Loading…
8
Can we talk about how the JMT gets 20 times the traffic of the Sierra High Route
I was poking around the NPS backcountry permit stats for 2024 and something jumped out at me. Yosemite alone handed out over 25,000 wilderness permits for the John Muir Trail corridor, and the Sierra High Route sees maybe a few hundred thru hikers a season. Everyone keeps saying the SHR is some secret gem, but here is the thing, it is not better, it is just different, and people act like the JMT is ruined because of crowds. I did the JMT in 2022 and honestly the busiest camps were still quieter than a Saturday at REI. Six to eight miles apart is where most of the complaining comes from, and those spots are packed, sure. But walk 30 minutes past the main camp and you have a lake to yourself. I think the push toward sketchy cross country routes as a status thing is getting out of hand. The SHR is mostly talus and route finding and it is not for most people, and that is fine. Why does it feel like the backpacking internet decided the popular trail is the bad trail?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
beth_reed3d ago
Wait, 25,000 permits for the JMT corridor in one year? That number is blowing my mind a little. I knew it was busy but I always pictured maybe a few thousand thru hikers, not a full on city's worth of backpackers stacked along one trail. And the fact that you can just walk 30 more minutes past the crowded camp and get a lake to yourself is exactly what I tell people who whine about the JMT being "ruined." The Sierra High Route being mostly talus and route finding sounds miserable to me, honestly, and doing it just to look cool on the internet is silly. Different trails for different folks, and that should be fine.
1