On Mar 27, 2022, at 2:52 PM, shubillpete@... wrote:

Hello Yosemite Experts,?

I am just wondering if it is possible to use a Happy Isles to Illilouette Wilderness Permit to access Tuolumne Meadows??

Potential route would be:?

Day 1 - Happy Isles to Panorama Trail Junction to the first permissible campsite on the trail that hugs the west side of Mt Starr King (the Yosemite TH map shows that this route is permissible for the Happy Isles - Illilouette permit)?

Day 2 - Backtrack the Mt Starr King trail to JMT, then proceed up to Cathedral Lakes.?

Day 3 - Cathedral Lakes to TM, and pick up my next permit at TM.?

I have a Lyell Canyon (Donoghue Pass Eligible) JMT permit, so this would basically be a work around for covering the HI to TM leg.?

Someone on another forum suggested that I might be potentially be in violation of my HI to Illilouette permit if I backtracked to the JMT after the first night.?

My understanding was that as long as you enter the correct TH and sleep in the correct first night location, the rest of the trip is fair game on any route (with the exception of "special conditions" routes, such as the Donohue Pass quota system for JMT permits).?

I would be grateful for any insight!

On Mar 26, 2022, at 11:44 AM, Andrew Paisley <andrew.paisley866@...> wrote:

?

The TOPOs seem to last longer than the Altras. My toe kept popping through after 200 miles on the Altras and the TOPOs go much longer before wearing out.?

On Sat, Mar 26, 2022 at 1:48 PM Ryan <ryanwilsonjames@...> wrote:

+1 on the switch from Altra -> Topo. I'm on my second pair of Topos now and I'm never looking back. I was a huge Altra fan but I feel like their quality has gone down, and more importantly I think they make too much of zero drop — the toe box is the secret sauce, while zero drop doesn't work for a lot of people. (Note that Topo does offer some zero drop shoes, but they're the minority of their total line.) Switching to Topo let me keep hiking in running shoes while not making my achilles unhappy.

My first Topos were the MTN Racer, which were great (aside from the red+orange color scheme). Now I'm using the?Ultraventure Pro and they're also great. Not noticeably more stiff than the MTN Racer (what I was going for), but both are much, much more supportive than any Altras I ever used.

On 26 Mar 2022, at 4:02 am, Richard Zoraster via groups.io <rzoraster@...> wrote:

?I have this pack, and for some reason it did not work well for me. ?Even with the waist belt tight, the shoulder straps were uncomfortable. I think maybe it put the center of gravity a bit back of where it is comfortable. ?Or maybe my posture sucks.

It is is pristine shape, a few scuff, but only used for 4 nights.
$200 shipped
Large belt (34 inch waist)

Richard

On Mar 26, 2022, at 10:16 AM, Mike Swift <ticsinthecity@...> wrote:

?

I just discovered this forum as I'm trying to learn about the JMT as a native born Californian/transplant who returned to the state of his birth after learning the "rules" of summer and winter backpacking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and elsewhere on the AT - things are a lot different in the Sierras and there's a lot to learn! It's such a great conversation?on this board - thanks John for the great moderation!

On Fri, Mar 25, 2022 at 9:19 AM Mike Sherman <msherman55@...> wrote:

John --

Your work has defined "good moderation." Thanks for all you have done for this forum, which I have found extraordinarily valuable for my first JMT hikes.

Mike Sherman

On 03/23/2022 8:30 AM John Ladd <johnladd@...> wrote:

This was my first social network group for any purpose, probably first in 2008 or so. It is still my favorite.

Because of the larger size of the Facebook groups I have needed to be very active on them in order to recruit for the survey. I love to stop them because the Facebook algorithms lead me to waste and inordinate amount of time. I'm looking forward to the time when I can give up my admin duties there.

What I like about this group is that the email format leads people to give longer and more thoughtful replies. Rather than just state an opinion, people give the reasons for their opinion and often some indication of their level of experience generally, or with respect to The Sierra Nevada range.

It also avoids the annoying socializing, and all the repetitive pictures of the same beautiful place. At least not anywhere near as often as on the Facebook groups. People here also seem to feel less compulsion to brag about their accomplishments or to downplay their mistakes.

The group is almost unfailingly polite. When I first got on the group there was a lot of misogyny and ridiculing of people who had not adopted the same ultralight gear that is favored by hikers who have to cover 25 mi a day in order to reach the end of their hike before the end of the hiking year.

There seems to be less encouragement of people who seem to be making decisions that put themselves, their hiking companions and search and rescue people at risk.

I see no reason for anyone to be a member of both this group and the Facebook group, with one exception. If you want to find a hiking companion or someone who might share transportation you are better off seeking that on the Facebook groups.

Among the Facebook groups the one I'd most recommend, for our women members, would be the ladies of the JMT, although I think they sometimes try to encourage people to do things that are pretty clearly beyond their current capabilities.

My least favorite are the various yearly class of JMT groups. I do not understand why someone would join a group that has very few long time experienced JMT hikers and mostly consists of persons who are attempting the JMT for the first time or who are particularly fond of the social aspects of Facebook groups.

Among the Facebook groups I prefer the long-standing all year JMT group. It is well moderated and the admins do decline some posts where they are clearly repetitive, seem to be self-promotional or where we can easily give someone a definitive action by declining a proposed post while giving a reason to them why we are doing so.

Well none of the groups come including this one, particularly good about using the search function before asking a question that has already been well covered before, there is less of it on this group than on the Facebook groups.

I also find JMT videos on YouTube pretty much useless. They're often put up by first time JMT hikers and stress how accomplished they were and how beautiful they conditions were, without realizing that they may have just been lucky to avoid bad weather or a nasty fall due to lack of preparation or poor equipment choices, etc.

I particularly like the fact that the average experience level of people who post or reply to posts seems to be much higher than on any of the Facebook groups and certainly higher than your typical YouTube presenter.

I don't know Twitter or Reddit at all so I can't comment on them, nor on Instagram, though I really doubt that they are any better and seem likely to be even worse than the Facebook groups.

I'm trying to learn how to voice dictate using better enunciation. However, I do often have the voice equivalents of typos, occasionally really embarrassing ones.

So thanks everyone.

--
John Curran Ladd
415-648-9279