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Created August 7, 2019 03:03
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jmt.md

John Muir Trail (JMT)

I hiked the JMT with sister and parter in July of 2019. These are my assorted notes:

Itinerary

7/18 (9 miles): start in tuolomne meadows, camp below donahue pass
7/19 (10): donahue pass, island pass, camp below island pass
7/20 (12): camp near trinity lakes
7/21 (11): reds resupply, camp near deer creek
7/22 (13): camp near fish creek
7/23 (15): silver pass, camp near bear creek
7/24 (15): selden pass, camp outside muir trail ranch (MTR)
7/25 (11): MTR resupply, camp at mcclure meadows
7/26 (14): muir pass, camp below muir pass
7/27 (13): golden staircase, camp above golden staircase
7/28 (12): mather pass, camp near bench lake
7/29 (15): pinchot pass, camp near rae lakes
7/30 (12): glen pass, kearsarge pass, camp @ onion valley with dad (food resupply)
7/31 (14): kearsarge pass, camp below forrester pass
8/1 (12.5): forrester pass, camp at wallace creek (high sierra trail junction)
8/2 (8): camp at guitar lake
8/3 (15): mt whitney!!!, hike out through whitney portal, get pizza in lone pine

Notes:

  • The topography of the trail determines where camping is available. We usually tried to camp as close to the bottom of passes as possible so we could cross when the snow was hard.

Food

Initial supply: 3.5 days
Resupply 1 @ Red's Meadow: 4 days
Resupply 2 @ MTR: 6 days
Resupply 3 @ Kearsage Pass/Onion Valley campground: 3.5 days

--

Breakfast per day: 2.5 instant oatmeal packets mixed with trail mix, powdered peanut butter, and powdered milk + 1 stroop waffel (or similar) + instant coffee

Lunch per day: 1-2 large tortillas with either (a) 2 peanut butter packets or (b) 2 tuna packets + snack

Dinner per day: 2 servings dehydrated meal + decaf tea + snack

Base snack per day: 2 Clif bars (replaced with Probars on big days)

Other snacks: trail mix, dried fruit, energy bites, gummy candy (haribo), snickers, pay day, peanute m&ms, jerkey, hard cheese (parmesan), crackers

--

Notes:

  • Our initial food planning didn't look exactly like ^^. We settled on this strategy about 1 week into the trip
  • If I were to do the trip again I would just suck it up and carry 9 days of food from the MTR resupply instead of trying to do the Kearsarge Valley resupply
  • I grew tried of sweet snacks pretty fast and was really stoked on the savory snacks. Cheese and jerkey were particular favorites
  • For lunch, the peanut butter was much better than the tuna
  • I became much hungrier after the first week of the trip

Gear

Base weight ~30 lbs
Max weight (at MTR food resupply) ~48 lbs

Clothes

  • 2 shirts (Columbia and Vuori) - didn't need both but was nice to have
  • Hiking shorts (REI)
  • Bball shorts (Adidas) - didn't need but nice to have
  • Hiking pants (REI)
  • Running tights (Under Armor) - barely wore
  • Dry fit long sleeve (Patagonia)
  • Fleece (North face)
  • Puffy jacket (Patagonia)
  • Raincoat (Marmot)
  • Rain pants (Gore)
  • Beanie
  • Baseball hat
  • Buff - awesome for sun protection
  • Sunglasses (Sunski)
  • 3 pair socks (Darn Tough)
  • 4 pair underwear (Adidas) - could have gotten by with 3
  • Mosquito net
  • 50 ft parachute cord
  • Quick dry towel

Wish I had: croakies, gaitors (?)

Toiletries

  • Soap
  • 1 travel toothpaste
  • 2 x bottles sunscreen
  • Toothbrush
  • Bug repellent
  • High spf chapstick
  • 2 x bottles hand sanitizer
  • Deodorant
  • First aid kit
  • Baby wipes (for pooping and cleaning body)
  • Plastic baggies
  • Ranger-supplied wag bag for Whitney Portal

Kitchen Gear

  • Stove (MSR Windburner) - 10/10 would recommend
  • Bowl (GSI Outdoors plastic)
  • Spork (Light My Fire titanium)
  • Cup (Snow Peak titanium)
  • Water filter (Platypus) - would 100% have brought a sawyer instead
  • Pocket knife (Leatherman)
  • Bic lighter
  • Flint and steel

Other gear

  • Boots (Salomon S Ultra Mid) - were OK. The PCT hiker shoe of choice was the Altra Lone Peak.
  • Crocs
  • Backpack (Gregory Baltoro 75) - was comfortable and served me well, but would prefer a lighter pack. Zpacks seemed very popular among PCT hikers.
  • Tent (Big Agnes Tiger Wall UL 3) - Fit 3 people nicely, super light, easy to set up. However, was loud in high winds and not super warm.
  • Sleeping bag (Nemo Kyan)
  • Sleeping pad (Nemo Switchback) - would prefer an inflatable one but $$$
  • Trekking poles (Black Diamond Distance Z)
  • 2 x 1.5 liter water bottles (Nalgene)
  • Drinking reservoir (Platypus) - stopped using midway through
  • Bear can (BV-500) - heavy but Wild Ideas is $$$
  • Micro spikes (hillsound)
  • Map (Tom Harrison) - Tom Harrison maps seemed more accurate but I liked the Trails Geographic map slightly better because it had campsites marked and elevation profiles on every page.
  • Compass (Suunto)
  • Book (Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson)
  • Headlamp (Black Diamond)
  • Battery (Anker)
  • Wall charger and phone cable
  • Phone (Google Pixel 2)
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