In the morning before my period started, I was stumbling in the talus and feeling sluggish. I shared my stoke in a InReach message to family and friends “Running in the rain! The only concern with them is how steeper slabs can become dangerous when wet, from rain or snow melt above. It is easy to customize the map with waypoints and the planned route for your trip. Free USGS topo maps! I had gotten at most about 1.5 hours of sleep… Oh well, here we go! I made it to Muir Pass around sunset, and was dismayed by how technical and difficult the trail was. And there were entirely too many storm clouds in the sky…. The approach and north side of this saddle offered obvious and relatively easy cross-country terrain, but the descent on the south offered offensive and extensive bushwhacking and dangerously steep, slippery grassy slopes, which took a long time to get through. Many women have attempted it, but none have finished it. To plan your next escape, try “rolling your own” maps using the CalTopo or Gaia GPS online services. I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail through Yosemite in 2006 and 2007, on the Sierra High Route in 2008, and on the John Muir Trail in 2011. I made it to Gabbot Pass right as the day’s light began to wane and I was delighted to find the terrain on the south side to be very pleasant, with a lot of run-able scree and grassy slopes. Renee, just last week, got the first female time for The Sierra High Route in 4 days 23 hours and 53 minutes. Roper’s description for the north side of Frozen Lake Pass includes “rugged… class 2-3 slope, quite steep… extremely unstable rock… traumatic,” which is why I wanted to visit this pass before doing the FKT. The website CalTopo has been my go-to mapping platform for four over years. Individual Accounts We are revamping our individual subscription tiers beginning January 1st, 2021. I started feeling tired and decided to take a real break at Mono Creek – perhaps I could recreate the magic that happened at Shadow Creek the day before? I even had some entertainment from a helicopter that kept visiting me throughout this section. But our current navigation narrative assumes that a commercially produced map is easily obtainable and affordable. I’m going to give the men reading this fair warning – you might want to skip this paragraph if you are at all queasy about female menstruation. It was a magical moment that had me dancing inside. About 4.5 miles later, I was finally getting to some run-able trail, but it was too late. While it may not expand your horizon to include Mars, it will enable you to visit a little-explored wonder of this planet. Log In. Super Volunteer, Contributor to Freedom 9, How To: Plan Your Own Adventures with CalTopo, 2020 Banff Mountain Film Festival Virtual Tour - Get Your Tickets Now, BeWild Speaker Series - Introducing the 2021 Lineup, Five Favorite Backcountry Ski & Snowboard Routes, Last Chance! There is a cliff section that you have to deal with shortly before you join the JMT. I had been experiencing intermittent nose bleeds (I think it was from the smoke…) and now even my eyes were burning. That was definitely the high point of the day. My route involved one steep slab section that might intimidate most backpackers. There was definitely no trail where it was indicated on my gps watch. Then I’d get a second chance to run back to the car when he got hungry for lunchtime. We trek above Rosy Finch Lake then continue on the Sierra High Route over Bighorn pass and finally Shout-of-Relief Pass (11,400 feet). by caching supplies in advance), or ‘un-supported (you start with everything you need for the entire trip, except you can refill your water bottles). Another boost. It was only a little over 7 miles of fantastic run-able trail and there was a good chance I would hit the trail head before my 5-day goal. Climb to the small shoulder at 3630 south of the lakes. There was a bit of an interruption in the flow around Grouse Lake Pass (I went too high), the cliffs around Grouse Lake, and the Manzanita bushwhacking just before the Copper Creek Trail. My stepfather Christopher Meyers and mother Donna Meyers shuttled my Sprinter van from Twin Lakes into Tuolumne and then again from Tuolumne into Devil’s Postpile, giving me the opportunity to have some sleep on a mattress and some truly yummy food from the Sprinter fridge in the midst of the FKT. Past students wanting a refresher or to learn the new curriculum, please join us to teach. From the lake, climb Crater Pass, the low point at 3720 north of Crater Mountain. I had a smile on my face and I was bounding past all the JMTers like a deer. !” Oh yeah, did I mention it was my wedding anniversary? This section offers challenging (But fun! It was awesome! Mountaineers Books is a registered trademark of The Mountaineers®, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Your support makes it possible for us to provide free and low cost education opportunities that help us to explore, conserve, learn about, and enjoy the lands and waters of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. This is the longest dry section on the SHR and the seasonal creeks were definitely not running. Luckily, I narrowly missed all the excitement that afternoon. This was definitely the lowest point of the day. They helped me with a quick shower behind the van, a lovely dinner, a foot soak (1/2 cup Epsom salt, 1/4 cup baking soda, 1/4 cup listerine), and a welcome break from isolation. Originally the plan was for my husband to be hiking in to meet me that night in Dusy Basin while one of our parents were taking care of our 3 year old son, but the coronavirus pandemic changed that, and now he was at home single-parenting. I knew from living in the mountains through numerous bad fire seasons what living in smoke could do to you. As I mentioned above, the start of the Mammoth Pass Trail in Red’s Meadow seems to have been re-routed and maps have not been updated yet. Caltopo is a phenomenal tool in my opinion. On this day, it meant being out 1.5 hours longer than planned, making this leg a 20-hour push. It was amazing, even mind-blowing. Not only is this faster, but safer. Years ago, a crazy wind event blew over a significant portion of the trees in this area. JOIN NOW Subscription Improvements December 2, 2020 / 1 Comment / in Blog Posts / by Ben Lantow. This 210- to 220-mile, 20- to 30-day cross-country journey could be the premier mountain trek in the Lower 48. As with day 1, I had done a recon trip earlier this summer over the entirely of the route I would be covering today. There are a couple of steep areas between Feather Pass and Merriam Lake where I did some 3rd and 4th class moves for the sake of speed and maintaining a more direct line – the “headwall” with the “obvious cleft” above La Salle Lake and the “steep slope next to cascade” above Merriam Lake. August 24-Sept 6th, 2016 Route was published by … It enables you to research trails, cross country routes, topography, snow levels, and even track weather forecasts. For anyone considering this route, I would highly recommend you train on such terrain, wearing the pack you plan on using while on the SHR. He met me in Devil’s Postpile at night 2, hiked in our overnight gear and my food resupply at both Toe lake and the Bishop Pass Trail for night 3 and 4, stayed up until I got there, cooked dinner for me every night, woke up with me to make my hot water and get me on my feet in the morning, and drove my Sprinter van to Road’s End to meet me when I finished. Before doing the FKT, I did 4 reconnaissance trips that helped me to further set my course on a significant portion of the route: Twin Lakes to Devil’s Postpile, Piute Creek to the John Muir Trail (JMT), and Mather Pass to Road’s End. Maps, Guidebooks & GPS. Of course, I used my husband’s website Caltopo.com extensively. Taught by the CalTopo training team, the webinar covered the basics of using CalTopo for planning a trip, including navigating the map tools, saving and sharing maps, working with layers and overlays, using their new mobile app, creating routes, and more. Even hiking quickly was challenging at times. It was like I was watching the polar ice caps of Mars—before I landed at the trailhead I knew I would not need axe or crampons this year. I was also impressed by how bad the smoke was in the Yosemite Valley, not far from me, whereas I had relatively clear skies (thankfully)! On August 5, 2020, the Seattle Navigation Committee sponsored a webinar on creating custom physical and digital online maps using the CalTopo online service. The trick is to avoid going too high as you contour around to the white slabby section described in Roper’s book. And it felt like they were turning over faster than they ever had before, to the tempo of “All Eyes On Me” by Girl Talk. The route actually follows the JMT down to the large lake at 3500. Descend from Crater Pass across the open basin at the north end of the White Fork. It was quite a surreal experience. Apparently I had forgotten to turn off last nights alarm. 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