Photos from my 3 week hike of the John Muir Trail. The trail starts in Yosemite Valley and ends about 210 miles later on top of Mt Whitney at 14,494 ft. I made a lot of great friends along the way and had a fantastic trip. Enjoy the photos.
Album by Eric Gerber. 1 - 77 of 77 Total. 1738 Visits.
1 The start of the John Muir Trail (JMT) at Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley. The JMT climbs 10 passes and officially ends on top of Mt. Whitney and then you hike down 6000 ft and 12 miles to Whitney Portal.
2 Not much mist on the Mist Trail. The falls are dry for July. The first day's climb was 5400 ft over 15 miles.
3 Marmot in repose. Lots of marmots this year.
4 Lupines and Cathedral Peak.
5 Buck in Lyell Canyon.
6 Verdant (and flat) Lyell Canyon ends abruptly with a steep climb to Donoghue Pass.
7 One the way up to Donoghue Pass. Clouds from yesterday's rain are breaking up.
8 Fiery paintbrush lines the trail.
9 My camp on my third night at Davis Lakes just below Mt. Davis in the Banner Ritter Range.
10 Banner Peak and Mt. Ritter.
11 Stunning Thousand Island Lake - one of the prettiest spots on the whole JMT.
12 Garnet Lake nestled in its glacial trench.
13 Sun setting on camp 4 at Rosalie Lake.
14 Clark, Sandi and I share a camp spot at Red's Meadow. A hot shower and several meals with pie and we are doing great.
15 Virginia Lake with rain clouds over Silver Pass. I just missed the rain.
16 Rosy Everlasting in a rock crease.
17 Tiger Lilly.
18 The gang at the VVR. From right Panda, Sandi, Clark, Harry, Tex, Dave, Eric and his family. The only thing larger than the amount of pie consumed was the bill at the end of the stay. It was great to be fed and clean again.
19 Alpenglow on Seven Gables over Marie Lakes.
20 Morning light on Selden Pass from my camp (#9).
21 Marie Lakes below Selden Pass and me on pass number 4.
22 Shooting Stars in the meadow below Sallie Keyes Lakes.
23 Falls from Evolution Lake down into McClure Meadow.
24 Upper half of Evolution Lake with Mt. Spencer on the left.
25 Mt Mendel and the Evolution Valley in the late afternoon.
26 Mt. Huxley rises above Sapphire Lake with the start of the Ionian Basin in the distance. The whole lead up to Muir Pass is my favortie part of the hike.
27 Lemmon's Paintbrush.
28 Purple Pussypaws.
29 Looking back down towards Evolution from my camp at Wanda Lake.
30 Wanda Lake. The strong wind kept the dreaded gnats away.
31 A dime size stretch of lichen in the granite. About the only thing growing up there below Muir Pass.
32 Camp at Wanda Lake (number 11). I cowboy camped and the stars were incredible.
33 Last light over Muir Pass.
34 Looking back towards Wanda Lake in the early morning light.
35 Muir Hut. Refuge from bad weather built on Muir Pass (#5) and dedicate to John Muir.
36 Bigelow Sneezeweed(?)
37 Palisade Lakes nestled down below rocky Mather Pass.
38 Evening light settles on the mountains at our campsite below Marjorie Lake.
39 Tex and Dave kicking back.
40 The E'coasters. Dave, Liv, Liem, and Danny.
41 The moon is waxing towards our ascent of Whitney.
42 The beautiful Rae Lakes basin, one of the most beautiful spots in the Sierras. Fin Dome on the right and Painted Lady in the distance.
43 The "Thursday Out" group at our Rae Lakes campsite. From left, Danny, Dave, Liem, me, Liv, Dave and Tex.
44 Mt. Gardiner rises above one of the many lakes in the 60 Lake Basin area. I took a day off the JMT at Rae Lakes and enjoyed this beautiful side trip.
45 The threatened Mountain Yellow Legged Frog above 60 Lake Basin. Biologists are busy pulling fish out of down stream lakes to expand its habitat at the same time that a pathogenic fungus is rampant in the population and reducing numbers. Hopefully, the expanded habitat will save the species. For a recent article on the topic see http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/07/MNV5RCGO21.DTL
46 Upper Rae Lake. A storm front moves in from the SW bringing rain to the Sierras. The residual moisture after the storm brings afternoon thunderclouds for most of the rest of the trip. Dancing around the weather becomes a big issue from here.
47 Rock Fringe.
48 The S.F. contingent doing the Rae Lakes Loop. Hongmei, Heather, Tim a flamingo and Will. Thank you again Tim for the shortbread and Scharffen Berger chocolate!
49 Painted Lady rises over upper Rae Lakes.
50 Joe, part of the "Friday Out" group, climbing towards Glen Pass as the weather starts to darken.
51 The view south from Glen Pass is pretty ugly. Forester Pass, our next destination is just to the left in the distance. Fortunately, the weather improves as we head south that day.
52 Joe and Sean on Glen Pass (#8) with the Rae Lakes in the back. A good climb up and now we begin the rocky descent.
53 The south side of the Kearsarge Pinnacles and Vidette Meadow. At about this point, Clark delivers a stirring recitation from Henry V as Sandy is making the climb up the trail. The evening is capped with an open air 'salon' with poetry and singing by the Friday Out group and a family from Sebastopol.
54 A Pika sunning itself in the early morning on the way up to Forester Pass. What these high altitude relatives of the rabbit survive on in all the rocks is beyond me.
55 The view back north towards Kearsarge. In about 3 hours the whole area will be filled with rain and hail.
56 South from Forester Pass towards Kern Canyon. The is the last pass before Whitney and the entrance to Sequoia Nat Park. Believe it or not, the hike from here to Wallace Creek ends up a race against the weather.
57 Hospitable looking Mt. Whitney from the Bighorn Plateau. Sandy, didn't even have to deploy her magical pack cover to kindly keep a small whole in the clouds for Clark and I all the way to camp.
58 Really beautiful dead and gnarled trees fill this part of the hike.
59 Mt Whitney rises over Timberline Lake on the second to last day of the hike. The morning had been clear and sunny but the clouds were forming for an afternoon storm.
60 The afternoon storm broke around 6 and I made dinner and decided to climb Whitney in the evening light. Guiter Lake glows as the clouds begin to break up.
61 Last light aboout 2/3's of the way up. The sunset was beautiful beyond all reckoning.
62 With the light fading the nearly full moon pokes over the lip of the rocky canyon to light my way up to Whitney.
63 The night next morning on Whitney and the dew has frozen on my sleeping bag.
64 The whole Friday Out Gang on top of Whitney on a beautiful morning. From left Clark, Sandi, J.J., Joe, Sean and me.
65 I made it!
66 One of the most amazing views in the world - the 13 mile and 10,000 ft drop from Whitney down to Lone Pine. The Whitney Portal trailhead is near where the road ends in the photo.
67 Wales Lake north of Whitney. The incredible view goes on for miles.
68 Sky Pilot lines the trail to Whitney. This beautiful flower only grows at the highest elevations in the Sierras and is given the name of the one who guides souls to the heavens.
69 Trail Crest - pass number 10. The slopes are impossibly steep on both sides of this pass. It is all down hill from here to a double cheeseburger at Whitney Portal.
70 The next morning after a wonderful shower and good night's sleep. I walk down to the Lone Pine airport and wait for my B-Day present. 24 hours ago I was on Mt Whitney visible in the distance.
71 Melissa and her chariot! Hurrah!
72 Lone Pine Airport from the air. We circle five or six times to get enough altitude.
73 Mt. Whitney under our wing.
74 We cross over into the Sierras at Kearsarge Pass. East Vidette Peak is in the foreground, A few days before and our trail went up the valley to the left and over Forester Pass.
75 Kings Canyon and Charlotte Dome (?) on the way out to Road's End.
76 Our brilliant pilot Laurent and the Cessna 172 back on the ground in Palo Alto after an amazing flight.
77 Palo Alto and the end of my JMT hike. I am glad to be home.
Eric I think Melissa had the best inspiration ever on that Birthday present! Photos as usual are fabulous...Glad the "J.O.B" is not getting in the way..CK - Christine, Mon, 13 Aug 2007 10:01PM
