Jellybean - John Muir Trail Journal - 2014
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Jellybean
City: North Pole
State: AK
Country: USA
Begins: Aug 18, 2014
Direction: Southbound
Daily Summary
Date: Sun, Sep 7th, 2014
Start: Mt. Whitney Summit
End: Whitney Portal
Daily Distance: 10.6
Trip Distance: 238.9
Journal Stats
Entry Visits: 1,797
Journal Visits: 5,028
Guestbook Views: 182
Guestbook Entrys: 0
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YES!
I was warm and comfortable in my sleeping bag, when a Japanese couple crowded my space. It was freezing cold and they had hiked up looking to see the sunrise from the mountain top. Now all sweaty and not moving anymore they sat hunched over like dead people on Mt. Everest except their headlamps were still on. They kept stepping on my sleeping bag and so I got up and sat on my bear canister in my bag. I was sleepy and irritated to be so inconvenienced so early in the morning. More people gathered and the wind picked up. I packed my gear and watched the sun creep up between the horizon and a thick dark band of gathering clouds. This was a turn in the weather. Last nights wind blew in a thick cold scary storm so we quickly vacated the summit and rushed to the valley below. I was amazed how many people were hiking up! A nearly constant stream. I was glad to be going down and ready to be out of the crowd. As beautiful as this trail is, I don't plan to return. It is simply too popular, too regulated and if I were to return, it would be off the beaten path on the high sierra.
We had a strange ride on the Whitney Portal Shuttle to Lone Pine via a long detour to Horsehoe Meadow and Trail Pass to drop off a hiker. Then drove straight back to Tahoe, well except for a quick stop for pizza.