thru hiking the john muir trail

[Wolfman]

I'm also thinking about doing the JMT this year, probably early June if I can get away from work. No permit so I'll be trying my luck at Tuolumne Meadows, 10 per day on a first come first serve basis. Makes it hard for planning and shipping food to the Ranch. But I don't think they will even be open until the end of June.

What's your resupply plan clean?

[clean]

We are packing light out of Happy Isles, with out BV500s with bulkier (enjoyable) foods like Packit Gourmet. Then we will pick up a couple things at the store in TM. We will mail a box to Red's Meadow with for from there to MTR + about 4 liters of extra food. Our big result is MTR with 20 liters in a single bucket. That plus the extra from Red's will fill our 23 liters as we exit MTR, hopefully with a little extra from the hiker barrels there.

We really don't know what our pace is going to be like. We are fine with the weight and can do 15 mile days without a problem but we've not done them more than three days in a row and never at altitude, so we want 10-11 days of food leaving MTR. I suspect we are taking too much food but I'd rather that then running out.

64 days until Happy Isles! I'm suuuuuuuuper-excited.

[clean]

As much as it kills me to say it, we are leaving the hammocks at home. My ZPacks Duplex should arrive in about a week...

Perhaps I will hang it the second time...

[vtaflyer]

Well, Mr. Clean-

How was your trip? I spent some time down in the Golden Trout Wilderness in mid June and water levels were low. Quite warm even at 9k'. I hope you had a successful hike.

[clean]

Hey! It was a great hike other than each night I thought "this would be a great spot to hang at..." If I do the JMT again, I'll definitely take hammock rather than a tent.

We had plenty of water on our trip. I understand they've had a lot of precipitation in the couple weeks we've been off the trail. Lots of snow!

[jonskiles]

Thanks for the info Clean. Were there any spots where you camped (or wanted to camp) where you couldn't have hung? The two spots where I am a little unsure are up in the Evolution Valley area and then the night before going up Whitney. Any info or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. We leave from Tuolumne Meadow on September 12 and are in the final planning stages. Still going back and forth between the tent and hammocks.

[mountain_man_mike]

Evolution Valley should not pose a problem if you plan your stop right. Most camp at or near Guitar Lake before heading up to trail crest, then left to the summit of Whitney and that will be tough hanging for sure. I recommend getting an early start from Guitar Lake so as to get off the summit before the afternoon which is known for electrical storms. The sign at trail crest is rather amusing though.

[clean]

Yep. Evolution and Guitar are the two problem spots. There are trees near Evolution Lake. We spent the night a bit higher at Wanda Lake and there are no trees there.

There are some very nice spots to hang just below Guitar, maybe halfway between the ranger station and Guitar Lake.

When I do this next, I'll bring half of a ZLite pad as a huge, comfortable sitpad and be ready to use that going to ground. Or maybe I'll bring a shorty XLite pad. Either of those would be ~.5 pounds. Spending a couple nights on the ground is not the end of the world, particularly after sleeping on the ground for 3 weeks this first time.

[clean]

Heads-up: there's another discussion about hanging the JMT going on in the West subforum.

[jonskiles]

Thanks! Sounds like you had a great trip.