JMT5: Map? Water? Plan?

It was hot for a change today, so I tried to run a little earlier. Somehow, that didn’t exactly work out, so I found myself on the trails under the midday sun, running down Railroad Grade in search of some shade. From the same starting point as yesterday, the Railroad Grade gate, I traveled up to Double Bowknot and down Gravity Car Road. Before the first mile was up, it was clear that it was a little more crowded today, so I was glad to be heading towards one of the more underused - and shady - single tracks on the mountain.

Just before Mountain Home Inn, I crossed Panoramic Highway to descend a short, windy, wooden staircase down to Alice Eastwood Road, and ran down on the pavement for ~0.4 miles before turning upwards onto the Troop 80 Trail single track. Troop 80, which pretty much echoes the turns of Matt Davis from the other side of the highway, gets its name from the boy scouts who created it in 1931. The terrain is similar to yesterday’s Matt Davis traverse, but the trail draws a different sort of feel from its being sandwiched between Muir Woods and Panoramic Highway. Plus, it’s a steady climb from the start.

My favorite part of this run is how it opens up into the small Van Wyck Meadow in the middle of Troop 80. It’s a cool change of pace, and it also marks the last moments of peace before the tough, tough uphill spurt that is Alpine Trail. I got turned around for a moment here, with all the trailheads leading to different places, but got lucky to have signs pointing me the right way. I don’t apply to the whole “map, water, plan” philosophy that the signs on Troop 80 will so constantly remind you of. I’d rather have a loose plan, but I like to figure it out as I go.

From Van Wyck, Alpine Trail climbs about 500 feet in ~0.6 miles of switchbacks, and serves as the final push before arriving at the turnaround point, Pantoll Station, a campground and trailhead on Panoramic Highway just at the point where the road begins to slope down towards the beach. I turned around and headed up Old Stagecoach Fire Road, which leads up gradually towards West Point Inn, meeting up with Railroad Grade. Bikers love Stagecoach, and there were a ton on a day like today where you could see all the way to San Francisco.

For the second day in a row, my climb ended at West Point, and I was rewarded with a few miles of that sweet Railroad Grade downhill before ending the day where I began. See you tomorrow.

👊✌️

Jonathan