JMT Start in Mid September? Lyell Canyon?

"I MIGHT be able to get permits for mid-September, starting around Sept. 6th-10th and planning a 17 day itinerary. Does anyone have experience with the temperature this late in the season? I am worried about getting caught in a freak early season snow storm."

Possible. It has happened before, but not likely. Always check with each ranger station along the way for a weather report. And be prepared to make a quick exit on the east side of the Sierra… or the west if you are on a section of trail where that is closer.

"Also, do any of you think the temperatures at night will consistently be in the teens or twenties?"

No. Unlikely.

I did the JMT many years ago starting on Sept 12 and finished early October. Days are getting short. Some nights get colder, but good, crisp hiking weather. And fewer people.
I had great weather… only one hour of rain. But there have been large freak storms dumping feet of snow somewhere around the 20th of Sept and into early October.

Billy

I had a JMT permit out of Lyell last year. Two days before my permit date, I dropped my car and my overnight gear at Tuolumne, hitched back to the Valley, slept in Curry, hiked back with a daypack and slept in the backpackers' campground the night before beginning the JMT. Pretty simple and 100% compliant with the permitting rules (you can't carry overnight gear without a wilderness permit).

After the trip, I took the ESTA/YARTS buses back to my car in Tuolumne.

If there were a freak storm that dumped a lot of snow and your car was in Tuolumne, it could be there for the winter :(

billy

Luckily I will be getting dropped off and won't have to risk my car being left there for the winter…

Did you find the day hike to be tough? 20 miles with the hike out of the valley sounds like a strenuous first day, albeit with only a daypack.

If your purpose in hiking the section between Yosemite and Tuolumne is just to say you completed it all… then why not make it easier by reversing it?… hike down to Yosemite Valley and take the bus back to Tuolumne. But check to see the bus is still running. Sometime in mid-Sept it stops running.

billy

Billy, good point. you are correct.

Yes, you could go in reverse and ease the difficulty.

I was up for going southbound all the way, so I went to the Valley and hiked back.

With a small pack the 5500'ish of climbing wasn't too bad.

Brian's notion of 'not too bad' puts him into the minority, I'd think: he must be in great shape! sure, that hike is doable, but may not be enjoyable, even with a day pack: it depends on your fitness for starters. I've always been struck by how that initial hike from the valley to Tuolumne can throw people off; even make some people quit the hike. Everyone wants to do it post haste, but it's really a big climb, especially if you're starting off the JMT and your pack is heavy and you're not in hiking mode yet. I would definitely do this portion as light as possible, with a pick-up at Tuolumne, but take two days for acclimation, etc.–for enjoyment! Otherwise, I'd just skip it and come back later to finish it off.

If you're going south,starting at Tuolumne makes so much sense to me, both psychologically and physically. It's a far more reasonable beginning than the valley. But I've done the valley-up hikes a million times, and I'm not a completist (must hike every inch of the jmt or it's not valid), so take this with that in mind.

You realize that most of the resorts and resupply points shut down in mid-September I hope.

On the southern part of the JMT I did have a four-day span In which the temperature at night dropped 30° below forecasted temperatures. That was at the end of August. Not the first time it's happened to me in the Sierra. Happily I have a solid 20° setup with adequate layers to augment it.

I thought that the resupply points shut down towards the end… Do you know which supply points close past Sept. 15th?

Thanks!

Muir Trail Ranch shows a date window of June 20th to September 19th (http://www.muirtrailranch.com/resupply.html) .
Red's Mdw shows May 23 to September 30, 2015, (http://www.redsmeadow.com/)
VVR usually closes ~mid Oct (http://www.edisonlake.com/hikers/resupply)

I'd call to verify …

And some years depending on weather, earlier. MTR is the last resupply point on the trail. Unless you spend a lot of money on a packer to meet you somewhere, and there's no guarantee they won't already be moving stock down the hill to winter pasture.

I am holding out hope the weather changes this winter back to what used to be normal. It would be nice to be snowed on in October as usual.

I did it in mid Sept in 2011 and had a great time. I resupplied at MTR the day before they closed for the season. Very few other people, no bugs and vacant camp sites. The days were noticeably shorter, I had four days of unseasonable all day rain at the beginning and there were a few cold nights, but only down to 30 f. There are enough passes along the way that it is easy to bail quickly if the weather turns. FWIW, I would do the day hike out of the valley and camp at the TM backpackers site the first day if I did it again. I camped at Cathedral Lake which was fine but it added a few miles. Have fun!

September is a great time to be on the JMT, but early season snowstorms are pretty common. I've been hit by snowstorms in Tuolumne and other parts of the Sierras on Labor day weekend enough times that I pretty much expect it now. Two years ago (2013) I drove up to TM in a surprise hailstorm that ended up dropping 6" of snow overnight – I'm pretty sure this was Labor day weekend. Typically the weather will clear after these early season storms and you may have a few more weeks of nice weather before winter really sets in and the road closes.

I have day hiked HI to TM and it is strenuous but totally doable if you are in good shape. I started my JMT trip this way in 2012 – actually took the shuttle down from TM and started hiking at about 4pm from HI which I would NOT recommend. It took me about 9 or 9.5 hours and I was pushing hard, and it got quite cold and dark (surprise, I know!). But if you start in the early AM you can finish before dark and it would not be too bad. Just watch the weather carefully and bring appropriate layers.

Personally, I would say doing the hike from HI to TM as a dayhike is easier and more fun than bringing a loaded backpack and doing it in 2-3 days, but it does require a lot more miles in one day so you need to be prepared for that. Going the other direction would be a LOT easier too, if you are concerned about your fitness level and not concerned about doing it all in the "correct" direction.

Another option would be to start at Reds Meadow and go south to Whitney, then come back to Reds and go north to TM/HI if the weather is still holding.

You can get dumped on at any time
Only difference is how long it sticks around
Last yr 1st week aug had good snowfall on south end. I think whitney got 2'

September is the best, even early to mid October. There is a often a first snow dusting in late September / early October that may only pin you down for a day. Everybody goes home, and you pretty much own the trail. It is the second snowstorm you want to avoid…

i just got 4 permits for the JMT departing Lyell on Sep 12.  Do we need camping permits for nights on the trail, of does the Yosemite permit allow us to camp without specific overnight permits – assuming while in Parks we camp in designated areas.  Thanks

Assuming you have a SOBO JMT permit with the Donahue Pass exit you can use that for the rest of your trip.

You mention camping in designated areas. There are no designated areas along the JMT as long as you stay out of a few restricted areas like the first four miles of Lyell Canyon, near the outlet of Thousand Island Lake, within view of Shadow Lake. There might be a couple others that I am not recalling or that have changed…

Charles, I suggest you check out the Yosemite Wilderness Regulations at https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/wildregs.htm and the SEKI Wilderness Trip Planner at https://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/upload/2016-Wilderness-Trip-Planner-Final-2.pdf .  They have lots of good info including the camping topic.

It’s normal for a snow storm to occur in September but I’ve never heard about winter actually arriving for good in September and closing the roads until spring. Typically in September the weather is not much different than August, just a little cooler. I’ve had pleasant weather trips at elevation into October and and even early November.

Thanks guys – yep, we have south bound permits – I like the idea of going north from Lyell first two days, then take bus back to Lyell and head south.  Was just curious re camping sites since its been 4-5 yrs since we have backpacked in a Nat park – last was Teton Crest Trail and there are designated camping areas (large areas) there.  We typically backpack in late Sep/early Oct and are accustomed to early snow storms – kind of fun for us flatlanders (Mississippi).  Last few trips have been in the Winds – incredible hikes there.

And we are 4 old guys – all 62-69 – been doing trips together for over 20 yrs!  Three of us walked the Camino fall of 2015 – highly recommend that trip.

Charles, I think you should call the ranger station and ask them about your plan. I’m 86% sure that plan is considered “backtracking” which can get you booted off the trail.

In case you haven’t seen this yet, the JMT Yahoo group is a great place for the latest info on the JMT, along with printable cheat sheets and many other resources:

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/johnmuirtrail/info