A lighter climb day vs. completing the hardest pass day
| Day | Miles | Point A to Point B | Elevation Gain | Elevation Loss |
| June 8 | 10.54 miles | Just below Guitar Lake to Tyndall Creek | 1,706 feet | 1,909 feet |
| June 9 | 13.37 miles | Tyndall Creek to Vidette Meadow | 2,283 feet | 3,547 feet |
Read more of my blabberings on the John Muir Trail here.
YouTube Vlog
Before I get into my blabbering’s of the trail; check out my vlog of day 3 & 4.
Day 3
Date: June 8, 2021
Just below Guitar Lake to Tyndall Creek
10.54 miles | Elevation Gain: 1,706 feet | Elevation Loss: 1,909 feet
Day 3 Ramblings
Day 3 I woke up with barely a voice; this always happens in the backcountry especially when we are so tired, but we did have a pretty long day the day before summiting Mt. Whitney and all. We ended up staying below Guitar Lake for the night as it was more enclosed and we wouldn’t have to worry about the wind. This day was one of our easier days in elevation gain being the same up as down.
Highlights for the day
Bighorn Plateau: reaching this point was pretty cool because we could see Whitney from the other side and it’s this wide open space with 360 degree view of the mountains surrounding us.
Wallace Creek: dipping our feet into the small creek and taking a break for lunch.
Reaching Tyndall Creek: Although a little crowded; reaching the site and crossing Tyndall Creek was amazing. When we reached the site, we set up camp right away and headed to fill up water for the night and dinner and do the camp clean thing and rinse off quickly in the creek.
Marmots we’re definitely used to people as they were just coming up to us 5 feet away easily.
Day 4
Date: June 9, 2021
Tyndall Creek to Vidette Meadow
13.37 miles | Elevation Gain: 2,283 feet | Elevation Loss: 3,547 feet
Day 4 Ramblings
To be honest, I was more nervous about this day than I was doing Mt. Whitney. Forester Pass is the hardest pass on the entire trail. I get tired just thinking about the elevation gain and loss on this day. It was a very cold windy day and definitely wore me out and couldn’t wait to get into an enclosed area with trees to get out of the wind and relax a little. The trail up to Forester was unique and very steep; I can’t explain it as good as the pictures do, but the pictures don’t do it justice. It was such a cool pass! Once we passed over Forester, my initial thought was, wow I’m glad I didn’t have to come up this way; the trail seemed much tougher to climb from the North.
Highlights for the day
Forester Pass: Obviously climbing the hardest pass of the trail felt amazing once we had finished, but we had a lot of work to go on the downhill.
Nap by the creek: One of the best quick naps I took was along the creek after the crazy long downhill stretch.
Deer: running into a small herd of deer on our way close to camp.
Passing by many campsites: I thought it was very interesting on this part of the trail there were so many campsites lined up along Bubbs Creek. I kept saying, let’s stop here, let’s stop here, let’s stop here. We decided to get all the way to the junction to where we would hit Kearsarge Pass junction the next day as than we had an early climb up to Glen Pass.
I hope you guys enjoyed my blabbering’s, tune back for the next few days as I finally gather my thoughts and such for this trip.
Happy Adventures!
Annette