The Silver Divide South of Lake Virginia on the John Muir Trail.

Ranger on trail

Looking South watching Sunset's shadows grow on the Silver Divide across Lake Virginia on the John Muir Trail.

Low water Edison

High Sierra
Backpacking

The Trails

Current Weather Conditions

Gear

Testing yourself and your gear

Backpacking
Lake Tahoe to Mount Whitney

Trail Guide Section
INDEX

Hiking
Reds Meadow Pack Station to Vermilion Valley Resort

Hiking
The John Muir Trail from Mammoth Lakes to Vermilion Valley

Languages

Trail Skills

Mountain
Safety

Food

Planning

Trail Arts

More
Information

Social

Terms and Conditions of Use

top of page

North
JMT & PCT
Index
Tuolumne Meadows
to
Reds Meadow Pack Station

Alternative Route
Fish Valley
to
VVR
via
Iva Bell Hot Springs

South
JMT & PCT
Index
Vermilion Valley Resort
to
Muir Ranch

John Muir Wilderness

sorry...
UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Only the North Guide from Tahoe to Tuolumne Meadows is complete in draft form.

The South section is under construction as of
March 2 2015.

COME BACK MAY 1 FOR MAPS AND MILES
INFORMATION.

Reds Meadow to Vermilion Valley

Trail Guide Index

JMT-PCT Trail Guide Page

Reds Meadow to Lake Virginia

Trail Guide Page
Alternative Route to VVR

Reds Meadow to Island Crossing

Miles and Elevations
NORTH

Tuolumne Meadows to Reds Meadow

Miles and Elevations
SOUTH

Reds Meadow to Vermilion Valley Resort

7.5 minute Map

Reds Meadow to Vermilion Valley Resort

30 minute Map

Reds Meadow to Lake Thomas Edison

Map Index

Reds Meadow to Vermilion Valley

Resupply North

Reds Meadow- Mammoth Lakes

Resupply South

Vermilion Valley Resort

Permits

Inyo National Forest

Edison Lake Ferry shutting down during drought.
Edison Lake Ferry stopping early during drought.

FISH VALLEY ALTERNATIVE ROUTE

This is the guide index page for an amazing alternative route off of the High Sierra Crestline between Lake Tahoe and Mount Whitney.

Though we walk most of the JMT on our route along the South Sierra Nevada Crestline, the Crestline route bypasses many worthy local points of interest. Iva Bell Hot Springs at the head of Fish Valley is just such a point of interest just a short ways off the route of the John Muir Trail.

We can fix this "slight" omission by adding a stop at Iva Bell to our JMT iteniary, or modifying our plan to both visit Iva Bell Hot Springs and hike a unique route all the way to Vermilion Valley Resort's doorstep.
This alternative route visits Iva Bell Hot Springs and walks over Goodale Pass to Vermilion Valley Resort, rather than taking the ferry on Lake Thomas Edison to VVR.

Seasonal & Drought
Note
If we don't get lots more snow in the Sierra the VVR ferry will not be operational again this year due to low water in Lake Thomas Edison.

Recap
This index handles the hike South on the JMT from Reds Meadow to the VVR ferry at Lake Thomas Edison as well as describing the alternative route walking into VVR via Iva Bell Hot Springs and the hike over Goodale Pass.

North Index TYT-PCT	Fish Valley Iva Bell Hot Springs	South Index JMT-PCT
Tuolumne Meadows to Reds Meadow Pack Station	Alternative Route Fish Valley to VVR via Iva Bell Hot Springs	Vermilion Valley Resort to Muir Ranch

Post up your experiences, information, and your questions and comments about backpacking into and out of Yosemite Valley.

comments

Reds Meadow to Vermilion Valley Resort
ALL TRAIL GUIDE RESOURCES

Trail Guide Pages

7.5 minute Maps

30 minute Maps

N Lake's

North: Tuolumne Meadows South: Vermilion Valley Resort

Reds Meadow Pack Station
to
Vermilion Valley Resort

John Muir and Pacific Crest Trails

This is the second of three short sections of trail between resupply points to the South of Tuolumne Meadows.

The distances between Tuolumne Meadows to Reds Meadow, from Reds to Vermilion Valley, and from VVR to Muir Ranch are all short sections of trail.

I have hiked each of these sections between resupply spots overnight. That is pretty darn short, especially when we consider my mimimum pack load is five days of food. So far my maximum has been about 14 days of food.

The good thing is that each of these short trail sections is full of great scrambling/exploration/peak bagging opportunities. This means that we can easily hike each section with 2 days of food, then bring another 2 or 3 days of food to support some extensive scrambling and exploring.

This is why I bring a light, small day pack stuffed into the bottom of my pack.

Hiking up to Lake Catherine with lunch and water in day pack.
Hiking up to Lake Catherine
with lunch and water in day pack.

THIS PAGE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION: STAY TUNED FOR MUCH MORE!

COME ON BACK NOW, 'YA HEAR?

7.5 Map:
Sonora Pass to

30 min Map
Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake

Miles and Elevations

comments

Backpacking Trail Guide
INDEX

JMT North

Tuolumne Meadows
to
Reds Meadow Pack Station

Compass and map directions are the best.

Backpacking Trail Guide
INDEX

JMT South

Vermilion Valley Resort
to
Muir Ranch

Backpacker Forums

Have a great trip or story to relate about Yosemite or in the Sierra Nevada?
A fine piece of gear? Or gear that failed? An excellent backpacking tip?

Post it on
TahoetoWhitney.Org

Above we come to the Front Page of the High Backpacking Trails and Topics Forums. Below we break the forums down into categories:

High Sierra Trails

High Sierra Topics

The Trails Forum acts as your place to put up input, comments, relate your experiences, or ask questions about each segment and spot along the length of our combined TYT-PCT-JMT trails.

The Forum is your place to supplement the trail guide.

Anyone can post text comments in the existing forums, but only members can post up new topics, along with images, maps, and formatting.

Become a Member

If you have experiences, comments, questions, or pictures and videos of the Pacific Crest and John Muir Trails from Reds Meadow to Vermilion Valley, post up here as an unknown hiker or as a member: