The John Muir Trail, California, US - A Trekker's Guide

• Location
• Description
• Contents
• Introduction
• Sample Route
• Maps
• Reviews
• Further Reading

'It has the driest, balmiest, mildest climate of any mountain range in the world, summits that touch 14,500ft, an abundance of turquoise glacial lakes and magnificent pine forests. White, sun-kissed glacial domes, spires and crags smile down on you day after day and you might just be lucky enough to get a nocturnal visit from a bear. The prophet called it ‘the Range of Light’ and very few people who visit the Sierra Nevada in California fail to be profoundly touched by its magic.
    In 1884, a 13 year old boy gazed across his uncle’s alfalfa fields near Fresno towards the snow-capped mountain range. So thrilled was he by the sight that he imagined himself ‘in the immensity of that uplifted world, atom moving along just below the white, crawling from one end to the other of that horizon of sheer enchantment’. Theodore Seixas Solomons later claimed that it was on this very day that he first envisioned the ‘idea of a crest-parallel trail through The High Sierra’. Between the years 1892 and 1897 Solomons visited the High Sierra many times and gradually pushed a route south from Yosemite.
     In 1915 the Sierra Club took on the work and named it in honour of John Muir. The eponymous trail was completed in the mid-twenties and today is recognised as one of the most popular long-distance backpacking trails in the world. Today, throughout the length of the JMT, the memories of Muir, and his pioneering colleagues of the Sierra Club, are commemorated in place-names – Muir Pass, Le Conte Canyon, Mather Pass, Pinchot Pass, Helen and Wanda lakes (both named after Muir’s daughters) and many others. To hike south from Yosemite, through the magnificence of Tuolumne Meadows, over the high pass in the Ansel Adams Wilderness and then on through the King’s Canyon and Sequoia National Parks to 14,491ft Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous states of the USA, is to set out on a pilgrimage to the memory of the founding father of today’s ecological movement.
    In his new guide Alan Castle has done the John Muir Trail proud. This book is a welcome UK contribution to the trail and is packed full of useful information, not only about the trail itself (if truth be told you don’t really need a trail guide – the route is obvious all the way through) but about issues like wilderness walking, altitude, bear precautions, permits, water and planning for what is a pretty major backpacking trip. Alan’s advice is well researched and I heartily commend this guide to anyone considering walking this phenomenal trail.'

(Cameron McNeish, John Muir Trust Journal)

'It’s fun to see our home turf assessed by newcomers. In this case, Mr Castle, member of the British Outdoor Writers’ Guild, a trekking guide and author of numerous other books on far-flung locales, takes on this famous 216 mile high-country route. He acquits himself honourably. Right off the bat, Castle judges it “the best hike in the world’ – primarily for extensive views of wilderness.  No argument there! The first 100 pages are a concise rendering of natural history, plus a trail overview and a panegyric on the arch druid Muir. That’s followed by 100 pages of concise trail directions (divided into 21 daily sections) illuminated by color photography and maps.
    Because Castle writes for an international audience, nothing is assumed; he provides all you need to figure out transportation, equipment and food caches. That makes this book particularly useful as a primer, or a resource for folks from outside California. It’s tidy size and plastic covers show it’s meant to be toted on this epic trek from Yosemite to Whitney.'

(Paul McHugh, San Francisco Chronicle)

The Californian High Sierra Mountains are truly stunning. With their mix of high mountains, often of bare scoured granite, alpine meadows and stunning forested valleys of amazing Sequoia trees (amongst the biggest and oldest living plants on earth), they can lay claim to be the 'prettiest' place to walk and climb in the world? John Muir was certainly taken by their beauty and championed their conservation, with large parts of the range now contained within national Parks (Sequoia and Kings Canyon) as well the Wilderness area that bears his name.

The route starts in the most famous of all the American National Parks, Yosemite, passes through the equally stunning Tuolumne Meadows and through all the rest of the wilderness areas to finish at Mount Whitney. A distance of 233 miles with 46,000ft of ascent, usually completed in 21 days. If you fancy loosing yourself in the Sierra Nevada, get this guide.

(Kevin Howett Scottish Mountaineer)

Alan Castle's John Muir Trail (Cicerone) did its job - indeed I met two separate American parties using it as they thought it better than anything home published.

(Comment by Cicerone author Ronald Turnbull after having returned from walking the trail.)