Hi Paul,

Thanks for the nice words. You’ve already done a couple of nice section hikes and I think you’ll find some of these others are even better.

Good question. The answer would be the same for virtually any long dayhike that will take most people many hours to get up and down, like Whitney. For starters, the highest demand for dayhiking permits will be weekends from July through September; that said, I also suspect that weekday demand will outpace the number of permits issued daily, and if all daily permits get issued, the day of the week won’t necessarily affect the number of actual hikers.

Most of those dayhikers will start in early morning, hoping to reach the summit by anytime from late morning to early afternoon. Looking at it that way, you can expect that pulse of most Whitney dayhikers to be ascending the trail in morning and coming down in afternoon; much smaller numbers will be ahead of or behind that big crowd of hikers.

If you’re backpacking in either direction, you’ll have a quieter summit if you reach it by mid-morning. If you’re backpacking southbound, that would require a very early start from the west side of Whitney because that’s a big climb from that side, too. But it’s certainly possible. If you start very early from Whitney Portal hiking northbound, you’d have to move as fast as most dayhikers, despite your greater pack weight, to stay ahead of them.

Then, of course, you’ll encounter that group coming uphill as you’re going down the Mount Whitney Trail.

Otherwise, you’re right, if you come up the west side of Whitney and hit the summit in the afternoon, most hikers will likely be off it and heading downhill ahead of you. But then you’re finishing well after dark.

Afraid that’s the reality of it. Good luck.

I also hear the hike down from Whitney can be quite the slog with so many dayhikers coming from the other direction hoping to summit in one day.

Do you have any advice on how to avoid the crowds that are ascending outside of not going at all? Maybe descend at night.

Thanks,

Paul

Thanks, Jeff. To clarify, that Tuolumne to Reds description doesn’t call it a loop, it’s still a one-way hike entirely on the JMT from Yosemite Valley to Tuolumne and continuing to Reds. As with hiking just Tuolumne to Reds, you still have to arrange transportation between the trailheads.

I hope that clears it up. Good luck with your trip planning.

Thank you, great article, very well written and you are right, some of us are not able to take the time to do the full thru-hike, but portions of would be great.

In the Tuolumne Meadow to Reds Meadow, you mentioned a way to turn this into a loop, by adding 24 miles or so, by starting at Yosemite Valley.

when looking at the maps, having difficulty finding that trailhead you may be referring to. Got the Tuolumne Meadow and Reds Meadow and the John Muir between, just can’t find this 24-mile stretch.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jeff