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By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com
One of the essential elements of PubClub.com is to combine exercising with socializing. After all, it’s way better at night when you’ve done something exhilarating during the day.
Like socializing, some exercising takes more commitment and effort than others. Take hiking, for example. There are short day hikes and there are longer adventures. If you’re someone who enjoys the latter, then this article is perfectly suited for you. That’s because it covers hiking the John Muir Trail, known as “America’s most famous trail.”
The John Muir Trail is a 211-mile trail in California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range of California. It covers 11 mountain passes, several of them more than 12,000 feet, and goes through Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. Talk about doing something exhilarating, this is it from an exercising standpoint.
Hiking it requires a little bit of skill and a lot of knowledge. It a rather challenging trail so it’s important to have some type of guide with you and a pair of books – the John Muir Trail book and the John Muir Trail Data Book – are those guides.
The sixth edition (Wilderness Press, August 2022) is out now and is written by Elizabeth “Lizzy” Wenk, who has hiked every inch of it. Her extensive knowledge is apparent throughout the book and that is what makes it such an essential guide to hiking this famous trail.
The main guide book has literally everything you need to know: the weather, water purification, stoves and campfires, food storage from bears, scenic points, even down to ranger pet peeves. Its 318 paperback pages have maps, mileage tables and photographs, as well as descriptions of the plants and animals along the trail. There are even guides to side trails.
It is organized from north to south, although of course you can go south to north or any parts of the trail in between those points.
@pubclub.com Exercise before socializing: John Muir hiking trail guide books. ##hiking##johnmuirtrail##hikingguide##pubclub##hikingbooks ♬ original sound – PubClub
The data book has campsites, maps, tables and mileage in a compact 180-page paperback.
I was fascinated by all the details and the way it’s written, I often felt as if Lizzy was talking directly to me in person. She even throws in some comic relief, which is quite unusual for a book of this nature.
Here are some excerpts from the main guide book:
About Mount Whitney, which I have passed dozens of times on Highway 395 on my way to go skiing in Mammoth: “From here you have under three miles to go and the walking is much easier, as the trail gets even sandier, a welcome change for your weary feet. Passing a few campsites in a lodgepole pine flat just north of the junction you pass Lone Pine Creek, a final time on a line of 10 raised logs. But as you race downward thinking about home, or maybe a hamburger, or perhaps wishing to turn around and hike back northbound, take time to look at the steep white-granite walls on either side of the canyon and the view down Lone Pine Creek.”
About the trail approaching Devil’s Postpile: “The JMT continues descending over loose pumice, passing a cluster of small campsites west of the trail and soon crossing Minaret Creek on a recently-replaced log bridge. This enticing pebble-bottomed creek is a wonderful place to cool your feet.”
About the Merced River on the Mariposa County Line: “A brief descent leads to a stout footbridge across the river (4.420′ – 0.7/0.7), which offers a superb view of Vernal Fall. Across the bridge are toilets and a drinking fountain that has spouts for both drinking and filling water bottles.”
See what I mean about details!? Wenk also makes sure you literally stop and smell the flowers, for the John Muir Tail is about the beauty as much as it is the adventure.
The John Muir Trail book is available in book stores and on Amazon for a MSRP of $25. The John Muir Trail Data Book is has an MSRP of $16.95.
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