Last summer on the JMT was way different than my first trip back in 2009

I hit the John Muir Trail again this August and man it felt like a whole new world. Used to be you'd just grab a paper map and your compass and figure it out as you went. Now every other hiker has a GPS watch or a satellite messenger strapped to their pack. The trail itself looked the same near Thousand Island Lake but the vibe around camping spots is way more crowded than I remember. Anyone else feel like the culture has shifted hard in the last decade?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_elizabeth2d ago

Remembered going over Donahue Pass in 2016 and there was this guy with a whole acoustic guitar strapped to his pack. Never saw anything like that before or since. The crowds though, yeah last time I was at Tuolumne Meadows it felt like a festival.

craig.mila2d ago

Hmm I gotta respectfully disagree a bit here. I mean yeah there's more people and more gadgets but that doesn't mean the whole vibe is ruined or anything. Idk maybe it's just me but I feel like the trail itself still has that same quiet magic if you get off the main spots a little. I saw way more solo hikers this year just soaking it in with zero drama, and the GPS stuff honestly just lets people feel safer going deep. The culture is shifting for sure but I wouldn't say it's all worse, just different.

the_nathan2d ago

One morning in 2018 I rounded a bend on the JMT near Thousand Island Lake and there was a guy sitting cross-legged on a rock playing a harmonica... no phone, no watch, just him and the wind. Stuff like that is still happening constantly if you look for it. I think people get caught up in the crowded trailheads and forget that once you're a few miles in, the silence hits you just the same as it did ten years ago. The GPS stuff honestly lets people like my buddy go solo for the first time without his wife panicking, so that's a win in my book. Culture shifts but the actual dirt under your feet doesn't really care about any of that nonsense.