’s summit is only 11,003 ft. If it’s early June and the ski area is still claiming a 15-20ft base which it does alot (I live in Mammoth) your in for a scary hike. If it says 3-5 ft base it will be a lot more doable. Go to mammothmountain.com get the info you need. Or call (760)934-2571 and ask for Ski Patrol. Those guys get out into the back country and would be good people to ask directly what the snow pack looks like on the JMT.

Guino

#6

Actually, I think the bigger obstacle would be the long-flat snow… It’s posthole city out there… I hiked through the PCT (including JMT section in June) in 1999, on a heavy snow year. True the passes could be steep and icy, but that was mostly in the early morning, and if you have the experience and right equipment, it’s not really a problem. By mid-day, the problem was more that everything turned to slush, and every 3rd step would send you sinking through the crusty snow surface to knee-level. Snowshoes might have helped extend the “surface-walking” time a little, but are not a 100% fix. Generally, either side of ~1-3 miles from each pass were covered in snow, followed by a similar length of a “mix”, then the valley floors were pretty clear. Anyway, that said; I/we made it. FWIW, I left Kennedy meadows on Memorial Day.

Also, if you hit it just right, you can get there right when the bulk of the snow has melted, but the mosquitoes have not yet hatched. We hit this time period in late June in Yosemite… passing millions of mosquito larvae squirming in puddles of melted water… happy that we were getting out of there before they hatched!

Jonathan