John Muir Trail Hiker Horror Stories (2024 Survey)

While completing the John Muir Trail Thru-Hiker Survey, hikers share the moment(s), if ever, they felt they were in legitimate danger or when they were legitimately afraid.

The John Muir Trail tests mental, physical, and emotional endurance. Hikers don’t have the luxury of dictating every aspect of their hikes. Nature’s indifference, unexpected weather, or a poorly timed road crossing can all result in hikers quickly getting over their heads.

It’s not unrealistic to say that a John Muir Trail hike could be someone’s final adventure – you could end up caught in an avalanche, surrounded by a forest fire, drowned in a river, or hitchhiking with a drunk driver (if you have a bad feeling about a hitch, don’t get in; wait for the next one). Hopefully, none of this happens during your (or your loved one’s) hike, but it’s possible.

WARNING! If you are concerned about a loved one hiking the John Muir Trail or have doubts about whether you want to undertake this journey yourself, you should probably stop reading now (or maybe you should absolutely read on).

Notes on the Data

• There were 468 completed surveys. Sign up for the survey here if you’re hiking the John Muir Trail next year.
• I refer to respondents collectively as the year’s “class.” Remember, this is a sample, not a comprehensive survey of every JMT hiker.
• For statistics requiring the length of the John Muir Trail for calculation (e.g., average mileage per day), I use 214.3 miles (344.88 kilometers). This is the distance, according to FarOut (which I recommend downloading if you don’t already have it).
• I will release more detailed posts focused on other aspects of the John Muir Trail Survey data. To be notified of new posts, click here.

The Horror of Weather

• My dad and I were about 100 yards / 100 m from the treeline, coming south from Forester Pass, when lightning crashed and flashed just overhead, maybe 30 yards / 30 m up on the ridge. It struck again before we reached the trees. We got thoroughly wet in the ensuing downpour, but were otherwise unharmed.

• Going through Bighorn Plateau while rain poured down and thunder rumbled very close by, with lightning flashing in the mountain ranges all around. In general, the storms felt inescapable and dangerous.

• I experienced heat exhaustion while ascending the sub-dome of Half Dome and decided to turn around, as I didn’t feel it would be smart to go up the cables while feeling dizzy.

• Lying in my tent at Duck Creek, a thunderstorm rolled over the top of us.

• We camped at Guitar Lake the night before summiting Whitney, and a thunderstorm rolled through for about 90 minutes. We had lightning close by, and it felt a bit scary for a while.

The Horror of Terrain

• I took two alternatives to the JMT that made me feel out of my comfort zone. The first was Ediza Lake to Minaret Lake. The trail between Iceberg and Cecil Lakes was very steep and crossed two sloped snowfields. I was glad to have microspikes for this. The second was ascending and descending Alpine Col as an alternate to the broken South Fork bridge between Selden and Muir Pass. Alpine Col is my most extensive off-trail adventure to date, and it was doable but steeper and more challenging than I expected. Several snow patches made me glad a second time for my microspikes.

• Coming down Muir Pass was the most scared I was on the trail. I had already done about 15 mi / 24 km that day and reached the pass relatively late in the afternoon. After completing the pass, I began to hear and see a thunderstorm approaching. Coming down the pass, the trail was quite washed out due to the snowpack, and descending in these conditions with a thunderstorm nearby proved to be treacherous at times.

• A few semi-sketchy scrambles across/around tree falls or rockfalls that covered the trail on steep passes.

• A few times, the trail was treacherous due to slushy snow, and I was afraid I would slip and fall down the side. I was also nervous in the thunder and lightning storms, but I was never in any danger of being struck.

• On Mt Whitney, from the junction where you can leave gear from your pack, up to the summit. The trail is serious, and the drop-off is extreme.

• The only moment was when reaching Forester Pass after Glen Pass the same day, and a friend had problems with the altitude/breathing.

The Horror of Snow

• We took two days off the JMT, camping near Ediza Lake, to summit Mt Banner. We each had one ice axe, but we only had micro spikes on our low Altra shoes. The snow chute was very steep and narrow, making it quite dangerous. We had to chop holes for every single footstep. Then, we got lost trying to find a way up to the summit through the huge talus blocks, and it was late in the afternoon when we had to backclimb down the snow chute. No one slipped. But had one of us lost traction, it would have been a nasty slide. We are both nearing 70 years old and probably should have aborted our attempt. We did reach the summit, but the entire trip took 14 hours. We were exhausted. We got back to our tents at dusk.

• Upper Palisades in overnight snowfall – temperature, unknown amount of snow to fall/when it would stop.

• Descending the north side of Forrester Pass in the deep snow. Not fun.

The Horror of Humans

• I tried to camp at Wallace Creek, and an older man (late 50s to early 60s) sneaked up on me at my site. He proceeded to ask repeatedly if I was alone and told me my pack was large enough to stuff me into. He left and came back several times, making me feel uncomfortable. I moved sites. 0.5 mi / 800 m away, and he found me again, made more comments, and then just stood there staring at me for about five minutes. I ended up moving another mile up the trail just before dark and found a secluded spot off the trail to hide out for the night.

• There was one man who camped close to my girlfriend and me who made some uncomfortable comments. We ran into him again at Red’s Meadow, and he seemed harmless, but we later found out that another woman had actually left the trail because of the weird comments he made to her. It’s always the boys, not the bears.

• I got a hitch from a man who dropped me off at his side-of-the-highway campsite. He invited me inside so he could share information about his religion. I wasn’t murdered, but if I had been, I would’ve been so mad at myself.

• There was a SOBO hiker who sketched me out, asking about where I was planning to camp. After that encounter, I selected a tent site that wasn’t visible from the trail.

• Once, there was a group of hikers acting very sketchy, like they may be running from the law and hiding out. Wanted to get away from them.

The Horror of Animals

• A buck, a doe, and two fawns came into our camp at Evolution Lake. After previously getting charged by a doe in Vidette, we were worried that the buck would charge us if we made any sudden moves. Luckily, nothing happened, but it was a really strange experience. The deer on the JMT have no fear of humans.

• Chasing bears out of camp three different nights armed only with a rock. Not sure, I felt unsafe, but it sure got my adrenaline going.

• A bear tried to get our food on night two, and that, combined with altitude, jet lag, and general tiredness, made me (unreasonably) worried about bears eating all our food or coming into the tent at night. Logically, I knew it wasn’t a particularly real worry, as I trusted our bear cans.

• For half a day, my head was on a swivel because a woman was telling stories of two bears waiting for hikers near Glen and Forester. Not a single other hiker said anything about bears, so the tension dissolved.

• A couple of times, camping alone with some visitors at night. Not necessarily unsafe, but needed to get used to critters and other animals visiting.

• A bear snuck up to 20 ft / 6 m behind me at Kearsarge Lakes, but it was easy to shoo away. I never felt threatened by it, the bear was obviously just hoping I’d leave my food out.

The Horror of Fire

• I had a day when a new fire formed. I was located in a canyon, making it incredibly difficult to communicate with my family to determine the fire’s location, which made for a very stressful afternoon.

• After Muir Pass there was a lot of smoke and heavy winds, and it was colder than we had experienced. We were very worried about the smoke.

Other Horrors

• I had facial edema from sleeping at altitude and didn’t realize this was a possible side effect.

JMT Horror Stories Word Cloud

Have a tale of woe from a John Muir Trail thru-hike? Leave a comment below and warn future JMT classes of the awfulness that awaits them on their thru-hikes.

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