John Muir Trail

After a day off to recover from our Half Dome hike, we were ready to tackle the longest hike of our US trip. The John Muir Trail (JMT) in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, is considered by many to be the premier long distance hike in North America. It runs about 218 miles from Yosemite Valley south to King's Canyon National Park and Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the continental US. Dogs aren't allowed on US National Park trails, so we planned to spend 11 days doing the section of the JMT that runs between Yosemite NP and King's Canyon National Park - about 100 miles including the access and exit trails. That was the plan.

Half Dome

I think it's fair to say that government agencies and departments generally like to play it safe. Liability is a dirty word, and "risk management" can often rule the day. After hiking - and surviving - Half Dome, I'm happy to say that Yosemite National Park is the exception to the rule. As Cyd and I stood at the bottom of the cables on Half Dome, I couldn't help but say, "I can't f***ing believe they let people do this!"

On to Yosemite

After seeing the redwoods on the coast, we headed east into the mountains of northern California. We'd had cooler weather with a few clouds on both the Oregon and California coasts, but that all changed as we moved inland. It was 37 Celsius by the time we'd driven an hour and for the next 10 days, we got a taste of what most Californians had been experiencing for about 3 years straight. Sunshine, hot temperatures, and the constant threat of forest fires.

Whitehorse to California

Camping has always meant canoe or backpacking trips for us - even car camping with our tent felt like a guilty luxury. We briefly considered just using the tent on the US part of our trip, but in the end decided that sleeping in a tent for  2 1/2 months on the road with the dogs wasn't a good option. Actually, I briefly considered tent camping, and Cyd quickly decided that wasn't an option.