Hard Days

I was looking over the itinerary the other day and I found the two hardest days of the trip.

The first is day 16: Deer Meadow to Kings river. We travel 13 miles and cross over Mather Pass (12,100 ft). The climb to Mather Pass will require gaining over 3200 ft in 7.5 miles.

Most of the hike is fairly steep with an ascent up "the golden staircase".

I also found this awesome site that has panoramas of many places along the JMT and throughout the Sierras. Here's Mather Pass.

The second hard day is 20: This will be fun. 14.5 miles with a gain of around 3500 ft over the highest pass of the trip, Forester Pass (13,200 ft). The good news is that the day before we have a rest day at Cottonwood Lakes. We should be well rested and in good shape for this one.

Here's the panorama on top of Forester Pass.