2017 John Muir Trail

The Devils Postpile, Natural Post-Volcanic Formation Back to Schatts for breakfast, just pastry and coffee this time, turned out to be insufficient to propel hikers along the trail. We walk up the hill to the resort mountain bikers shuttle in the village, again no worries getting into the shuttle. The Eastern Sierra Shuttle to Devils Postpile goes down a steep road into the Valley and I get a little anxious thinking about what happens if the brakes fail, what would the driver do-are they trained for these situations? Maybe a little post-partem anxiety about leaving the comforts of civilization and going back out into the wilderness. We take a few minutes to go see the Devils Postpile, still hadn't figured out what it was. There are a bunch of day hikers there snapping pix and we join the fun, it's some kinda old volcanic formation that made long six sided pieces of rock that have now fallen down into a big pile, right at our feet. More Devils Postpile An older

A zero day in Mammoth Lakes, Schatts bakery has an awesome brekkie for calorie deprived hikers, a huge croissant stuffed with eggs, bacon and cheese, must be about a million calories by the weight of it, it practically throws your back out just trying to lift the thing up. Their coffee doesn't look so great and we decide to get the best of both worlds, we'll eat our sandwiches at Black Velvet coffee and get one of the truly great cappuccinos, this is world class stuff here in Mammoth Lakes. Back at the motel to organize our day, first stop the Post Office to mail back some stuff that we don't need, including crampons for ice that doesn't exist, these suckers most weigh a pound each and hikers see them on the outside of Elenas pack and stop to ask if we used them, the answer is invariably no. Then to Vons supermarket for resupply, it's a long and thirsty job trying to make sure we have everything to get us to Vermilion Valley, so I'm ready for a beer, we'

Just About Done Hiking for the Day Up and at'em early to get to Mammoth Lakes for lunch if we can, only about 6 miles to the shuttle. Elena has a quick dip before we start off, and we see heaps of NOBO hikers coming by early, including one with a dog that barks every time I move. We see that someone has camped on the other side of the small lake and he's packing up at the same time we are. We have a bit of a climb up to 9300' outa the lake area, then a coast downhill towards Devils Postpile, we roll along quickly with the thought of cold beer and hot food keeping us going, and light packs to ease the burden. We come to a rather large stream, there's no footbridge and a bunch of young women are putting their shoes (and clothes too it appears) back on, it's definitely a wade to get across so off come the shoes. Elena is first across and starts talking excitedly to someone down the trail, can't quite see who it is yet for all the trees. About the Part Co

Thousand Island Lake in the Early AM Light Slow disorganized start for us, bit tired after long climb up Donahue, and Justin and Patty aren't in any hurry either so we don't get going until 9:30. We pass Garnet Lake on the way but it looks like Thousand Island Lake, are we going around in circles? It's also very pretty, we cross a footbridge at the outlet and then can't find the trail, does it go down a huge rock right beside the bridge or around the lake, Guthook soon sorts that one out for us. Elena Getting Her Early Morning Bath There's a long downhill down a small canyon where we find a nice spot to sit for a snack for a bit, a large group of older women hikers pass by as we rest in the sun. We do a couple of small climbs before the trail noses downhill along a raging stream that cascades down a steep slope towards Shadow Lake, the trail diverts for a bit around a hill where we lose the stream and the sound of rushing water. There's a nice lit

View Back Down Lyell Canyon from Donahue Pass It's a long climb up Donahue, our first pass, we are rewarded with great views back over Lyell Canyon. There's a bit of a snow bank towards the top, we traverse it without a problem. There are gorgeous meadows on the North of the pass and we choose one for lunch, and then more as we go down into the valley, most of them have wildflowers too. Just before the Rush Creek Trailhead we come upon a Mule Pack Train with a very friendly looking Black Mule Driver, he's looking for a place to park the mules and camp for the night, the party of slackpackers has yet to catch up. Elena on Donahue Pass A bit further south and we see a lovely little lake off to the side with a couple of guys checking it out so we decide to take a break for a few minutes. It's a bit buggy and the two guys look a bit uncomfortable with the bugs. As we chat for a minute we find out they're with the mule train and they start asking us question

Selfie in Tuolumne Meadows Igor dropped us off at the Rangers Station after a beautiful drive up Tioga Pass from June Lake. A long line of people stood between us and a permit, as it turned out most were waiting for a walk permit, that line opened at 11. We still waited for a while to get to the permit counter, everyone in line seemed in very good spirits and there was a definite air of excitement about it. After a friendly quizz by the ranger (no failing grade) we had our piece of bureaucratic paper. Alcohol and toothpaste in the bear canister seemed a little over the top and we knew already that it wouldn't fit. Our next problem was to find the trail, it was reported to be close to the Rangers Station but there were trails and hikers going everywhere and we were a bit disorientated so had to ask directions, a bit embarrassing. Beautiful Colored Pool in the Stream Soon we were off through the meadows, at first it looks very well worn, as we pulled away from the Rang