Amazing 3D Navigation of JMT (John Muir Trail) via Google Earth

I recently completed the JMT and was really fascinated and impressed by how the trail was envisioned and created through the wilderness. I wanted to get a 3-dimensional, birds eye view. I wanted to understand exactly how we navigated around the mountains, could the dreaded Glen Pass and Forester Pass be made any easier, and is it really the optimal route?
For a summary of my trek, please click: www.jairawat.c...

[@JaiRawat]

For a summary of this trek, please read: www.jairawat.com/2021/09/hiking-jmt-john-muir-trail-summary-aug.html For a more detailed, day-by-day log, please read: www.jairawat.com/2021/09/hiking-jmt-in-20-days-daily-itinerary.html

[@mambojambostudio]

That was awesome. I hope to do it soon. I love how you kept emphasizing the people who engineered the trail originally; truly a daunting task

[@mrmichael972]

Thanks. It was a nice overview. I hiked it in 2008.

[@kristymoore7052]

Fascinating! My son and I are planning to do this in 2024. Though I’ve backpacked snippets of the trail over the years, I’ve never experienced the entire thing. I’m starting my training now as I turn 60 next week. Thank you for sharing.

[@JaiRawat]

Go for it! This was my very first backpacking trip. What an amazing experience.

[@MrDazzlem]

With appreciation, I want to Thank you for this wonderful 3-D view of the JMT. I taught Backpacking for 19 years professionally and took many people on different sections. In 1980, I ran the entire trail from Mt Whitney to Happy Isles in 7 days. I was on a 55 mile pace to finish in 4 days, but I sprained my ankles 18 times and had them taped up to prevent pronating. Congratulations to all who have hiked the JMT by sections or the entire trail. Welcome to the club and Keep on trucking. Cheers.

[@JaiRawat]

That's amazing Bruce. I have only done a 51 mile run once. Took me 13 hours and I could barely walk afterwards. Can't imagine doing it back to back for four days.

[@stevenday5448]

Nice work. I enjoyed your video. We split our JMT Scouts’ backpack trip into two separate 9-day trips a year apart (in 1971 + 1972) when I was a little 11-year old tyke. Very hard work carrying almost half your weight in backpack over this challenging trek. Super beautiful scenery is worth the effort.

[@nitsymccarthy7803]

Thanks. Always enjoy looking at maps. Love the JMT/PCT.

[@yewboup1]

Thank you for showing and narrating your trip. I'll be out there in August and am very much looking forward.

[@JaiRawat]

It is a life changing experience. All the best! It will be even more fun to watch the video once you complete JMT :)

[@DaystarHiker]

Great job. Thanks

[@JaiRawat]

Thanks for watching!

[@robertjasso6673]

Thank you for your intrepid spirit and fabulous 3D view. Although I haven’t done Happy Isles to Whitney Portal this allowed me to see the sections I have done including Whitney from the Portal up the 99 switchbacks leaving at 4:am Missing the Glen Pass trail and going straight up with backpacks. Seeing it just now got my feet sweating sitting on my couch ! Many thanks ,many memories thank God I survived .

[@JaiRawat]

Glad you found it useful Robert. Can't imagine going up straight on Glen Pass without the constructed trail. That must've been really hard and scary!

[@robertjasso6673]

We had been going well from Cedar Grove up Woods Creek I believe we spent the night at Rae Lakes . Yes it was a knee shaking , snot nose blowing scrabble that seemed to go on forever ! I could feel gravity ‘s long fingers trying to pull me down the steep escarpment by my backpack a few time . The Lord had our backs it wasn’t our time .

[@karlas2282]

So awesome!! Loved it. Wish I had been able to do that early on my life. I know much of the Eastern Sierra from Lone Pine to Bridgeport but never got to hike the JMT!! Thank YOU!!!

[@JaiRawat]

This was the first and only backpacking trek I have done so far. Hope to explore more of the Sierras.

[@scottdority4312]

Thank you so much for this! Very grateful for your efforts here. Hopefully we can get our pass this year head out!

[@JaiRawat]

All the best. Hope you will get the pass. It is definitely am amazing trek.

[@gregskolozdra]

Great video! Thanks for sharing!

[@JaiRawat]

Thanks! Glad your found it useful

[@debkheiry5846]

OMG this is awesome!!!

[@JaiRawat]

Thanks :)

[@ascinder]

This is amazing! Great job, and thank you for all your hard work!

[@JaiRawat]

Thank you! Glad you found it useful.

[@janicewhitaker3437]

Love this! Shared with my framily so they could see what we did! My favorite! Thank you for putting this together!

[@JaiRawat]

Glad you enjoyed it. Let me know if you want the original file. It will allow you to play around on your own time/pace.

[@MYKSTEEL]

Nicely done sir!

[@allisonhowell5837]

This map is awesome! It really helps to visualize the trail. I wish more trails had this, it really helps with people who are visual and regular maps don't have a lot of detail.

[@JaiRawat]

Thanks Allison. Glad you found it helpful

[@rohanrawat5740]

video looks great! it's really cool seeing the route in so much detail.

[@JaiRawat]

Glad you liked it!

[@k1k2lee]

Cheers mate appreciate it on the JMT tis June

[@JaiRawat]

Have fun

[@dilippatel3268]

excellent video

[@JaiRawat]

Glad you liked it!

[@rohanrawat5740]

the person playing trumpet in the background sounds pretty great... i wonder who that is

[@Mountian-Zen]

Excellent! Appreciate your effort putting this all together, really cool. I, and I am sure many others would really like to see a more detailed 3D view of each and every days progress. Oh pardon ..... I see you in fact do have that!

[@JaiRawat]

:) thanks! Glad you found it useful

[@Reeses0810]

I did PCT in 2021 I found it to be not that hard at least compared to the Cascades albeit with the huge warm up from Campo to JMT makes a big difference. I was 60 at the time .

[@mountainair2288]

This is awesome!

[@JaiRawat]

thanks!

[@michaelmclean8701]

Hi Jai, awesome video and super in depth for those looking to hike the JMT one day! Do you happen to have the trail waypoints on Google Earth available to download somewhere? Thanks again!

[@JaiRawat]

Here's a link to all the tracking files (kml and gpx). It has both day-by-day files and combined files: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1j7-c1f8M_Czp5fIP2afHMbF7kwYOO2On?usp=sharing

[@GC3-4370]

Thanks for this. We're planning our JMT SOBO for late June. I was looking for a google earth view of the trail, so would be interested in how you created this. (We were actually in LYV in early august in 2021 having just done Clouds rest & HD, and met a group just starting the trail who were from SF and Seattle (thought it might have been your group). Anyway, great video, thanks!

[@JaiRawat]

All the best for your trek Gordy. We did have people from SF, Seattle, DC and India in our group! To create this video I converted the gpx files from my Garmin to kml files. Then uploaded the kml files to Google Earth. It was a tedious process but it was totally worth it. I really wanted to get a sense of the terrain - how the trail navigates through various passes, valleys, meadows etc.

[@GC3-4370]

​@@JaiRawat Yes, I was trying to find just that to help some of our crew understand what we needed to train for! Excellent thanks for posting it and the instructions!

[@kevinchen1763]

How do you manage food, and phone charge(assuming this is needed for electronic map) and essential supplies over this long trip?

[@JaiRawat]

You have to ship food buckets ahead of time to the refill stations. For phone charging I used a lightweight solar panel to charge my battery pack and used the battery pack to charge the phone. Find the most power saving mode on the phone to extend the battery life. For more details you can read the blog links I have shared.

[@brianbailey7128]

Very nice. I'm wondering if Google Earth has a way for you to share your map of the trail with others?

[@ThatsAllFolkss]

Drain The Hetch used google earth studio for their jmt series too

[@JaiRawat]

Great. Didn't know about that. Will check it out

[@manjirosano781]

Sir next time Grand canyon vlogs

[@LuisXhafae]

Martin Richard Lee John Lewis Scott

[@rohanrawat5740]

first

[@rohanrawat5740]

#notificationsquad

[@manjirosano781]

Cool