JMT Maps

I received my JMT maps a few days ago...they're perty. Printed on plastic, so they're water & tear proof, fancy. It's been great to be able to spread them out on a table, and start to really think about camping/re-stocking spots. I also found this great website (On the Trail) which has complete, free, digital topo maps for the PCT & JMT, plus some other good info. So see the attached pic for my route, it's a good one!

JMT bound

Today I managed to secure my wilderness permit from Yosemite National Park to hike the entire John Muir Trail! I'm quite excited. I'll be starting my 220mi trek at the Happy Isles/Little Yosemite Trailhead in Yosemite Valley on the 21st of August. I'm planning to finish at Whitney Portal on Sept 11.

In preparation I've been doing a little John Muir reading, and rather liked some of his comments on being captured in the beauty of a Sierra Nevada meadow.

"The influences of pure nature are as yet so little known, that it is generally supposed that complete pleasure of this kind, permeating one's very flesh and bones, unfits the student for scientific pursuits in which cool judgement and observation are required. But the effect is just the opposite of this. Instead of producing a dissipated condition, the mind is fertilized and stimulated and developed like sun-fed plants."
John Muir,
An Essay on Meadows of the Sierra Nevada

Come on nature, inspire me!

The beginning

As I so aptly put it this past Friday night: "I'm taking the next five months to explore myself."