It began in early April

I love road trips and plan a new one every summer. As an educator I can afford this luxury, taking my time to explore new parts of this country. Earlier this year I had planned on traveling to Oregon with my German Shepherd Dog Sadie to explore the Lewis and Clark route along the Columbia River and to see historic sites along the way. I had even bought maps and guides and looked at websites for an itinerary.

But then Darlene, a woman I met via the internet through a high school alumni site ten years ago, gave me a better idea. She and I had attended the same high school, but at different times. We didn't know each other in person. Both being active hikers she had repeatedly asked me over the years if I was interested in joining her on hikes around California. I had to repeatedly turn her down for whatever reason: prior plans elsewhere, work conflicts, or simply not having the time or money to go along.

When she sent me a Facebook message in early April of this year to join her and a few other people on the 221-mile John Muir Trail, however, I had to bite. The John Muir Trail, or JMT, is a renowned trail for avid backpackers, through California's spectacular High Sierras, over peaks and valleys from 7800 feet to the top of 14,497 foot tall Mount Whitney. I had always wanted to see this wilderness and now I had the chance to join an experienced hiker who had done the JMT a few times already. How could I say no?

"Yes!" was my response to Darlene and soon I was on-line researching ultralight tents, sleeping bags, cooking sets and other gear I needed to have replaced. When my husband Kevin came home later that day from work I broke the news to him.

"Oh wow!" was his response. And even though he couldn't go with me due to work requirements, for the next three months he became my supporter, picking up small tools for me to take along the way and helping with gear research.

In May we took a five-day backpacking trip to the Gila Wilderness to try out our gear. I brought all my own gear to try out. Everything worked like a champ. Everything, perhaps, except my backpack. No matter how I packed it, the shoulder straps of my Lowe Alpine 65 pack cut into my right clavicle. It was the one thing I never could remedy before my trip and it was the one thing that bothered me during the trip.

For three months I researched, bought and studied everything I could on gear, rehydrated foods and foot gear. I spent a few grand on everything before my 8 July departure from our home in southeastern Arizona to the eastern entrance of Yosemite National Park. I am an avid hiker, yet the one thing I fretted about was suffering from backaches. What if I had to bow out of this backpacking trip because of serious pain? I brought over 300 pain pills in my first aid kit.

Darlene and I kept each other informed of our training. We both watched the California weather, as 2010 turned out to be a spring and summer with late and deep snows that threatened to linger well into our hiking dates of 14-31 July. Early reports of needing crampons and ice picks were daunting, but a late spring heatwave began to melt enough snow to make the passes doable. Water, obviously, wasn't going to be a problem.

Yet I was nervous as my departure date approached. What if I wasn't in shape like Darlene? What if I proved to be too slow for her? Or what if something were to go terribly wrong?

I finally departed Arizona on 8 July, enduring temperatures of 114F through the Mohave Desert. The drive through southeastern California was uneventful, but when I got on US Highway 395 and arrived at Lone Pine, the southern terminus of the JMT, the excitement grew. Sixty miles further north, in the town of Bishop, the terrain around me had gained in elevation, and by the time I reached Mammoth Lakes I was clearly surrounded by snow-capped peaks.

I spent two days exploring Mono Lakes and the surrounding area, then entered Yosemite National Park on 10 July to do two day hikes and get acclimated to the higher elevation, and agreed to meet Darlene and Al promptly at the Wilderness Permit Office in Tuolumne Meadows on 13 July at 8am.