In late August of 2015 a group of friends and I launched on the John Muir Trail (JMT). This 211-mile trail goes roughly from Mt. Whitney to Half Dome and covers some of the best terrain the High Sierra has to offer. Many of us had hiked sections of the JMT previously, but this was our first attempt to hike the entire length. We were somewhat thwarted in our JMT attempt right from the start. The massive popularity of Mt. Whitney and the popularity of the film Wild meant that permits were in very high demand. We also had a large group which did not help. We ended up with permits that started at Onion Valley, about 30 miles into the JMT. Most of us had already hiked that section anyway so we resigned ourselves to hiking the JMT with an asterisk.

Half of our group drove up a day early to shuttle cars to the trail’s end in Yosemite. On arriving in Bishop we found that the air was very smoky. Two fires — including the large “Rough” fire, were generating large amounts of smoke. After speaking to the Bishop rangers we were concerned about the amount of smoke on the trails but decided to launch anyway. This photo was taken on the trail.

The amount of smoke varied quite a bit. Mornings were often very clear, but by early afternoon the smoke would roll in. If we were still hiking at that time the smoke became a real factor. This photo shows the lake below Glen Pass. We camped here and had a great site with a nice swimming area. You can see a mule train heading up the pass on the far side of the lake. The trail actually zig-zags over those rocks.

We had a huge stroke of luck at one of our camps. This particular camp — Woods Creek — was very smoky. We more or less had the whole camp to ourselves as everyone else — including all the backcountry rangers — had abandoned the trail. Eventually a mule train showed up in camp, but that was it for neighbors.

Late in the day one of the mule train people came over to say hello and give us some free food — some bagels and even some oranges. Very decadent for trail camping! We chatted with her for a while and she wondered out loud whether we might want “more food”. We answered yes, and a little later she showed up with a huge bag of pork chops, a bag of chicken, a ton of bacon, and to make sure we stayed healthy a partial bag of frozen peas. What a bonanza! The mules had carried in a lot of food for clients that had not shown up, so they were looking to dump some food before their return.

Around day three or four I decided I was going to bail out as we passed by Bishop. I was really struggling with the air quality in the high passes, and the JMT throws a pass at you almost every day. The smoke also was making it hard for me to sleep, which was not helping my overall strength on the trail. We already had two guys planning to exit at Bishop so I was planning to just join them. As it turned out two more guys joined us, while three of our group stayed committed to the trail.

We spent our last night camped at Dusy Basin, on the way out Bishop Pass. The smoke was really bad at this spot. We ran into a large group of Sierra Club members that had come for two nights of astrophotography, but they too had decided to bail. Dusy is a nice camping spot but it really needs a restroom of some sort. This was the only camp that was really crowded and there is really nowhere that is ideal for a bathroom break. The next morning we made an early exit for Bishop.

Almost as soon as I got back to San Diego I regretted leaving the JMT. The smoke had been a real problem for me physically and mentally, but on the other hand we had been planning the JMT for most of a year. I started checking the smoke reports to see how my buddies would be doing, but determining smoke levels inside the parks can be difficult. Eventually I decided that I would jump back on the trail near Tuolumne Meadows. This would let me hike arguably the best part of the trail and also would give me a few more days on the trail with my friends. I hoped the smoke would be gone, but this was such a short stretch (3 days), that even with smoke it would be pretty easy.

After re-joining my buddies I found that I had missed some pretty smoky days, but that they had also had quite a few clear days as well. The photo above is one of the most smoky days they had while I was off the trail.

I had hiked this same stretch of the JMT with the scouts just one year earlier. Exactly one week after we hiked in 2014 there was a big fire near the Sunrise area of Half Dome, a spot we had hiked through and even camped at. Going back through this area was unreal, as all of the living trees had been burned completely black. Trees that were already dead when the fire came through had been totally incinerated, all that was left were large holes where the root balls had been. The amount of energy released by the fire must have been huge.

The high point of this stretch of trail was Half Dome. I had been up Half Dome twice before, with our boy scout troop each time. It is a really tough hike and the final stretch is pretty scary. I have to say it is a lot less scary though when you do not have the lives of a bunch of scouts in your care.

The view this time was not ideal — pretty smoky — but it was still a fantastic end to our trip. The morning after Half Dome we hiked down and out to Happy Isles trailhead.