Glasgow Glenmore Club    

 

The John Muir Trail - 3rd November 2005

This trip had been planned and done by Garrey, Rosi and Tim earlier this year and tonight they came to the Club to share their big adventure with us.

The John Muir Trail is a 230mile backpack which runs from Yosemite Valley to Mt Whitney in California through some of USA’s finest mountain country and taking in 3 national parks along the way.

I had heard some of the story before tonight and I came along expecting to hear tales of days in thick forest and mosquitoes with G&R feeling miserable and Tim hugging trees - I don’t know what everybody else was expecting but in the event the hall was packed and it was standing room only.
We were not disappointed - Tim led off, introducing us to the trail and John Muir the man and his life, then took us through Yosemite with all its stunning scenery.

The trio climbed Half-Dome (I’m always jealous when I see these slides - I’ll have to do it some day!)

Garrey and Rosi led us through the wilderness section of the route after their final food restock. This section was to take up to 12 days but our team planned to do it in 10 as they felt they couldn’t carry any more food or even fit any more into the bear barrels they were obliged to keep their food in.
We were treated to magnificent wilderness views of mountains, lakes and the ancient forest they travelled through - tales of bears, rattlesnakes, rigours of the domestics (even tales about underwear I’m not allowed to print).

The trip culminated on the summit of Mt. Whitney amidst fantastic mountain scenery before the final 6000ft descent to the finish.
The presentation was done on "PowerPoint" with all the slides annotated with details or titles - a lot of work had been put into this obviously and that work was also reflected in the smooth, relaxed presentation by the team. The daily ascents and re-ascents were impressive and being USA of course were all in feet - OK for that but when it came to the altitudes of the passes etc. I was a bit stumped as I’ve now conditioned myself to think in metres.

A good show – well done team!

John McP

 
   
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