Tag: John Muir Trail

“I’m the meanest, roughest, toughest, hombre that’s ever crossed the Rio Grande – and I ain’t no namby-bamby.”  Yosemite Sam

Yosemite.  That word has captured my imagination ever since I could say the word.  It spoke of an iconic place, a special place, a beautiful place and it was a long way away.  Yosemite Sam only added to it’s wild and untamed allure.  It took me 65 years to finally get there.  The picture above is Doris and I crossing Donohue Pass into the Yosemite Wilderness.

This is the itinerary of our final leg of our JMT hike in Sept 2019.  See previous posts for the first 2 sections. Continue reading Yosemite

“That’s what was great about him.  He tried.  Not many do.” 

Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild

Perhaps some people think that a couple of 65 year old people hiking the John Muir Trail are out of their mind, and if not successful, would criticize all of the decisions that were made, just like many critics of Chris McCandless in the book Into the Wild.

We were those 65 year old people and while we think we make rational decisions and plan our way carefully you never know all the variables that can confront you when you are all alone in the wilderness.

The first leg of our journey (see previous post) didn’t seem like we were too far removed from civilization and we’ve done lot’s of 5 to 8 day backpack trips before.  Plus, our son accompanied us on the first leg so it didn’t seem too out of the ordinary.  Heading into the second and third leg of our journey was a lot more sobering … it seemed that we were in fact going “into the wild” … a longer stretch, more remote than anything we had ever done before.

Here’s our itinerary for the second leg.

Continue reading Into The Wild