Reflections on the JMT

For me, the John Muir Trail happened by accident. At the beginning of 2022, I toyed with hiking a long trail, but I didn’t think it was a realistic goal at the time. When I applied for a Yosemite permit lottery, I added Donahue Pass exit on a whim, planning to visit Lyell or Maclure glaciers. When I got the permit, I just kept coming up with ways to make it work–so I did.

15 days, 200 miles, and several new friends later, It was an experience I will hold onto for a lifetime.

I could spend a long time on the scenery: hiking through areas that pictures cannot do justice, that forever warp your perception of grandeur, and the whole time in a cathedral of mountains that will make you feel insignificant, in the best way possible.

Likewise, I could talk about the journey: struggling after a heavy resupply, trying to answer why I am hiking, summiting a pass a day only to do it all again, making sense of a few rough and chaotic years, and bailing off Mt. Whitney in a thunderstorm which produced rivers of hail running down the trail. How the trail always provides: solitude, encouragement, friendship, and always challenge.

However, ironically for a solo hike, many of the most memorable vignettes four months later are the people. Encountering someone from high school on the second day. Stopping for lunch after a brutal descent and meeting another solo hiker, then hiking together for the five remaining days of the trail. Camping with a group–staying up late talking and watching the moonlight dance on the lake. Flying a kite at 11,000 ft, getting invited on the PNT, and pushing miles to stay together and on schedule. Jumping into a cold shallow pond at 12,000 ft because your hiking partner wanted to swim and you both missed the turnoff to a better lake over a mile back. Meeting a third solo hiker on the last full day, attempting an (unsuccessful) sunrise summit of Mt. Whitney, and finishing the JMT together, only to end up hiking a section of the Tahoe Rim Trail together a little over a month later

Thank you to all the amazing people that made the JMT experience. You gave me so many awesome memories.