Hiking the John Muir Trail

     Mike spent the weeks before the trip preparing freeze dried food for their trip. He said that the process of freeze drying takes most of the moisture and all the flavor out of food. Since they couldn't carry all of the food needed for the trip, they needed to have friends make food drops along the trail. Each of them made a special mixture of granola for the trail. They each packed a special therma-rest mat that doubled as a sleeping mat and chair.

     Day five of the trip proved to be psychologically difficult, they could see 100 miles, far in the distance, and realized that they had twice that far still to hike. They had rain during twelve of their hiking days. At one point after having climbed to the top of a pass, a thunder storm hit and they needed to descend from the pass quickly.

     Edison Lake was a re-supply point and along the creek leading to the lake they caught Golden Trout, his wife caught the largest, 10 inches. After a meal with friends at EdisonLake they made their way to EvolutionValley at 10,000 feet and Mike viewed the most beautiful sunset he has ever seen either in person or photographed.

     At MuirPass it was 80 degrees, very pleasant, when a thunder storm moved in and in 10 minutes the temperature dropped to 50 degrees, it began to hail, and the wind blew at 50 mph. The lightening struck all around their tent and for 20 minutes they thought it would be the end for them, but the storm soon passed and all was peaceful again.

     At a place called Palisades they took a bath and washed clothes. The next morning the clothes hanging to dry had frozen. As they hiked near the 10,000 foot level the view was of a moonscape with little grass and no trees. There were 1.5 days hike to their next re-supply and they had nearly finished all their food. The re-supply team arrive a day early and Mike, his wife, and the re-supply group had a feast together.

     The last leg of the trip was over Mt.Whitney. There were 40 people at the top when Mike and his wife arrived and they all enjoyed the view from above all other peaks in the Continental United States. When Mike and his wife reach Lone Pine their daughter was scheduled to arrive in two days time. Mike decided not to wait and chartered a plan from San Luis Obispo.

     Mike said that they saw approximately 75 people a day on the trail, except when it rained. It took Mike two years to write his book about the hike. It was quite an adventure and the club thanked Mike for sharing it with us.