Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Video: High Sierra - A Journey on the John Muir Trail

Here's another video, 1 hr 15 minutes, of a group of young guys hiking the JMT. Several had never backpacked. They survived, and enjoyed it.



WINNER - Best Documentary - 2012 Cape Fear Independent Film Festival
WINNER - Sierra Nevada Award -2011 Mountain Film Awards
OFFICIAL SELECTION - 2011 Wild and Scenic Film Festival

Good video, nice music, cool time lapse sequences, nice story line - high school kids from back east struggling and bonding on the JMT.

I hate to be a spoiler, but its hard to believe they didn't know the food storage rules, especially in Yosemite. The rules are for the bear's protection as much as people's safety - a fed bear is a dead bear. They simply hung food sacks in a tree and tied them off. Of course bears got their food.

There's no way a bunch of high school kids can get backpacking permits in Yosemite Valley for the entire JMT without sitting through the lengthy bear lecture and offer to rent bear canisters right on the spot. How can you plan a trip like this and not know you need bear canisters for all your food? Is there any JMT book or website that doesn't explain it?

Other than that, its one of the better JMT videos.

There is a little technical weirdness in this, such as a line about visiting "the Sequoia redwoods" before Whitney,"speckled trout", "pheasants", etc but they did not completely ignore the bear box requirement: there is a shot of them getting the bear box lecture at the permit station and wrestling with their boxes. They just didn't plan and pack food well. Not repackaging for south of MTR is an obvious mistake, but why they couldn't pack enough to get to Reds and VVR is a little strange.

Yeah, the seriousness of feeding bears doesn't come across as a big deal in this video. They seem to be more concerned about getting a late start the next morning. And the momma bear and cub scene crossing the river is so cute you forget that feeding them can lead to their destruction.

The penalty for what they did is $5,000. Not sure if that would be per person or per incident, but keep that in mind if you need to rethink your food storage plan. Get it right. If you care about bears at all, remember, a fed bear is a dead bear.

And don't swim above Nevada Falls. The video zooms in on the warning sign while they laugh about going over the falls, but people actually do just that. This is one of the most deadly spots in the park. Once the current takes them, there's nothing to grab onto but smooth polished granite. Don't jump in trying to save anyone, just say a prayer and put another notch in the tree.

Enjoy the video, but learn from their mistakes.

Thanks for posting this Steve. Enjoyable video. The JMT is on my to-do list, but probably not until I retire.