This page has the map and details of the route (option number 3).

This day hike will take us to very remote areas of the sierras (as remote as it gets) that usually only John Muir Trail trekkers see. The hikers you meet will be very surprised to hear that you started hiking only in the morning.

Group A: piero

Group B: Mihai

Click here for pictures of the trailhead. I took those pictures in july 2007 so they are very recent.

The North Lake trailhead is near Bishop. From Bishop turn right into 168 (Line St). After Aspenden, turn right into the North Lake road. It is a dirt road, but only for five minutes. When you reach the lake, the road coasts it to the left. You soon get to a fork. The right turn takes you to the hiker's parking lot. The left turn takes you to the very small campground. The trailhead is at the campground. (If you don't trust my directions, you can complicate your life by looking up these driving directions to NORTHC: http://www.climber.org/DrivingDirections/bishop.html.) It would be nice if you could park the car at the trailhead NORTHC (*not* NORTHP) on this map: http://www.climber.org/DrivingDirections/images/bishopLakes.gif. You are allowed to camp there only if you got one of the campsites that don't have a parking area, which happen to be the four campsites that are located precisely at the trailhead.

I know where Lake Florence is. Been there once. This is a useful map.

You can print the Tom Harrison map from Lake Florence to North Lake: http://www.tomharrisonmaps.com/Mono%20Web%20Map.pdf. (Warning: it still uses the ancient Roman imperial system of feet and miles - use topozone instead for metric information)

Please read carefully this page with the details for the route (option number 3). It also has links to the ferry schedule.

Calculate to reach Lake Florence by 4pm. Finding the exact spot of the landing may be tricky. These pictures of two years ago start and end at Florence Lake. Print this one in particular. I remember that it was tricky to find the landing until i found that house. The GPS should help. There is a phone in that house. That phone calls the store at the other side, that runs the ferry. They might be willing to come out only for you, but i know that they are not allowed to run the ferry in the evening.

I will leave my tent and sleeping bag by that house, probably just below the phone. If you get there in time, please remember to take them with you on the ferry. If you get there too late for the ferry, use them to survive the night.

By the way, the pictures of that hike are representative of the landscape of this hike across the sierras. It will be pretty much the same kind of landscape.

• At least one person of each group MUST make it to the other end (driving around to pick up the car at the other side is not an option, as it would take 12-14 hours); so if one or two people are being too slow, the other/s MUST dump them and proceed as fast as possible to the other end (the slow hikers can simply return to their trailhead and wait for the group hiking in the opposite direction)
• Group B must reach Lake Florence by 5pm or misses the last ferry . So you need to work out a schedule.
• If you miss the ferry, you can use the tent that i will leave behind, but you'll have to wait till next morning to cross the lake.
• You will be tired when you get to Lake Florence and you may make fatal mistakes in driving out of it. Get a AAA map that shows the road from Lake Florence to Hwy 99 (last year Paul/Emily/Anne got lost for hours in that area). This is a useful map.

Group A (piero's) schedule:

• SAT. Reach Florence Lake saturday afternoon. Take the ferry across. Camp.
• SUN 4am: start hiking from the eastern side of Florence Lake.
• Muir Trail Ranch (2372m): 6:30am
• John Muir trail (2421m): 7am
• Piute trail junction (2453m): 8am
• French Canyon junction (2892m): 11am
• Piute Pass (3481m): 4pm
• North Lake campground (2848m): 6pm
• Total: 14 hours

Group B schedule:

• From North Lake campground (2848m) to Piute Pass (3481m): 8kms - 7am
• From Piute Pass (3481m) to French Canyon junction (2892m): 12kms - 10am
• From French Canyon junction (2892m) to Piute trail junction: 10kms - 1pm
• From Piute trail junction (2453m) to John Muir trail: 3kms - 2pm
• From the John Muir trail (2421m) to Muir Trail Ranch: 2kms - 3pm
• From Muir Trail Ranch (2372m) to Florence Lake (2311m): 8kms - 5/6pm

Weather for the area of Lake Florence
Weather for Piute Pass

We need to rent two cars and be the drivers on both.

Ideally, let's not take anything that smells other than what we will carry during the hike.

I will give you a bag with some clothes to take to North Lake. Nothing smelly inside.

You will give me the bags that you want to find in the car when you cross Lake Florence. If there is anything smelly inside, tell me. But i doubt there are bear lockers at Lake Florence, so it will stay inside the car anyway. Just wrap it carefully into layers of clothes.

If you guys leave anything in a bear locker at North Lake, you have to tell me what and where. Best is that you put a sticker with your name on it.

• From downtown Bishop to the trailhead
• Detailed route
• Harrison Map
• Photo of the landing and phone booth on the ohter side of Lake Florence
• Ferry schedule
• Map to find your way home from Lake Florence to hwy 99
• The page that you are reading