The Plan

2016:

I will follow the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) northbound from Yosemite to the South Lake Tahoe area.  From there I will walk to the front door of my brother's family cabin 10 miles south of the Desolation Wilderness Area.  About 166 miles over 14 days.  This will be my first trip north of Yosemite so I spent lots of time looking at Topo Maps and Google Earth. Finally, I arrived at the PLAN shown below. The central part of this plan is to do a re-supply on Day 7 at Sonora Pass and to arrive at Echo Lake on Day 13.  Everything else this year will be flexible and more freestyle than my tactical approach to the JMT in 2013.

An exciting part of this trip will be walking for a dozen days on trails that are entirely new to me.

I will pick my campsites based on the trail as I discover it, not entirely as I planned it. Northern Yosemite is a circuit of canyons with lots of streams and creeks, while further north are beautiful lakes. My fishing pole is sure to dictate the pace and progress of each day.

For those of you that choose to follow my progress, you will notice the reference to PCT mile markers.  I will be hiking from PCT mile 942 to 1096.  This system of virtual mile markers is due in large part to the efforts of an individual who has created an entire PCT map set from Mexico to Canada in Half Mile increments.  Hence his trail name ; "Half Mile."  On the Find Me tab of this Blog you will find links to his Half Mile maps and also GPS half mile data that you can easily upload to the Google Earth program on your home computer.

(TECH TIP: View a larger version, Download, or Print this plan by placing your mouse over the top right corner until the grey pop out icon appears.)

.

*********************************************************************************

2013:

The plan for 2013 has a few new twists to the familiar theme.

First of all, I will use public transportation most of the way to start this trip.  I will take an Amtrak bus from Riverside to Bakersfield.  From there I ride the San Joaquin Amtrak train to Merced.

My brother Don will meet me at the train station in Merced and then drive us to Yosemite Valley via Hwy 140.  Don and I will spend the night in Curry Village and then start the hike together before sunrise on July 30th.  After a few hours, Don will return home and I will continue the hike solo.

Another new twist for me will be spending my first two nights in Yosemite's own unique High Sierra Camps.  More on that later in my Blog, but I will transit most of Yosemite though the back-country and not the congested JMT through Tuolumne Meadows.

The familiar theme is a steady southbound pace. Ten to twelve miles per day and maybe a zero mile day at Bench Lake if I get there a day early.

So, here's the plan:

 

.