On the evening of June 20th, I was honored with a phone call from my niece who had a “crazy question”. I assumed I was being enlisted to answer a science question, but no. The question was “Do you want to hike The John Muir Trail with me?”. The JMT, as it is commonly referred to, is around 220 miles long with 45,000 feet of vertical ascent (including a final ascent of Mount Whitney.) I asked for 48 hours and responded within 24. Yes! I can at least start it with you!

With a departure date of July 7th, I only had a little over two weeks to prepare. My biggest concerns were untested footwear and thermodynamics. 

Most backpackers today hike in their favorite trail running shoes. Mine were trashed, and I didn’t want to hike in new shoes. I had a pair of six month old hiking boots. These boots did not have a lot of miles on them, but they were my best choice. I started hiking with a loaded pack right away and worked up to a ten mile hike with a full pack without getting any blisters.

My other concern was thermodynamics. I was too damn skinny. This is “no bueno” for hiking long distances. Through a strict regimen of beer and ice cream I added one and a half pounds of fat to my frame prior to leaving for the trip. The most food I could carry would be about 2 pounds of food a day worth around 3,000 calories. I would be burning about 5,000 calories a day. A deficit of 2,000 calories per day is equivalent to burning a half pound of fat a day.

During this two week period I exchanged over 100 emails with Katrina. Backpacking had evolved quite a bit since my last big backpacking trip and I had to get up to speed. I learned more from Katrina in those two weeks than I ever did in Boy Scouts. 

Packages from Amazon Prime and REI arrived daily during this period, pushing my special “Gear Account” into the red.  

On Sunday, July 5th I met Katrina at Whitney Portal where we parked Katrina’s car and spent the night.

After our night at Whitney Portal, we drove to Yosemite making stops at Onion Valley and Reds Meadow in order to leave food caches for later in the trip.

Onion Valley:

Katrina at Reds Meadow Pack Station, enjoying a Drumstick:

Monday was spent in a part of the Upper Pines campground that had been closed off to cars and was only open to backpackers. Seeing Yosemite Valley in this uncrowded state was a real treat.

On Tuesday, we began the hike from Glacier Point. Once again, I was taken aback and somewhat awed at being able to enjoy Glacier Point in the summer with a small scattering of people. 

After an easy descent into Little Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point, I went to the beach (Merced River) while Katrina climbed Half Dome. That was a big day for Katrina. 

The following day (Wednesday, July 8th), we hiked from Little Yosemite Valley to Upper Cathedral Lake. This was a nearly 13 mile hike with around 4,500 feet of vertical ascent. We spent a couple of hours hiking through a burn area that had little shade (in the middle of the day.) We arrived at Cathedral Lake where we bathed, ate and fell asleep. Even in our exhausted condition, we couldn’t help but notice the beauty around us. “That is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen”, commented Katrina – referring to Cathedral Peak.

The next day was an easy hike down to Tuolumne Meadows where we had some of Karen’s pasta salad waiting in a cooler in a Bear Box. It was delicious. From there we worked our way up Lyell Canyon, finally turning to the south.

We spent a cold night half way up Lyell Canyon, camped out by the river.

The following day, Friday the 10th, we did a pretty big climb over Donahue Pass (11,000 feet.)

That night we camped on the back side of Donahue Pass in the Ansel Adams Wilderness (Inyo National Forest.)

The following day took us through the Ansel Adams Wilderness. I can’t imagine there is a more beautiful spot on earth than this, but the rest of the trail remained ahead of us.

Here is our camp in the Ansel Adams Wilderness. There was a rescue helicopter flying overlapping circles above us that evening, searching for a hiker with a heart problem – which was a little eerie.

Day Six on the trail brought us into Devil’s postpile and our first rest day at Reds Meadow where a box of food for six days awaited us – as well as a store and restaurant with cold beer and ice cream.

In the meadow behind our camp there was a yearling bear cub munching on greens.

I also did some laundry. Watch video here:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4YUMzxE1wTSYwgPCA

By this point in the trip, my toes had gotten pretty beat up – especially my left pinkie toe, which had numerous blisters and was now red, swollen and throbbing. Our plan was to take a rest day, which we did. But after a second rest day, graciously encouraged by Katrina, a decision needed to be made. Brett and Karen were ninety minutes away in Tuolumne Meadows and my car was at Glacier Point. If I pushed on and had to exit the trail further south, Karen would have had to drive 15 hours to retrieve me, my car and return home. I made the decision to exit the trail.

Had I figured out this lacing pattern earlier, I might have saved my toes.

Katrina and I shared a bottle of wine and swapped stories and hugged. Our social distancing circles had been steadily shrinking over the period of the past nine days. Karen arrived and I escaped from the Reds Meadow Campground under a cloak of darkness.

The plan now is to rejoin Katrina in one week’s time for the final 60 miles of the JMT. By tomorrow (July 19) she should be arriving at the Muir Trail Pack Ranch, which has the internet.

I have complete confidence in Katrina’s ability to complete the trail alone. She is strong, brave, smart, organized, informed and prepared. 

During our time together on the trail Katrina was consistently kind, patient, helpful, tolerant, encouraging and positive. I have learned so much from her in such a short period of time – not just about trail hiking but about many other topics as well. Now I rest up and fatten up for my return to the trail.

A final note on thermodynamics. I left home with 11% body fat and returned with 8% body fat. At that rate, I would have run dangerously low on body fat by day 12. Were I to successfully hike the whole trail in a single go, I would have to safely add additional body fat. 

I do intend on going back and completing the middle sections of the trail in 40 and 50 mile segments in the summers to come.

Upon being rescued by Karen, I was able to join Karen and Brett for two nights at Sunrise Lakes above Lake Tenaya. We hiked three miles a day, not ten. We swam in the lake, napped through an epic thunderstorm in our tents – complete with wind and hail. We hiked up to the junction of the Sunrise Lakes trail and the JMT, where Katrina and I had been the week before. 

Karen, and especially Brett, wondered at the magnificence of these places. Places that somehow have survived intact. Finally, here is something good that we humans did not completely mess up! The National Parks! The Wilderness Act!

I wondered about whether or not my toe would have healed had I continued. I thought about Katrina continuing on without me. Alone. I look forward to hearing from her tomorrow and meeting up in one week’s time at the Onion Valley food drop. I plan on packing a cooler with cold beer and picking up some french fries.

As we left the mountains and descended into the valley where I picked up data from the real world, I was surprised to see some good news. 

“In a rare, welcome display of bipartisanship, Congress is poised to approve the most important conservation law passed in the United States in 40 years.

The legislation, known as the Great American Outdoors Act, would provide $9.5 billion over the next five years to repair America’s national parks. It also would provide $900 million a year in perpetuity from offshore oil drilling royalties to the Land and Water Conservation Fund to pay for maintenance, repairs and expansion of national parks, state parks and city parks across the nation.”

There is so much good and beauty in the world: my family, both nuclear and extended; this land we live in. 

Thank you Katrina for getting me out of the house and into the real world. I was beginning to forget how spectacular it is. See you soon!   

“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”

• John Muir

Thanks to Karen and Brett for contributing to the included photos.

Update: Katrina emailed today (7-18.) She’s doing great and is ahead of schedule. We meet at Onion Valley on the 24th.

(Originally published on August 30, 2020)