I am in the early stages of pondering a JMT trip next summer. As I understand it, the standard Happy Isles permit is hard to get.
Am I correct that I can hike it northbound with just a Cottonwood Lakes permit?
My experience has been that Cottonwood Lake permits are fairly easy to get. I don't quite understand why more people don't do it that way. I know it adds a couple days to a 3 week trip, and you hit high elevation right away instead of slowly getting used to it, but those seem like fairly minor issues. Am I missing something, are there other downsides to doing it this way?
