Starting at South Lake and heading up the Bishop Creek Trail, you’ll climb almost five miles just to get to the JMT/PCT Trail. If you just want to sample the JMT trail, or take a shorter backpacking excursion, the best place to hit the trail is via the Bishop Creek Trail. This is obviously the best option if you are thru-hiking from end to end as well. The first option is to drive about an hour and 20 minutes south from Bishop to connect with the trail at its endpoint at Mt. There are couple ways to access the JMT near Bishop. The John Muir Trail is a legitimate through-hike, giving an abbreviated journey along some of the PCT without compromising the vastness of scenery the Sierra and Northern California are famous for. You’ll hike through Yosemite Valley and past its steep granite canyons, through Sequoia National Forest and beneath some of the tallest trees in the world, through the crevices and valleys of Kings Canyon National Park and the Sierra Nevada, and into the Ansel Adams Wilderness. What Makes It GreatĪt just over 200 miles long, the John Muir Trail courses through some of North America’s most beautiful terrain. There’s no other trail like the JMT in the world. Either way, take your time to enjoy the scenery-at your pace. While seasoned hikers often take three or so weeks to hike the trail, some do it in less time, and others, more. The trail follows along the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) for 160 miles, connecting its northernmost point at the Happy Isles trailhead in Yosemite Valley to the highest peak in the continental United States at its southernmost point-Mount Whitney-whose summit rises to 14,505 feet. The trail’s namesake, John Muir, is well-respected for founding the Sierra Club and for his involvement in shaping Yosemite National Park in the late 1800s. The John Muir Trail (JMT) is an American classic-211 miles that wind through some of the West’s (and the country’s) most beautiful mountain terrain-sequoia forests and granite mountaintops and deep canyons.

John muir trail fishing