Red’s Meadow to Lake Virginia
Mileage 15.4 miles (24.8km), total 78.1 miles (125.7 km)
We were ready to get back on the trail today after having a zero at Red’s. The path left Red’s past an interesting sign showing how far it was to each end of the PCT as well as the JMT. Realising we still had 165 miles to go to Whitney, we kept going.
The area was full of felled trees which apparently was due to a fire which had happened some years before.
Red’s Meadow Resort
Mileage: Zero
Today was a great day and it was nice to have a day off the trail. We knew that the trail would become progressively more difficult one we got past Muir Trail Ranch and that this would be our last zero until the end. So we made the most of it and caught the shuttle bus down from Red’s to Mammoth Lakes to do a bit of exploring.
Red’s Meadow
Shadow Lake to Red’s Meadow
Mileage 11.9 miles (19.2 km), total 62.7 miles (100.9 km)
After the long day yesterday, today was a little easier. We’d had to change our original itinery a little as we weren’t able to camp in Tuolumne so we figured that with higher mileages the last few days we could take a zero at Red’s.
The scenery today was pretty good and fortunately it was cloudier and a little cooler.
En route to Red’s
Upper Lyell Forks to Shadow Lake
Mileage 15.9 miles (25.6 km), total 50.8 miles (81.8 km)
Today was an awesome day but quite tough in parts. The day started bright and early at our campsite at Upper Lyell Canyon with a climb up to Donohue Pass. This is the first serious pass of the JMT and is at an altitude of 11,056ft. After climbing up through the trees, we reached a beautiful mountain tarn sitting just below Mount Lyell in some alpine meadow. The place was stunning and the water was crystal clear. We stoppped for a short break here out of the wind which was a bit cold. If it weren’t for the wind I could have been tempted to swim here but the water was cold.
Looking up towards Donohue Pass
Cathedral Lake to Upper Lyell Canyon
Mileage 16.4 miles (26.4 km), total 34.9 miles (56.2 km)
The start of the day was fairly easy with a long descent down into Tuolumne Meadows. For once, it was nice being the ones who were speeding down the descent rather than crawling up a pass at a slow pace. The descent down to Tuolumne was fairly busy. At one point, we passed a Ranger who was on his way up the trail carrying a strange piece of equipment with him. He was pretty friendly and mentioned he was heading up to conduct studies on the fish levels with the lakes. Nice job.
We reached the car park eventually and thought we might catch the shuttle bus but the sight of approximately 100 PCT hikers made us realise that we might have quite a wait so we decided to instead walk the mile or so along the Highway. Eventually we came to the Tuolumne Meadows Grill where we did a small resupply and ate to our heart’s content.
Toulumne Meadows Grill
JMT/Merced Lake Junction to Cathedral Lake
Mileage 9.8 miles (15.8 km), total 18.5 miles (29.8 km)
The day began with a walk out of the burn and back into the forest and a steep climb up Sunrise Mountain towards Sunrise Pass. This section was quite steep as it climbed along Sunrise Creek and definitely had us out of breath. We ran into our first PCT hikers along this stretch who now had about 900 miles or so under their belt. It was fun to chat with them, they were very friendly and willing to talk about their experiences and respond to our endless questions.
Starting the day up towards Sunrise Pass
Happy Isles to JMT/Merced Lake Junction
Mileage (8.7 miles/14 km)
We began the day bright and early at the campground. It was busy with lots of tents and the night before was quite noisy with so many people around. We were keen and enthusiastic to get started on the trail as it had been a lot of waiting and planning to get to this point.
Campground at Yosemite
We caught the shuttle bus and started our walk from Happy Isles. We crossed the Merced River and started our long walk south towards Mount Whitney. Yosemite itself was very busy (unsurprisingly) and it felt a long way away from the remoteness we knew we would soon encounter. It was great at the start of trail to reach the High Sierra Loop Trail sign which I’d seen many times in photos and guidebooks. It was also hard to believe that there was 211 miles of trail ahead of us through some of the most majestic scenery in the Sierras.
It was a very early start the next morning for our trip to Yosemite to start the John Muir Trail. This involved a complex series of trains and buses and, above all, a lot of time. We started off at Union Station. It does amaze me how nice some of the public buildings are in the United States. We had an early morning bus ride out of LA to our first stop in Bakersfield, CA. The last time I was at Union Station was in 1997 when I did a rail trip across the US from New York. I was interconnecting here to catch the train up to San Franscisco.
Our trip to begin the JMT began with another epic journey being the one from Perth, Western Australia to Los Angeles. We were flying Cathay Pacific into Hong Kong which was a long flight before we even began the long haul across the Pacific Ocean.
The trip to Hong Kong was relatively uneventful but we were definitely feeling tired from the red eye flight by the time we arrived. Once we arrived we were on the search for somewhere to grab breakfast (not many options) prior to hopping on the flight to LAX.
The flight to LAX was long and arrives early in the morning US time. This puts your body clock all over the place as you basically have an entire day to get through without sleep. Our hotel was in China Town as we had deliberately booked to be as close to Union Station as possible to allow for a short walk to public transport to travel to Yosemite National Park.
Arrival at Los Angeles Airport
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