Winter walks in New Zealand are great, but sometimes you get to July and August and just crave a dose of sunshine and warmth.
We’ll see how that works out over the next three weeks as I hike the 339-kilometre John Muir Trail in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
Named after Scottish environmentalist and Sierra Club founder John Muir, the trail will take us from Mount Whitney in Sequoia National Park generally northwards through Kings Canyon and Yosemite National Parks.
Most of the trail is above 2400 metres, and the last 50 kilometres are above 3000 metres, so maybe it won’t be quite as warm as I’d like.
I’ve just spent five days acclimatising with a series of day trips. One of our warm-up walks (photo above) took us to Duck Lake which required a climb from 2740m to 3350m.
Today the real walking begins.
There are nine of us on this adventure, plus our two guides. Unlike New Zealand, there are no “DoC Huts” along this trail. We’ll be camping under the stars and hoping the bears aren’t camped nearby. 🙂
All of this should be great preparation for another season of walking on Waiheke Island and beyond. When I return to New Zealand in early September, I’ll be announcing some exciting new walks and introducing you to the new guides on our team. In the meantime, feel free to contact our office to discuss our walking adventures including customised itineraries.
Talk to you soon!
