Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board JMT questions

We have done Whitney the past two years and are thinking about doing a section of the JMT near Yosemite next year. I love this message board and read it regularly. Is there a similar board for the JMT? My Google search came up empty.

Steve J.

Even most PCT message boards are pretty stale.

What are your questions? There is a lot of info on the web and lots of people on various forums willing to help.

It's a great trip.

You can see some of the territory covered by the northern part of the JMT if you read through my Mt. Ritter trip reports on my web site. The JMT goes past Thousand Island Lake just to the east of Banner Peak, along past Garnet Lake and Shadow Lake before continuing south. Certainly some of the most picturesque scenery in the Sierra. (But I may be a little biased about "my" mountain...)

There are a couple of access points in that area, Agnew Meadows and down the road near Devil's Postpile. A shuttle bus runs from those up to the Mammoth Mountain ski resort in the summertime, so you could get off the trail as a terminus or resupply point.

Farther south, you'll have to find out elsewhere...

For JMT, there is a lot information at www.trailjournals.com or www.trailforums.com. See the link below

http://www.trailforums.com/room.cfm?roomID=31

Enjoy,

TBT

Tuolumne to Agnew on the JMT is spectacular. I prefer it southbound.

Options exist once you reach Thousand Island, incl at least:
PCT High trail
River Trail - nice but no view
JMT
All these can exit out Agnew. The rest of the way to the underwhelming Postpile or Reds is less appealing.

You can do it as a 3 nighter backpacking or if acclimatized, do the whole 29 miles in one day as a long dayhike. I have done it each of these ways and all are good.

For a longer, super nice variant:
(A) add in a side trip to summit Banner Peak via Lake Catherine
(B) instead of exiting at Agnew, turn at Shadow lake and take extra 15 miles or so on the gorgeous "Shadow of the Minarets" route past Ediza, Iceberg, Cecile, Minarets Lakes and exit at Postpile.

Harvey

I took some scouts from Agnew to Tuolumne a few years ago, it is a great area. Easy route that lets you enjoy the scenery. We spent two nights at Thousand Island Lake, it is one of my favorite locations.

If you're thinking about doing a section of JMT, why not just start at Happy Isles and hike until above Mammoth Lakes, or possibly above Duck's Pass? You can then abort the hike and easily climb back down into civilization. This would only be able 28 miles to Reds Meadow or about 40+ miles to Duck's Pass and then down to Coldwater Campground.

Since we are on the subject, what is in nearest in-out trail to Evolution Valley? I have maybe a six days to do some packin this summer, but I am not sure where on the JMT I want to to hike.Any suggestions?

Jim, Evolution is remote. There are several routes, but probably the fastest (2 days on good trail), is by way of Florence Lake, from the West. You can also access by way of Lamarck Col from the east, but that does involve some cross country and route finding, and also takes about 2 days.

If you have six days, you might consider Mammoth area (several options to start), to Yosemite Valley(several options to quit), and the two are connected by public transit. I've done the hike, and it remains one of my favorite.

Another loop is from roads end in Kings Canyon, around Rae Lakes.

G'luck!

Steve J

Try the following link to a board which has a JMT section. It seems relatively dormant now but has a lot of info.

http://www.mt-whitney.info/viewforum.php?f=17&sid=61904e6d5d0b4f70815739f28411beeb

Good luck!

Jim, try the south lake to north lake loop. You can find route desciptions on many forums or just google it to find many trip reports on this, its very popular. This takes between 3 to 5 days.

North Lake-Evolution-South Lake loop is something like 55 miles.

Another variant is North Lake - Lamarck Col - Evolution- South Lake
It is 35 miles and far less traveled on the first 10 miles. Picture is looking down Darwin Canyon from just below Lamarck Col.
Harvey