Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board John Muir Trail Permit

I am planning to fulfill a life long dream and hike the JMT this summer. Does anyone know whether you can get a walk-up permit for entire JMT from a ranger station in Yosemite? (I think you can) How about from a ranger station in Lone Pine? (I don't think so) I am taking off work the entire spring and summer to camp, backpack and fish all over the West, and so want to be flexible on the day I start. Thanks.

You can get walk ins for the JMT at the Yosemite Valley permit station located near the Ansel Adams Gallery in the village.

"I am taking off work the entire spring and summer to camp, backpack and fish all over the West, and so want to be flexible on the day I start." ....

I'M JEALOUS!
...tg...

You can get a permit wherever permits are issued for the TH you use to access the JMT. If entering thru the Whitney zone you need to jump through the normal hoops (dayhike, overnight, lottery, walkup...)
Try this link...
http://www.backpack45.com/johnmuirtrail.html

I'm in the same boat as you. I am trying to start in the South though, and to hike the JMT starting at Whitney Portal you do need an overnight permit, which requires you to be in the lottery right now. In Yosemite the permits are much more readily avliable, walkins are possible. You can also start at alternated trailheads, ie Horseshoe meadow....
Eric J Lee

Starting in Yosemite seems like the right way to go for me, and ending at Whitney is not too shabby. Thanks all for the input.

You can get walk-in permits if they are available, but if you're taking the spring and summer off for something you've looked forward to all your life, do you really want to take that chance?

I did the JMT last summer (North to South), and had made my permit reservation ahead of time - I was able to get my permit with no problem, but I also had to change my start date slightly for what was available. The concern (of course) is the quota going in to the Whitney Zone.

Good luck!! you'll LOVE it!!

Hi Eric! I hiked the JMT last summer starting in Yosemite. I had called the reservation department for permits and they told me not to worry, that most likely I could get permits that day if I was a JMT thru-hiker. They are more lenient with long distance thru-hikers, especially if your group is small. So my buddy and I didn't make any reservations and went to the Yosemite Valley Wilderness Center in the morning to get permits, and although they did issue us permits for the entire thrue hike, we had to wait until the next morning because the quotas were beyond max for that day. But that was okay, a layover in Yosemite Valley ain't so bad and we had plenty of time for our hike. You're gonna love this trip!

If you're interested, here's some random photos from our JMT journey last year!

<a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=334185">JMT photos</a>

Buck,
Those are some great pics! Makes me want to spend the entire summer on the JMT. By the way, when did your trip take place (was it in September?).

Hi Thomas! Thanks! Our trip was from mid-August through the first week of September (we took a leisurely three weeks). My buddy despises mosquitoes, so that's why we went later in the season. It's a good thing too, because apparently most of last summer was very bad weather.

Buck...those pictures are amazing!!! Really breath-taking!

I went solo, and didn't get nearly as many pictures as I wished I would have. ...Guess I'll have to go back and do it again :-)

Buck, Those are awesome photos. Did you shoot film or digital? Some of those shots make me think you had various lens filters, tripods, and the like. What type of equipment did you take with you?

Hi SpankyBob! I shoot Fuji Velvia 50 film. The photo equipment I took was a Canon Elan 7 camera, two Canon lenses (17-40mm, and a 70-200mm), a Moose warming polarizer filter, four Singh-Ray Galen Rowell GND filters (2 and 3 stops, both hard and soft), a lightweight tripod, and wads of Fuji Velvia 50 slide film. Not exactly the lightest way to go, but I'm not much of a lightweight packer myself. I scanned the slides with a Nikon Coolscan IV. Thanks again for the compliments!

Bucky-Thanks for the information. I notice now that I could have also gotten the same information by reading the captions and descriptions for each photo. Your photos are really sharp and I suspected the use of an ND step filter.

BEAUTIFUL PICS! We can't wait to take on the same adventure in July, 2005! Tried last year but didn't make it. Second times a charm (I hope). Thanks for taking us on a beautiful journey with your camera. We noticed on some shots that we slept in the same spot! We miss the JMT!