[pct-l] JMT finish
Mike Welch
encinomw at yahoo.com
Fri Sep 11 15:22:10 CDT 2015
Congratulations, David. I've been on my own quest since 2006 having first completed the JMT twice, once in 2006 and then in 2008 with my son. I then was hooked and kept hiking North each Summer. A year ago, May, I completed my first section in Southern California. I was detoured off the section I was on in Northern Washington State this August at Suaittle River and was not able to get back on due to the closing of Highway 20 so made my way to Seattle and flew home (back to Alaska). So I have about 450 mile left in California and 100 miles to the Canadien Border in Washington State. The memories I have of the people I've met and the wilderness I've hiked through are some of the sweetest of my life. I'm sure I'm not alone in this. You can't fully appreciate this until your out there on the trail, and then you understand. mountain mike
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On Wed, 9/9/15, David Hough on pct-l <pcnst2001 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
Subject: [pct-l] JMT finish
To: "Pct List" <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Date: Wednesday, September 9, 2015, 4:13 PM
Although I hiked the complete PCT in
sections from 2001-2013, I did not finish the JMT until this
year.
I had been missing certain sections between Little Yosemite
and Sunrise, Thousand Island Lake and Reds Meadow,
and from the PCT via Crabtree Meadow to the junction with
the Whitney trail.
I finally finished that last piece Sunday, and revisited the
Whitney summit for good measure.
The contrast between the trail from Crabtree to the Whitney
Trail, and the Wnitney Trail itself, was
striking. The latter is a freeway of
ill-prepared tourists arriving at the summit even later than
me.
There are places on the trail that stink of urine.
There are places on the trail that are a
little dicey
for casual tourists, as the trail through some of the steep
talus was probably difficult to construct in
1928-30 (according to the summit plaque) and must be
difficult to maintain. There are a
few slippery
spots with minor exposure. I was
glad to be done with it. It took me 14
hours from Crabree, but I'm old and slow.
Interesting point about the west approach. If
you camp at Crabtree, you can use the toilet there instead
of carrying a waste bag. If you shorten your
summit day by camping at Guitar Lake or the tarns above, you
are supposed
to use a waste bag and carry it out with you, which means
Kearsarge or Horseshoe or worse. I
think you're
supposed to keep it in your bear can
too... so I camped at Crabtree and enjoyed
milder weather.
Maybe you can dump your bag at Crabtree's toilet on your way
out?
This late in the season, the PCT was in good shape.
Only one tree down, near Poison Meadow, with twin
12" trunks across the trail - but easily bypassed by stock.
Chicken Spring Lake looked pathetic with an orange bathtup
ring and no outlet stream.
Guyot Creek was completely dried up and looked to have been
that way for months. Definitely not
perennial any more.
The Rough Fire smoke was very irritating from Onion Valley
to Forester Pass. One reward for the pain
of going over Forester was mostly clear skies on the other
side.
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