Introduction The John Muir Trail (or, more simply, the JMT) is one of the world''s premier long-distance hiking trails. A little more than 220 miles in length, it traverses the spine of California''s Sierra Nevada, passing through superb mountain scenery. This is a land of 13,000- and 14,000-foot peaks, of soaring granite cliffs, of lakes by the thousands, and of canyons 5,000 feet deep. The trail passes near roads only in Tuolumne Meadows and Devils Postpile, otherwise winding through remote mountain landscape. Part of the beauty of this long-distance walk is that the landscape continually changes as you travel from Happy Isles (in eastern Yosemite Valley) to Whitney Portal (west of the town of Lone Pine, in the Owens Valley). Each day you will find new wonders to captivate your attention--rounded domes in Tuolumne Meadows, volcanic features near Devils Postpile, magical hemlock forests near Silver Pass, dashing cascades along Bear Creek, the glacial landscape of Evolution Basin, the near-vertical peaks of the Palisades, carpets of alpine flowers around Pinchot Pass, spectacular lake basins such as the Rae Lakes, scattered foxtail pines on Bighorn Plateau, and of course the views from the summit of Mt. Whitney, California''s tallest peak. The Sierra is an especially lovely area for a multi-week hike, for it is blessed with the mildest, sunniest climate of any major mountain range in the world.

Though rain does fall in the summer, it seldom lasts more than an hour or two, and the sun is out and shining most hours of the day. Most likely the greatest challenge you will face is the logistics of resupplying food because the southern 160 miles do not pass a road, and for the final 110 miles you do not even pass close to a food resupply "depot." You are, of course, not the only person to have heard of these attractions and will encounter people daily, but the trail really is a thin line through a vast land; with little effort you can always camp on your own if you leave the trail. Using This Book This book is an abbreviated version of John Muir Trail: The Essential Guide to Hiking America''s Most Famous Trail, also published by Wilderness Press. This title includes only the data sections of its parent book, including tables with junction locations and distances between junctions, a table of campsite locations, topographic maps, and some basic information to help you plan your trip. If you are seeking a trail description, natural history of the region, possible side trips along the trail, or information on how to hike in the Sierra, I recommend that you purchase the thicker volume; if it proves to be too heavy for the trail, you can keep it for your library and carry a copy of this book. The goal of this guide is to provide you with the data you need to design your own trip, in advance or as you walk. Some people hike only 7 miles a day while others happily cover more than 20.

Some hikers complete the entire trail in one go, while others hike a section at a time. This book should cater to everyone, for it provides information on distances along the trail, established camping locations, stretches of trail with steep ascents and descents, and lateral trails that access the JMT. From there, you design the itinerary that best suits you. The introductory material provides information on three essential topics: how to obtain a wilderness permit, how to get yourself to and from the two endpoints using either public transportation or a private shuttle, and how to arrange food resupplies along the trail. All the phone numbers and Web addresses required for your planning are supplied. Also provided are maps of Yosemite Valley, Tuolumne Meadows, and Lone Pine to orient you at trailheads. Next are 17 topographic maps, onto which trail junctions and campsites (listed beginning on page 88) have been plotted. The topographic maps are followed by the trail data.

Mimicking the organization of the larger JMT book, the trail information is split into 13 sections, one for each of the river drainages through which the JMT passes. Each section includes a detailed elevation profile of the trail and a table listing major waypoints, including most trail junctions. Each entry includes the elevation, UTM coordinates, distance from the previous point, and cumulative distance from the JMT endpoints, here given as Happy Isles and Whitney Portal.