Bump.
Since this topic came up on another thread, I thought I'd add an episode from my Whitney hike last year. We were descending and sort of picked up a solo JMT hiker into our group just past Mirror Lake. This guy was completely burned out, at the end of his endurance, and still carrying a super-heavy pack. Very unsteady on his feet. This was also just after the monster deluge that had inundated the mountain and wrecked the Portal parking lot. This guy had some familiarity with the trail and knew the longest water crossing was coming up at the North Fork, and was fretting about it due to his pack weight and fatigue. He also knew that it would be flowing much heavier than normal due to the storms. He clearly did not like water crossings.
When we got to the Old Trail junction, I asked him if he'd like to completely bypass the North Fork crossing headache. He looked at me like I was crazy, but as we started down the Old Trail he fell in behind us. He did have a little difficulty negotiating the un-maintained, rocky trail, but when we quickly reached the Portal lot the look of relief and amazement on his face spoke volumes.
"You can bet I'm gonna remember that shortcut!", he said.
