John Muir Trail Day 26: When Yosemite Became the Worst Part of Our Thru-Hike
Will I be hiking the John Muir Trail solo? I woke up on the morning of Day 26 on the John Muir Trail wondering how this day would start and this hike would end. The early morning was so peaceful, making me reluctant to do anything that would trigger the official day when I knew hard decisions were ahead of us.
My hiking partner and husband, Cliff and I had trekked over 220 miles together with our northbound starting point being Cottonwood Lakes Trailhead. We had 30 miles left to go to officially complete the JMT.
And then something happened to Cliff’s leg. Somewhere along the steep descent from Donahue Pass to Lyell Canyon, the side of his leg, above his ankle, started to hurt. By the time we had arrived at our campsite that night, Cliff was limping heavily and had significant pain in the area of the tendon leading to his ankle.
Would he be able to even make it into Tuolumne Meadows? If he could hike that far, would he call it there?
What would I do if Cliff quit the JMT? Would I hike on without him?
From every part of my being, the answer, without a doubt, was yes. I would hike on without Cliff once we got him safely to Tuolumne Meadows. I would have wanted him to do the same, had I been unable to hike on, and I knew in my heart that Cliff would have wanted me to finish the JMT, as well. But I would miss him dearly, having grown closer to this person I had chosen to spend the past 220 miles with, not to mention the past 20 years.
I climbed quietly out of the tent trying, for once, not to wake Cliff up as I moved through the campsite to retrieve our bear can. I lugged it back into camp and started heating water for coffee and created piles of the food we would need for breakfast and a full day of hiking.
I watched as a steady stream of hikers and trail runners passed by our campsite heading towards Donahue Pass and quietly wondered again what our own day would hold. Sipping on my hot coffee, I heard noise from inside the tent and saw that Cliff was awake and starting to make his way out of the tent. He walked towards me still favoring his hurt leg, but announced that it was on the mend.
I cheered at hearing this, knowing it was my first choice but also found myself wondering about my excitement at the possibility of hiking solo for the last 30 miles. It had been something I mentally prepared myself for – the challenge of relying solely upon myself to finish the last 30 miles of the JMT – and I had met the prospect of doing so with confidence that I would be fine. I trusted in my skills to keep myself safe and had no doubt that I would be successful in doing so. To get to rise to that challenge was an opportunity and one I would give myself at a later date.
Today, though, and for the next 30 miles, would be what I preferred above all else: to finish the JMT together.
We made slow progress in breaking down camp and I gladly took some of Cliff’s pack weight to give his leg a break. As I loaded my pack with the extra pounds, I took pride in the fact that my trail-strong body was physically able to easily do so. When we hit the trail, Cliff took the lead with his trekking poles at the ready and set a moderate pace with me following happily behind him.
Hiking at a slower pace on a friendly dirt path allowed me to notice things we would have otherwise missed due to me looking exclusively down at my next step. Because of this, I caught sight of something that had me doubling back to take a closer look. Obvious bear claws had inflicted long, gouging scratches in many of the trees we passed along the trail through Lyell Canyon. I was totally intrigued and wished I knew more. We kept an eye out after seeing many more trees with what appeared to be fresh claw marks but never saw any actual bears.
The trail through Lyell Canyon was thankfully flat, forgiving and seemed to be exactly what Cliff’s leg needed to loosen up and calm down. The more we hiked, the better his leg felt.
Once we arrived in Tuolumne Meadows, we headed straight to the Ranger Station, hoping to nab a coveted Half Dome permit. We didn’t know if Cliff would be able to pull off climbing the incredibly steep Cable Route of Half Dome but we wanted to have permits in hand, if he could manage. This experience had been sitting at the top of our bucket list since we heard about it long ago and we hated the thought of passing it up.
I also wanted to ask about campsites in the area. We had heard that the campgrounds available to so many thru-hikers in the past, had been closed for years. I questioned that info when we were told Yosemite had not made alternate arrangements to designate legal dirt in which for hikers to simply pitch a tent. Surely that can’t be right, I thought. We had seen many signs mentioning a High Sierra Camp and were thoroughly confused. Were campgrounds available or not? Our map said camping wasn’t allowed within four miles of the Tuolumne Meadows area. Would Yosemite just leave thru-hikers high and dry like that with no alternative?
I left Cliff at a nearby picnic bench with our backpacks and food, readying a feast of snacks while I headed to the ranger station to ask my many questions.
I walked into the ranger station only to leave a short while later wondering what was happening to our beloved national parks. The only pleasant part of that experience were the rangers, themselves. Their hands were figuratively tied and the resigned way in which they empathized with visitor frustration at the way Yosemite was being mismanaged was palpable.
In short, much of the services hikers needed in Tuolumne Meadows were being managed by private businesses profiting from public lands. The contracted concessionaire, Aramark, managed the hospitality services (food, lodging, etc.) while permits were being managed by Recreation.gov. Between the two outsourced management entities and the bad press continuing to rightfully surround them, Yosemite had taken on the vibe of a badly run amusement park with Tuolumne Meadows being the defunct, neglected outpost.
I left the ranger station thanking the poor employees for their time in explaining the camping and Half Dome permits situation (in a professional way that would not cause them to lose their jobs) and how to navigate Yosemite in its mismanaged state. In short, we would have to hike out of Tuolumne Meadows completely before we were allowed to find legal dirt in which to pitch our tent on the way up to Cathedral Lakes.
As for Half Dome permits, none were available. The rangers then told us some hikers were successful at an alternate way to go about knocking this hike off their buckets lists. The strategy was this: wait at the intersection of the JMT and the Half Dome Trail to piggy back off of someone else’s permits, should they have people in their party that didn’t want to attempt the Cable Route climb. Apparently, many hopeful JMT and PCT backpackers were successful with this tactic and they encouraged us to try. It was a good option, but one we opted to not even try.
Throughly discouraged, I went back to our picnic bench to relay all the info I’d obtained from the rangers, growing increasingly irritated by it all when I was done. By the time we left Tuolumne Meadows, I was fuming as angry energy propelled me up the ascent to Cathedral Lakes. My pace devoured the miles as I furiously thought about my disappointing Yosemite experience this far. I stopped, suddenly realizing I was missing the current moment by replaying the past few hours, and turned towards Cliff ambling along behind me.
Growling out my frustration, I said, “I don’t want this shitty Yosemite experience to ruin our ending to the JMT! This cannot be how our 250 mile thru-hike ends!”
From that point on, we refused to let everything we saw and heard at Tuolumne Meadows touch our thru-hike. We were together, Cliff was moving well and feeling good and we were headed towards Cathedral Lakes, an area renowned for its beauty.
…and apparently, its below-freezing temperatures as we would soon experience firsthand.
Stats for the Hiker Nerds (Like You and I)
Day 26- September 11, 2024
The foot of Mid-Lyell Canyon through Tuolumne Meadows to Cathedral Lakes
Mountain Pass/Summit: N/A
Elevation Gain:1,474’
Elevation Loss: 824’
Mileage: 13.3 miles
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Comments 4
hi, I’ve fortunately have hiked a lot of the Sierra as well as large portions of the JMT…I’ve really enjoyed reading your journey….thank you!!
Thank YOU so much for reading along AND leaving a comment! I bet you’ve had quite the adventures if you’ve been able to tuck off in the Sierras for many hikes!
What happened with your attempt to get Half Done permits? You indicated you had intended to ask at the ranger station but never said what happened
Thanks for this comment- I’ve since edited the post to include the Half Dome info I left out! In an effort to not make you go back through the post, here are the details: None were available for the day we thought we would be in the area.
The rangers did tell us some hikers were successful at an alternate way to go about getting a permit- wait at the intersection of the JMT and the Half Dome Trail to piggy back off of someone else’s permits, should they have people in their party that didn’t want to attempt the Cable Route climb. Apparently, many hopeful JMT and PCT backpackers were successful with this tactic and they encouraged us to try. It sounded like a worthy option, but we skipped it in the end.