The John Muir Trail: Through the Californian Sierra Nevada (Cicerone Guide) (Vinyl Bound)

by Alan Castle (Author)
Key Phrases: red cones, cumulative ascent, bear barrels, Mount Whitney, Yosemite Valley, Lone Pine (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The John Muir Trail (JMT) is one of the world's most spectacular treks and is North America's best known mid-distance walking trail. It runs for 216 miles through the high Sierra Nevada mountains of California, from Yosemite Valley to the summit of Mount Whitney (14, 496ft), the highest peak in the USA outside Alaska. The walking trail, which is named after the great 19th-century Scottish naturalist, conservationist and writer John Muir, is entirely through the unspoilt wilderness of the American West and passes through three national parks: Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. To walk the John Muir Trail successfully thorough planning is required. All you need to know to plan and prepare for your trip is contained within these pages, from obtaining trekking permits to buying trek food and forwarding food caches along the trail. Abundant advice is given on such topics as dealing with inquisitive bears, coping with altitude, negotiating river crossings, as well as tips on booking transport to and from the trailheads and on what equipment to take. In addition there is a detailed description of the flora and fauna of this remarkable region.

About the Author
Alan has trekked in over twenty-five countries within Europe, Asia, North and South America, Africa and Australasia, and for seventeen years led organised walking holidays in several European countries. A member of the British Outdoor Writers' Guild, he has written more than a dozen walking guidebooks, several on long distance mountain routes in France. His longest solo walks include a Grand Traverse of the European Alps between Nice and Vienna (1510 miles), the Pilgrim's Trail from Le Puy to Santiago de Compostela (960 miles) and a Coast-to-Coast across the French Pyrenees (540 miles). A Munroist and erstwhile National Secretary and Long Distance Path Information Officer of the Long Distance Walkers Association, Alan now lives at the foot of the Moffat Hills in Scotland, in the heart of the Southern Uplands. Alan's first encounter with the Southern Upland Way was in 1995, when he backpacked the full length of the trail. A decade later he repeated the complete trail a second time, this time mainly using bed and breakfast and hotel accommodation, in order to research this guidebook. He has travelled extensively on foot in most areas of the Southern Uplands, having climbed all of the Donalds and most of the other hills above 500m in height, and traversed them from south to north in 2003 as part of his walk between Land's End and John o'Groats.

Product Details

• Vinyl Bound: 219 pages
• Publisher: Cicerone Press (June 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852843969
• ISBN-13: 978-1852843960
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #254,393 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for planning a JMT trip, February 6, 2006

By	L. Brodhead "hiker girl" (Hancock, MD) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I purchased this book last summer as part of a planning effort for hiking the trail in September. Even though I was quite familiar with the Sierra, I had no idea on how to plan the trip out as far as legs and campsites. I found this book to be invaluable as far as proposing a reasonable itinerary and giving the person a good idea of what to expect on each leg and where to find campsites. Castle first gives an overview of what should be done before the trip, and then breaks it out into a very doable 21-day itinerary (with 2 layover days) that range from 10-15 miles per day. He gives you a quick-hit overview of elevation gains and mileage and then a more detailed description of the day's hike. Also, he does a good job of planning the days so that you start with a climb and end with a descent. The one unfortunate is that the book is a bit heavy, though compact in size to actually carry with you -- the person I hiked with did carry it though and we enjoyed reading it along the trail as well as at night. I suppose one might xerox the pages you found necessary. By the way, I also had the Winnett book and found that far less helpful, and less organized as far as actually planning the trip. This is an awesome trip, and I strongly recommend both the book as well as doing the JMT -- it is a life-changing experience!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars good for planning a 3 week hike, but...., August 23, 2007

By	D. Besselsen (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Just finished the JMT. The book was useful for planning my trek since the book is organized into a 22 day hike and I planned our hike for 20 days, so I would recommend it for that purpose. Having it on the hike itself wasn't very rewarding. The distance and altitude change intervals were somewhat useful, although the numbers don't necessarily mesh with the Harrison topo maps. What was disappointing was the lack of detail about campsite locations. The author basically indicates where they camped, but provides little information about where other campsites are located or their quality. Not a problem if you follow his itinerary, but if you're like us (and most of the other JMT hikers) it doesn't help when it's late in the day and you're trying to figure out how much further you need to go to get to a decent campsite. I basically stopped referring to the book after the first week and relied on the other guide I had which had much more detailed information on the trail and camping. I would have burned the Cicerone guide except we couldn't have fires most of the way and one of my friends wanted to carry it for reading material. The maps it contains were fairly worthless, so you'll definitely want topos. The author also comes across a bit snobbish at times, which certainly allowed my friends and I to poke fun at him and added to our entertainment. Logistical informtation on getting to the trailhead and dropping a vehicle at the end of the trail is also incomplete. YARTS only serves Merced to Mammoth, so getting from Whitney Portal to Mammoth requires a hitch, getting a local to shuttle you, or paying high dollars for a commercial shuttle. Bottom line is this is a decent book for planning a 3 week trek on the JMT, but it's not worth the weight to carry it. The Winsett guide was much more valuable on the trail, although it also has it's flaws.