Day 1: Climbing out of Yosemite Valley

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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.

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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.

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Reaching the start of the John Muir Trail at Yosemite

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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.

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Mail drops, the Dodgers and Universal Studios

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A night of decent sleep afterwards, it was time to experience a bit of Los Angeles in the time we had available. Unfortunately, much of the time before starting a hike (especially overseas) involves grocery shopping and mail drops. There was a Wal-Mart near the hotel for us to get all the food shopping done and there was a US postal office right next to the hotel so we had everything we needed close by.

Unfortunately, one of the mail drops on the JMT requires mail to be put into a bucket which must then be sent by UPS to the destination – Muir Trail Ranch. This is understandable given the remoteness of the destination and the fact that all mail must be brought in across Florence Lake and then by mule to the Ranch. It is great Muir Trail Ranch do this because otherwise the second half of the JMT would be problematic.

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Grocery shopping at Walmart

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Travelling to the US

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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.

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Arrival at Los Angeles Airport

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Days 10 to 20: Dwellingup to Donnelly River Village

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This is a lengthy section of 272km from Dwellingup through to the start of the karri forests around Donnelly River Village. The first part of the trail from Dwellingup heads past Swamp Oak campsite and alongside the Murray River to the campsite of the same name. This is a great spot although damaged by fire in recent years.

From Murray, the trail heads further south until it hits the trail town of Collie which is a welcome break and place to rest up. After Collie, the trail has a beautiful little section through to the trail town of Balingup. The walk into Balingup is quite special along a nice little brook through some pine forest.

After Balingup, the trail heads further south through farmland in parts and through the arboretum to Blackwood Campsite, which has a nice view but has also been hit by fires in recent years. After this, it is into one of the worst campsites on the track in my view at Gregory Brook before finally reaching the old timber town of Gregory Brook.

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Days 1 to 9: Kalamunda to Dwellingup

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This section is from the Northern Terminus in Kalmunda to Dwellingup which is a distance of around 200km. The track starts in jarrah forest through Piesse Brook and heads to Mundaring Weir crossing the wall and providing spectacular views. The track then heads towards Waalegh with extensive views across the valley and beautiful morning mists.

From here, the track heads due south past Mt Dale and the Monadnocks Conservation Area. After climbing Mt Vincent and Mt Cuthbert, the track crosses Albany Highway towards White Horse Hills. From here, there are further climbs up Mt Wells and then the track heads on to Dwellingup along old railway formations.

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