My next major John Muir Trail hike won’t occur until next year. Wrapping up a fifteen-year effort to write, publish and release a book; wrapping up my “day job” here on Oahu, and moving to our new home just north of Lake Tahoe and west of Reno is keeping this year quite busy enough. I’ve spent a lifetime dreaming of living near the Sierra Nevada. Skipping a major hike this year seems like a small price to pay to finally make it happen.
My wife and I are planning a complete thru-hike in 2017 – fourteen months from now. Since we’ll be a short drive to Yosemite, there can’t be much to do this far out, right? Wrong! Here is what is on our list for the next few months:
- We have about a week to pencil out an itinerary. We need to decide how much of the hike we want to do after Labor Day. If we decide to wait later in the summer we’ll see fewer hikers and mosquitos, but will have to contend with colder nights and potential transportation and accommodations issues along the way. Labor Day comes a little early in 2017: September 4. The JMT population falls precipitously after the holiday. I suspect we’ll settle on a start date around the last day of August or the first couple of days in September. That means the Tuolumne Meadows Grill and Tuolumne Meadows Lodge will still be open, and transportation to and from Red’s Meadow to Mammoth Lakes will still be in full swing, when we arrive at each.
- Although we can’t be assured of getting a permit on the day we want, at this point we are going to assume we will be stepping onto the trail at Happy Isles on day 1. We will need someplace to stay the night (perhaps two) before, so we must decide if we are going with the convenience of Curry Village, the comfort of the Yosemite Lodge, or the opulence of the Ahwahnee. Why? Because reservations there fill up quickly in all of them, and they can be made a year and a day in advance.
- We are planning a half rest day on day 3 in Tuolumne Meadows. If we want to spend a night in the Lodge (which is really a tent cabin), we’ll need to make that reservation a year and a day out, too.
- We are going to start discussing our permit strategy. There are two ways to approach this: try repeatedly for the date and place you want and then re-arrange everything else around the date you ultimately get, or make your reservations along the way and figure out a day and place to start your hiking so that you can arrive when planned. We will go with the second option. That means we need to carefully assess what permits are available, when, and we need to be prepared to request them on the first day available. Since one of our back-up plans is to leave from either Chiquito Pass Trailhead or Quartz Mountain Trailhead, we need to be ready a year ahead to request the permit.
- The last step isn’t absolutely necessary, but has the potential to help us avoid some unpleasant situations: we will start publicizing to our friends and family that we are going to be in the woods for three weeks in September next year. That way no one will depend on us being somewhere else!
Good hiking, Ray
Nice to see the proper facility names in Yosemite; we were there last weekend and it was so sad to see the “new” names on all the signage. A minor add-on to #5 (for those of us who still have day jobs 😉 ) is to request vacation dates (or rough windows until a permit is acquired) from work.
Great point, Ryan. Thanks for the comment!
What do you do if you can’t get the day you want, but you have already booked your pre-trail nights in Yosemite? I would assume you would forfeit any deposits, and then try to re-book, but if lodging fills up a year ahead, and you can’t go for your permit until 6 months ahead, it seems almost impossible to make them match. Are there options outside of Yosemite that make sense?
I was wondering too, about no. 4. The people that go out to Independence or other location to stay in some type of lodging; how do they book it to match the day they will happen to arrive? It seems to me that most people wouldn’t necessarily stick with their daily itinerary, so it would be hard to estimate when they will arrive at a specific spot. Ditto for the mule-packing resupply option.
We are hoping for 2018; much depends on my immune system in the meantime! But planning nonetheless, because I’m not going to give up! Thanks for your blog.
Thanks for the comment, Karen. Yosemite reservations can be canceled in advance without costing you anything (although they do charge you for the first night when you make a reservation; that, too is refunded if you cancel in time). I believe the deadline is thirty day in advance. Since most permits are reserved 168 days in advance, you should be fine.
If you do a reasonable amount of training, and you are a bit conservative in your estimates, making reservations at Red’s, VVR, MTR, or other accommodations should be no problem. I always hit my spots on time, even if it means I only hike to 3:30 p.m. or 4 a day or two before I arrive.
Hi Ray,
I did exactly what you suggested- I booked my Curry (at that time- Half Dome Village now) reservations a year ahead of time for the 2 dates I was hoping for, along with my refundable airmiles ticket. The next step was to try for the permit, which I managed to get for both of my dates (short trips, not full JMT). You can cancel 7 days in advance with no penalty, which is almost rude really, when so many are looking for space.
I really enjoyed staying at Half Dome Village but was actually a little dissapointed in Tuolomne Lodge as the meal setup was next to impossible- dinner was so so and breakfast took so long that we couldn’t time it with the one shuttle that was running so we had a late start. I think I’d rather camp at Cathedral next time.
Looking forward to hearing of your trip and plans and hopefully I’ll be able to do the whole thing one day too!
I’ve always had good luck at Tuolumne Lodge, but I can certainly understand your frustration. And camping at either of the Cathedral lakes will never let you down! Thanks for the comment!
See you on the trail sometime! We finished a SOBO trip last year (September which was absolutely grand) and are planning NOBO for Aug/Sep 2017!
Good for you, Lee. Congratulations on last year!
Any info yet about a new computer based reservation system for hiking permits? Not sure if that will help in the permit process or make it more difficulty to acquire the permit for one’ target start date.
No further news on the new system, now. I expect to hear more a month or so after the current hiking season ends. Whatever the system, it isn’t going to change the basic math: lots of people wanting few permits. Thanks for the question, Mike.
Best of luck, Ray! Any word on whether Muir Trail Ranch will still be open by the time you get there? How many miles are you planning per day on your 2017 trip?
Thanks, Dave. We will definitely time our departure to spend two nights at MTR. I’ve promised my wife some time soaking in their opulent hot springs! We will probably average about 12 or 13 miles per day, with two zero days and one half-zero.
Being new to the group and also planning now for thru-hike starting Aug 28/29 of 2017 I so appreciate all the information shared in this group. Ray – thanks so much for sharing, I have come to know your posts and contributions answer questions I didn’t even know to ask. Thanks!
Thanks, Sandy. We will likely be on the trail at the same time!
Another option I discovered recently for transport and lodging options, Amtrak in Merced connects with the YARTS bus at the train station. The bus stops at darn near every major lodging facility coming into the park on Highway 140, and the bus terminates at Curry Village. { I can’t find Half Dome Village 😉 }
The lodging is cheaper and easier to get along 140 outside the park, as your launch date arrives for your hike. In the morning when you are ready to go, just take the same YARTS bus to Curry Village and you are ready to start at Happy Isles.
Great comment, Scott. Thanks!
My husband and I are planning a JMT hike next year, too. This hike has been a dream since our previous visit to Yosemite National Park. If the reservation system remains the same, we are hoping to obtain one of the walk up permits if we cannot get one by faxing ahead. I am wondering if you have heard whether we could expect to be successful? ( I understand we would need to line up during the night outside the Tuolumne office.)
My suggestion, Pat, is to wait for the second edition of my book (coming soon!), which will have a long chapter on permit alternatives. I think you will find a solution there! Thanks for the question.
Hi Ray,
Looking forward to the new edition of your book.
A question about reservations, if i send a request for the following
1. Happy Island -> Little Yosemite Valley
2. Happy Island -> Sunrise/Merced
3. Glacier Point -> Little Yosemite Valley
for start date the 1 aug and I get my 3:rd option Glacier to LYV.
Is it permitted to send the same request for start date 2 aug and hope for my first option and then cancel the one for 1 aug ?
I have been looking for some answers to the but not found and answers.
BR
/olle
Thanks for the question, Olle. I know of no rule that prevents you from doing what you describe. However, please ensure that you cancel the reservation you intend to not use so that someone else can get it. Good luck!
Hi! Great info and great book! Thanks for helping make this trip attainable for us newbies!!
I have a question about planning a zero day/resupply at Deer Meadow. I haven’t found a lot of info about that area and how to resupply there. Do you have any more specific info?
Thanks!!
I have seen packers at Deer Meadow in the past, so I know that it was once an option. I recommend you contact the different packers and ask. The area itself is quite nice, although part of it is recovering from a fire. Good luck!
Hi Ray, Am planning ahead. 🙂
NPS has a nifty web site spelling out the 168 days one has in advance to send in a permit request. https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/wildpermitdates.htm
Question is: You mention the importance of sending in the fax 5 PM PST the day before (right after the NPS office closes) so your application is on hand early on the morning of the first eligibility date. So, looking at the NPS web site, if I want to start hiking on July 22, NPS site says the first eligible day to fax in the request for a permit is Feb 3rd. You would recommend actually sending in the fax at 5 PM on Feb 2nd. Am I correct in my setting of these dates? (I want to be sure. Would hate to miss getting a permit for faxing the request in a day late or a day too early!)
Mike
You have it correct, Mike. Clear as a newborn baby’s conscience, no?
Thanks, Ray! Now all I have to do is be one of the few who gets a permit. 😉
Hi Ray, love the book! We got a permit (Happy Isles pass thru ) leaving July 23,2017. In this extraordinary snow year should I be concerned about the passes? Ice axe and microspikes?
Congratulations on the permit! Not an easy thing to do. It’s hard to say, now, because we don’t know what is going to happen in the next month. There is another storm predicted, for example, for tonight where I live. If I were to guess I would say you will see plenty of snow, but there would be no need for an ice axe or microspikes. You need to get more current information in mid-July to be sure. One thing I am sure about: you’ll need insect repellant!