Sierra Nevada Virtual Museum

Title slide - Pacific Crest Trail
The Pacific Crest Trail travels two thousand six hundred and fifty five miles from Mexico to Canada. It moves along the crests of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains, twisting through California, Oregon and Washington. Come with us as we experience a portion of this breathtaking trail. My name is Sean Booth and I will be your guide for our hike.
Our hike is a month-long trek, over two hundred and twenty five miles of the trail. It begins at the Tuolumne Meadows Visitor Center in Yosemite National Park and ends near Lake Tahoe. These pictures are from the first hundred and fifteen miles of this hike. Our route is highlighted by the animation on this map.
Only six miles from the Tuolumne Meadows Visitor Center, where we started our hike, we come across the first of many amazing vistas of the Sierra Nevada. Here we gaze across the beautiful Tuolumne River as it meanders through meadowlark meadows and then quietly breathes beneath Cathedral Peak. A few yards away a precipitous waterfall plunges into the canyon.
We’ve been walking for three days, and we have covered 20 miles. Here we are in Matterhorn Canyon, formed by a glacier millions of years ago. We are completely removed from crowds. We are in the heart of Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada.
Today we are crossing Benson Pass at ten thousand feet. Even though it’s July, there are snow patches like this year round. Even at this elevation the mosquitoes are terrible. Imagine what they must be like at lower elevations.
Here I am, sitting under the quaking aspens on the beach. We’ve hiked for four days and covered 31 miles. We’ve reached the Riviera! This is the Benson Riviera, named after the French Riviera, famed for its luxuriant waterfronts and smooth beaches. However, this beach has coarse, chunky sand.
This is a rugged part of Yosemite. Here we are in Seavey Pass, known as “the grunt.” We woke up very early and endured many hours of hiking up and over six false gaps. A few hours later we made it over the final real gap, only to spy another daunting ridge several miles in the distance. By day’s end we’ve surmounted three major passes and covered fifteen grueling miles of up, down and over.
It is day five, and we haven’t seen a single person all day. We’ve gone fifty-seven miles, to Dorthy Lake at the outer boundary of Yosemite National Park. North of us lies the Toiyabe National Forest and to the west is the Emigrant Wilderness. The mosquitoes were at their worst at this point. We spent much of our time in our tent to escape the biting swarms.
Here we are in Kennedy Canyon, the pinnacle of our trip, both literally and figuratively. Climbing toward Leavitt Peak, we will reach eleven thousand feet. In the distance, the old Pacific Crest Trail is visible, along a north-facing slope. This old part of the trail was dangerous, but fortunately the new trail traverses a sunny and safe route with beautiful panoramic views. It is day seven, and we will have traveled seventy-six miles by tonight.
Here at Leavitt Ridge, we’re looking south across Yosemite Park. You can see the rugged beauty and vast expanses that inspired John Muir during his travels in the Sierra.
Wildflowers are one of the most beautiful and enjoyable parts of hiking in the Sierras. This is Lupine, a flower that is improved by volcanic and dry soil like we have here in Ebbetts Pass. We spend hours sniffing these flowers, drinking in their beauty and taking their portrait.
This rocky gap just north of Ebbetts Pass is Raymond Peak. Here the Pacific Crest Trail enters a rainshadow climate – barren and groomed with sagebrush. We are now one hundred and ten miles from Tuolumne Meadows where we started our hike.
This is not the end of the trail, only the end of this journey. Many miles lie ahead, and even more enjoyment.