I Wish I Were Still on the JMT

I am back. I was hoping to stay a few days longer and scout some trails near Mt Whitney but real life forced me to go back home sooner. Oh, well...

According to my GPS, with all my intentional and unintentional :) side trips, I hiked 251 miles. Somehow it did not seem that long. Actually, it seemed way too short for me because I loved every step of that journey and I would LOVE to do it again.

So are you ready for day by day report? Mercifully I will spare you. I am thinking of writing a few posts about my trip but since I need to get ready for to go to Poland for my brother in law services next week, those might be slow in coming.

First, general impressions:

I did the second part of JMT solo. My teen, once at home, lost his momentum, and decided not to continue. I was fine with that and secretly, even though I love my kid (I write this because I know he will be reading this post), I was eager to tackle the harder part of the trek on my own. I have done enough solo hikes and backpacking trips to know I would not be afraid but I did wonder if I would get lonely after a couple of days without any companion. I did not. There are other people on the trail, and even without them, I felt fine being with my thoughts and the amazing beauty around me. People who have done that trail before were telling me it was going to be getting more and more beautiful. I did not think it possible but every day the views were becoming more and more stunning. Also, it felt to me, I was getting stronger every day but maybe it was only my backpack becoming ligher as I was eating up my supplies. I felt I could go on forever and ever. At no point did I ever feel I wanted to leave the trail, that it was getting too tough or that I even missed any of the civilization's conveniences. 

Unfortunately the only other solo woman hiker I saw was a tiny Japanese girl and she was doing great with her very limited English and her big, really big backpack. There were plenty of men hiking solo but no women. C'mon ladies, we can do it too! Interestingly enough no man was surprised to see me by myself but all but one woman expressed doubts they could ever managed alone.

There were not that many kids on the trail either. Now that truly upsets me. I think backpacking should be a school requirement. Period.

Doing the second part without my teen was a great experience for me. The biggest problem I had in the first part the was navigation. Normally the trail is very well marked, but this year with snow covering big parts of it there were places where finding which way to go was quite challenging. I was relying on my son for the map and GPS reading since I stepped on my glasses in Yosemite Valley (smart, wasn't it?) and could not read well. For the second half of the trip I had two pairs of glasses with me (see, I can learn from my mistakes) and was quite surprised to find that I had very little trouble navigating even when my GPS topo maps vanished only to miraculously reappear after four days. That sense of total self reliance made me feel quite good about myself. I still need to work on my navigation skills though. 

Trail safety was something many women (never men though) asked me about. 

People: 

My personality is such that I feel a lot safer outdoors than in the city. My mind makes me believe that there are more creeps in urban areas than on trails. Actually I have never met as many wonderful people as on JMT. Again, I have backpacked quite a bit in the past meeting all kinds of people but there is something about those who venture deeper into the backcountry, or maybe it is the backcountry that does something to them, that makes them nicer and friendlier. Without an exception, all the people I met were great and I would not hesitate for a moment to invite any of them into my house. I will have a post just about the trail people because meeting them was certainly one of the highlights of the trip. 

Bears,

not that I have met many, are really not an issue in less frequented by humans parts of the Sierras, especially since the bear can requirement. The only ones I saw were in Yosemite Valley busy figuring out how to open garbage dumpsters. One PCT hiker told me that a bear smelled her backpack she kept her feet on when she was asleep, but moved away as soon as she stirred. I am pretty sure I had a bear visitor one night at my campsite but since I kept all smelly stuff in a bear can, this poor, and I am sure famished creature had to move on and look for something healthier to eat than my food. Next night I slept with my camera in the sleeping bag but no bears showed up. 

Injuries:

Another frequent question was 'what if I got injured'. My only major concern was not to get injured off the trail. On the trail there are enough hikers to call for help should I be unable to do so myself. Off the trail chances somebody would find me were small so I made sure not to stray off too much (see above about my navigation skills). Hey, I even managed to avoid blisters by changing socks as soon as I felt my feet were getting too sweaty.

Boredom. What is that? So, OK, this was by far the longest backpacking trip of my life. I did not know how I would feel after a few days on the trail by myself so had my iphone with me (you did not think I could ever leave my preciousss at home, did you?) loaded with new and very good music and books to read. I did not need any of that. On the trail, the views, the sounds, and the smells occupied my senses, and at camp I just wrote in my journal and tried to commit to my memory all I had experienced during the day.

Did I mention I loved this trek? :) 

More trail musings to come...