Margot Lacey did a presentation on November 17, 2021 about her backpacking trip this past summer on the John Muir Trail. As she states: “This past summer, I was one of the fortunate 5% of lottery applicants to receive a permit for the John Muir Trail. Over twenty days, I hiked from one beautiful high alpine lake to the next, climbed innumerable switchbacks to get over the trail’s seven mountain passes, and tried mightily to will away some of the occasional smoky haze, as I made my way south from Yosemite Valley to the summit of Mount Whitney.
Early in the hike, I befriended three ‘youngsters’ forty years my junior, and we became a little ‘tramily’, camping and often hiking together. It was nice to have familiar faces waiting for me at the top of some hard climbs! I had previously hiked Vermont’s Long Trail, but the JMT was a completely different adventure. Without easy access to towns, it is a more committed hike, with limited resupply options, as well as high altitude and intense sun (but very little mud!). Along with pictures, I’ll talk a bit about the kind of mental/physical/logistical preparation that was involved, the equipment I used, and the different mapping resources that were most useful. Truly an amazing hike!”
View the recording from this past meeting below:
