Post by RedDoug on Dec 11, 2015 6:58:55 GMT -8
The idea to hike the JMT came to me suddenly while I was on the phone with Katz. Katz is the name I am giving to my partner to protect his true identity for reasons that may soon become obvious, if I choose to continue this narrative,. The name Katz is taken from the book A Walk in the Woods. I think the world is full of Katz.
"Katz, let's do the JMT this summer," I stated during one of our phone conversations. Katz lives somewhat near the JMT trail and has done a lot of day hiking and a number of over-nighters in and around the JMT. That is what he told me.
"I know the area well," said Katz. I’ll get the permit. I know how to do it. Which was good, because this was like in April already and JMT permits are usually gone before this. "And," he added, "you'll love the JMT. I have done a lot of hiking in that area and it never rains. It is nothing like the CDT in Colorado," which was a reference to an earlier trip we shared in the South San Juan Wilderness. That was the very trip that prompted me to declare when I got home that I would NEVER backpack with Katz again. But that was years ago, I was sure people could change, skills improve....... My wife gave me a strange look at the time I was on the phone with Katz.
The next day I got a phone call from Katz, and then an email confirming that Katz did indeed have a permit to hike the JMT. Attached to his email was a copy of the permit. Incredible! I can hardly believe it. What good luck!! Just like that we had a permit to hike the JMT- no problem at all!
"No problem," Katz told me. "The trick is just to get on the trail and once on the trail the permit is good for the length of the trail. So we are going in south of the JMT entering the PCT through Cottonwood Pass and coming out at Happy Isle. I went on line through a national forest office and got the permit- only took me a minute."
I was very happy. And sure enough the permit had us entering at Cottonwood Pass and coming out at Happy Isle about 240 miles away on .......
"What's this?!!!!!!!!" I said to myself, and my wife who was in another room as I examined the permit more closely. Beginning date: June 30. Exit date: July 1. WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!! No wonder the process only took a minute. Katz had us signed up for a day hike of the JMT!!! Plus an extra 30 miles. 240 miles total. In a day. And no refunds on permit fees.
Well that particular moment did pass. I had to call Katz immediately and let him know his permit probably won't do us much good after the 2nd day.
Because I have to drive about 5x the distance to get to the JMT Katz agreed to pay for the permit- like around $20. Then, on the phone he saw his mistake. "OK he said, let’s fix this. We'll go on line together and work out the agenda- only takes a minute. Only, since I paid for the first permit, you should pay for the 2nd permit."
So we went into the national forest service office website, pulled up the permit application and begin to fill it out. Katz was amazed. We were asked to list estimated camping sites for the 22 days we planned to be on the trail. "I never had to do this with the first permit," Katz told me, but I thought, "probably not since 22 days is a lot different than 1 night."
After an hour of working together trying to put a trail plan together to satisfy the permit process we realized we weren't making any progress. So Katz told me, "Look, I'll call a ranger in the morning and get this all worked out. Give me your credit card # and I'll take care of it."
In the end, we did get the permit. Everything worked out ok. Katz is an honest friend and I trusted him with my CC #. We met according to plan at Happy Isle on June 28 and parked his car in the TH parking lot and then drove south to Horseshoe Meadows to begin our JMT hike. We actually jumped in a day early- hiked up to the first lake- about 7- 8 miles in on the PCT and made our first camp. This was to be our first and only rain free day for the next 14 days. But we didn't know that yet.
Across the small lake from our campsite I saw a lone backpacker and I walked over to meet him. He was Todd from Wisc. We would end up spending several days together and later in September I would spend a night at his house in Wisc on my way out to backpack in Michigan's U.P.
In the morning our permit would be legal and Katz and I would be on our way towards a thru hike of the JMT.
"Katz, let's do the JMT this summer," I stated during one of our phone conversations. Katz lives somewhat near the JMT trail and has done a lot of day hiking and a number of over-nighters in and around the JMT. That is what he told me.
"I know the area well," said Katz. I’ll get the permit. I know how to do it. Which was good, because this was like in April already and JMT permits are usually gone before this. "And," he added, "you'll love the JMT. I have done a lot of hiking in that area and it never rains. It is nothing like the CDT in Colorado," which was a reference to an earlier trip we shared in the South San Juan Wilderness. That was the very trip that prompted me to declare when I got home that I would NEVER backpack with Katz again. But that was years ago, I was sure people could change, skills improve....... My wife gave me a strange look at the time I was on the phone with Katz.
The next day I got a phone call from Katz, and then an email confirming that Katz did indeed have a permit to hike the JMT. Attached to his email was a copy of the permit. Incredible! I can hardly believe it. What good luck!! Just like that we had a permit to hike the JMT- no problem at all!
"No problem," Katz told me. "The trick is just to get on the trail and once on the trail the permit is good for the length of the trail. So we are going in south of the JMT entering the PCT through Cottonwood Pass and coming out at Happy Isle. I went on line through a national forest office and got the permit- only took me a minute."
I was very happy. And sure enough the permit had us entering at Cottonwood Pass and coming out at Happy Isle about 240 miles away on .......
"What's this?!!!!!!!!" I said to myself, and my wife who was in another room as I examined the permit more closely. Beginning date: June 30. Exit date: July 1. WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!! No wonder the process only took a minute. Katz had us signed up for a day hike of the JMT!!! Plus an extra 30 miles. 240 miles total. In a day. And no refunds on permit fees.
Well that particular moment did pass. I had to call Katz immediately and let him know his permit probably won't do us much good after the 2nd day.
Because I have to drive about 5x the distance to get to the JMT Katz agreed to pay for the permit- like around $20. Then, on the phone he saw his mistake. "OK he said, let’s fix this. We'll go on line together and work out the agenda- only takes a minute. Only, since I paid for the first permit, you should pay for the 2nd permit."
So we went into the national forest service office website, pulled up the permit application and begin to fill it out. Katz was amazed. We were asked to list estimated camping sites for the 22 days we planned to be on the trail. "I never had to do this with the first permit," Katz told me, but I thought, "probably not since 22 days is a lot different than 1 night."
After an hour of working together trying to put a trail plan together to satisfy the permit process we realized we weren't making any progress. So Katz told me, "Look, I'll call a ranger in the morning and get this all worked out. Give me your credit card # and I'll take care of it."
In the end, we did get the permit. Everything worked out ok. Katz is an honest friend and I trusted him with my CC #. We met according to plan at Happy Isle on June 28 and parked his car in the TH parking lot and then drove south to Horseshoe Meadows to begin our JMT hike. We actually jumped in a day early- hiked up to the first lake- about 7- 8 miles in on the PCT and made our first camp. This was to be our first and only rain free day for the next 14 days. But we didn't know that yet.
Across the small lake from our campsite I saw a lone backpacker and I walked over to meet him. He was Todd from Wisc. We would end up spending several days together and later in September I would spend a night at his house in Wisc on my way out to backpack in Michigan's U.P.
In the morning our permit would be legal and Katz and I would be on our way towards a thru hike of the JMT.
.