A Walk in the Wilderness: Day 0- Planning, Packing, and Permits

Monday, June 16

Twenty day’s worth of food for three people is a lot of food. In an effort to avoid food burnout and the high price of freeze dried meals, I have been putting together bags of dried meals for all of my meals as well as the breakfasts and suppers for two other people.

Last Friday, Waylen and I hiked a bunch of food into Muir Trail Ranch. They offered to store our food until we are ready to pick it up halfway through our hike.We had a four hour drive from home to Lake Florence before starting the nine mile hike around the lake the lake and back to the ranch. It wasn't a steep hike, but by the end of the day, we had hiked over twenty miles. When we arrived at the ranch, the employees were quite surprised to see us even though I had emailed the ranch a couple days earlier. They were still in the early stages of setting up the ranch for another season, but they were able to direct us to some intact five gallon buckets which we filled to the brim with hiker food. Once the buckets were labeled with our names and expected pick up date, we stashed them in the resupply store along with dozens of other buckets to be picked up by fellow JMT hikers.

Shortly before reaching the ranch, we had run into an old mountain man who goes by Mr. Ross. Because he "was really smart when he was young and chose really good parents," he had inherited a forty acre section in the middle of the John Muir Wilderness. After graduating from high school in 1965, he had spent a season as a forest ranger along the John Muir Trail. He talked for at least thirty minutes, but his main message was "let the people into the wilderness, and let them enjoy it." In his mind, goals like "leave the wilderness the way it was in 1491" have no place on the forest service's agenda. When he heard that we were planning to hike the JMT, he said, "Good. Tell everyone about what you see on your hike, and invite them to come see it."

This morning, Bryson, Shane, and I made a trip to Yosemite to drop off some food at Tuolumne Meadows and pick up our wilderness permits. Having never been in California before, Bryson was interested in seeing as much of Yosemite as he could. A "peak-hours reservation" is required to enter Yosemite between 6:00 AM and 2:00 PM, but we were quickly allowed to enter when the ranger looked up proof of our wilderness permit. At the Tuolumne Wilderness, the ranger who gave us our permits laid all the important Leave No Trace principals: food and scented items must be kept in a bear canister, camp at least one hundred feet from water sources, do not use soap in lakes or streams, bury all human waste at least six inches deep one hundred feet from water sources, pack out all your toilet paper, camp only in previously impacted areas, etc. We dutifully agreed with all his requests. Outside the ranger station, we found a long row of bear resistant boxes where we stashed a supply of food in hopes of finding it undisturbed on the third day of our hike. This reduced the amount of weight we had to carry out of Yosemite Valley by about six pounds.

We then drove out the eastern side of Yosemite to have lunch in Lee Vining. After lunch, we took Bryson to Glacier Point and Mariposa Grove to see some of the giant sequoias. By the end of the day, we had driven to just about every part of Yosemite National Park besides Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite Valley.