Welcome to the Sierra Nevada

Horseshoe Meadow to Rock Creek

After spending the night at the Cottonwood Pass trailhead in Horseshoe Meadow, we started hiking toward the JMT this morning. This is not the closest trailhead to either terminus of the JMT. So, why are we doing this? Because, bureaucracy. And, there are a few advantages…

This is a very popular hike through a heavily restricted area, so demand for permits far exceeds supply. There are three main options for permits:

1. SOBO starting in Yosemite. 90% of JMT hikers go for this for many reasons: it seems to be traditional to hike southbound; ending at Mt Whitney is fairly epic; also, the first half of the trail is easier this way, so there is some time to get in shape for the more difficult section at the end. However, Yosemite strictly limits the number of hikers per day that can exit the park via Donohue Pass, and there is a lottery system in place for those slots. We’ve heard that only about 2% of applications for this permit are successful.
2. NOBO starting at Whitney Portal. This is the closest trailhead to the southern terminus, but it is also used by most hikers looking to bucket-list Mt Whitney. So, there is a lot of competition for these permits which are distributed via a different lottery system. The success rate is not much better than option #1.
3. NOBO starting somewhere else in Inyo National Forest with an exit point in Yosemite Valley. There are only a handful of these permits available each day, so it is still difficult to get one. But, it uses the normal recreation.gov permit system rather than a lottery so you know right away if you are successful. This is what we chose to do, both because it is an easier permit to obtain, and because it works better for our situation. The idea is to start south of Whitney at Horseshoe Meadow and follow the PCT north to where it meets the JMT. Then we’ll follow the JMT to summit Whitney from the west. The main drawback is that it requires substantial extra hiking to reach the starting point at the summit, including doubling the first eight miles of the JMT. Fortunately, we like hiking, so the bonus miles are more of a pro than a con. It will also give us a couple days at elevation to help acclimate before the climb up Whitney.

Programming Note: Because of mostly non-existent cell phone coverage here, we’re not able to upload our daily updates in real time so the delay will be significantly longer than for our previous trips. The goals of this blog are to help future Rocket remember some of these experiences from their childhood, and also help us stay connected with folks who have been so supportive. We hope our readers will forgive an extra-long lag time in this case.