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John Muir TrailTrail guide
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Guide

The guide

Everything that has to be decided before you start walking, written out properly. The sections run in the order the decisions do — permits set your dates, dates set your snow and weather, and those two together set your resupply plan.

Before you go

Whether you are walking this trail this year, and roughly when.

  1. 01
    Conditions

    When to hike the JMT — season, snow and weather

    Snowpack opens the passes and the first autumn storm closes them. Why most JMT hikes happen between mid-July and mid-September, and how each month behaves.

    5 min read

Permits and rules

What you must hold to walk legally, and what holding it obliges you to do.

  1. 02
    Planning

    How John Muir Trail permits actually work

    The JMT is quota-controlled at both ends. Here is how Yosemite starts, Donohue eligibility, Inyo entries and Trail Crest exits fit together.

    9 min read
  2. 03
    Planning

    Which JMT permit lottery should you enter?

    Apply for Lyell Canyon, not Happy Isles. Yosemite's own lottery statistics show twice the spaces for half the demand — plus the two other levers that actually move your odds.

    8 min read

Route choices

Where the named trail diverges, what each variation changes, and which route fits your priorities.

  1. 04
    Route choices

    JMT or PCT / High Trail near Mammoth?

    Compare the canonical John Muir Trail with the PCT / High Trail variation near Mammoth—distance, climbing, scenery, water, camping and permits.

    7 min read

Resupply and food

Where food comes from between trailheads, and what it costs in days and detours.

  1. 05
    Logistics

    JMT resupply basics

    Four realistic resupply points across 211 miles, what each one takes to arrange, and how they shape your pack weight and your bear canister choice.

    5 min read

When things go wrong

What to do when the plan breaks — before you leave, or at the water’s edge.

  1. 06
    When things go wrong

    You didn't get a JMT permit. Now what?

    Losing the lottery is not losing the trail. Five routes back to a John Muir Trail hike this year, in the order that costs you least, with the deadline for each.

    6 min read

Getting there

Trailhead transport, parking, and the bail-out points on each stretch.

  1. 07
    Logistics

    Getting to and from the JMT

    Drive and public transit from four airports to the trailheads and home again, the one-way car problem, and where the buses force a night on the way.

    2 min read