JMT Planning 4 – The itinerary – NOBO from Cottonwood Pass

Once I had my permit and knew what direction, Northbound (Nobo), I was going it was time to really figure out the plan for itinerary which would help me figure out my resupply. This has changed a bit over the course of a few weeks and I am sure it will shift as I hike. I am not set in stone and know to go with it for the most part. Going north seems to be a little more difficult due to resupply and adjusting to altitude. Some of my plan changed after doing Mt. Langley and White Mountain. I didn’t think I needed as much time to adjust after doing those two 14ers as I did prior to them. So this is my rough plan. I am still debating some of the camp locations and may shift some days to be shorter or longer if I need. I know my first half is going to be more difficult than my last half with miles, elevation, and passes with a heavy pack and I hope my training has paid off. I will provide an update on what my actual trip itinerary was once I get back! Also please note the miles maybe off!

Planned:

Day	Location	Miles	Pass/Summit or Notes
0	Cottonwood Pass Campground	0
1	Cottonwood Pass Trail to Rock Creek	15	Cottonwood Pass
2	Rock Creek to Crabtree or Guitar Lake	7 or 12	Guyot Pass
3	Crabtree or Guitar Lake Summit Whitney and back	16 or 11	Mt. Whitney
4	Crabtree or Guitar Lake to Tyndall Creek	16.8 or 12.6
5	Tyndall creek to Charlotte Lake Trail	10.6	Forester Pass
6	Charlotte Lake Trail to White Fork	12	Glen Pass
7	White Fork to Upper Basin	11.9	Pinchot Pass
8	Upper Basin to Lower Palisade Lake	8.2	Mather Pass
9	Lower Palisade Lake to LeConte Canyon	14.9
10	LeConte Canyon to McClure Meadow	15.1	Muir Pass
11	McClure Meadow to Muir Trail Ranch to Sallie Keyes Lake	16	RESUPPLY
12	Sallie Keyes Lake to Little Italy or Bear Ridge	12.1 or 9.6	Selden pass
13	Little Italy or Bear Ridge to Lake Edison Trail/VVR	11.5
14	Vermilion Valley Resort (VVR)	0	Zero Day! Shower time
15	VVR to Lake Virginia	12.6	Silver Pass
16	Lake Virginia to Red's Meadow	16	Mammoth/Resupply with a friend
17	Red's Meadow to Rosalie Lake	8.4
18	Rosalie Lake to Thousand Island Lake	6.7
19	Thousand Island to Lyell Fork Base Camp	11.3	Donahue Pass
20	Lyell to Cathedral Creek	13.2	Cathedral Pass – Possible resupply at TM
21	Cathedral Creak to Clouds Rest Trail	12.6	Possibly Clouds Rest
22	Clouds Rest to Little Yosemite Camp	7	Clouds Rest or Half Dome
23	Little Yosemite Camp to Village	4	Half Dome if not day before

As you can tell my animals are very helpful!

Actual:

Day	Location	Miles	Pass/Summit or Notes
0	Cottonwood Pass Campground	0	This was a good idea!
1	Cottonwood Pass Trail to Rock Creek	15.2	Cottonwood Pass
2	Rock Creek to Crabtree Meadows	7.1	Guyot Pass
3	Crabtree to Whitney and back	15.7	Mt. Whitney
4	Crabtree to Tyndall Creek	9.7
5	Tyndall creek to Bubbs Creek	12.9	Forester Pass
6	Bubbs Creek to Suspension bridge	14.4	Glen Pass
7	Suspension Bridge to Upper Basin	15	Pinchot Pass
8	Upper Basin to Palisade Creek	13.5	Mather Pass
9	Palisade Creek Inlet to Helen Lake	12.7
10	Helen Lake to San Joaquine River Steel Bridge	16.6	Muir Pass
11	San Joaquine River Steel Bridge to Muir Trail Ranch to Bear Creek	11	RESUPPLY
12	Bear Creek or VVR	13.4	Selden pass
13	Vermilion Valley Resort (VVR)	0	Zero Day! Shower time
14	Vermilion Valley Resort (VVR) to Purple Lake	14	Silver Pass
15	Purple Lake to Red's Meadow/Mammoth	15	Mammoth/Resupply with a friend  Stayed in a hotel! BATH!!!
16	Mammoth/Red's Meadow to Rosalie Lake	7.4	Saw Devil's Post pile!
17	Rosalie Lake to Thousand Island Lake	8.1
18	Thousand Island Lake to Tuolumne Backpackers Camp	21.3	Donahue Pass
19	Tuolumne Backpackers Camp	0	Zero day
20	Tuolumne Backpackers Camp to Sunrise Lakes	20	Cathedral Pass
21	Sunrise Lakes to Clouds Rest /JMT Junction Trail	13.6	Clouds Rest & Half Dome
22	Clouds Rest/JMT Junction Trail to Curry Village/Half Dome Village	9

I finished a day earlier than planned.  Click on the day number for more details on that day!!


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