I leave in 3 days. I'm so unbelievably excited! Here's my first week of food before my resupply.
Gets me to just about 3k Kal a day. The rest will be supplemented with Sierra trout 😋.
For those who're interested:
Breakfast: Homemade dense hot cereal
Lunch: Ritz crackers, Cheddar and salami
Snacks: Honey Buns, Beef sticks, Prunes, Sweetened mangos, Peanut M&Ms
Dinner: Dehydrated meals
Desert: Candy!
Here's my current packlist for my NOBO hike from Cottonwood lakes on June 29th. My brother and I will be taking 22-25 days to do our modified 290 mile version of the JMT.
https://lighterpack.com/r/pdaw62
Though I have some "ultralight" items, my pack weight still sits at nearly 25lbs and I'm struggling to figure out how to best reduce it. Would like it closer to 20...?
The obvious thought is to do away with my various forms of entertainment (camera, paints, sketching, fishing) but with the 2 or 3 zeros we'll be taking and the relatively light days we agreed on, I wanted to keep things interesting at camp.
As for my footwear:
-I know the boots are massive but I have a history with sprained ankles and shitty foot structure.
-Having the calf-high boots means camp shoes. I think my crocs are so ugly, and excessively heavy so any recs on other camp shoes would be great. (I am reluctant on slides or sandals as they don't really protect feet well)
Please give any critiques and thoughts on my list and what I could change/do away with. Again, I'd like to keep the various entertainments, but please lmk if my 20lbs goal is unrealistic with those items.
Alright, I'm in the stage of planning where I'm starting to figure out what I'm going to eat on trail. My largest constraint is budget, so I thought dehydrating my own meals could be a good idea!
Issue is, I don't have a dehydrator. My vegetarian brother does, and won't let me use any meat in it.
Should I:
A. Screw around with dehydrating in my oven and make all my favorite meat heavy meals? Its lowest temp is 170, i'm worried about spoilage and just the amount of time I'd have to spend being attentive to it.
B. Go vegetarian for meals on the JMT and make my meals in brother's dehydrator? (Would still buy jerky and whatnot) Could be nice to reduce my footprint for the trip, and feel more authentically Muir-y. Just worried about feeling satisfied calorically at the end of the day. And, meat is just such a central part of my current diet.
C. Buy a dehydrator/buy the meals. This would avoid risk of spoilage from messing up with the oven, and i'd still get my meats. Just pricy and the backpacking meals are eh.
I'm just kinda at a crossroads here and need some experience from you folks. thanks
Hello JMT-ers! I will be attempting the JMT NOBO from Cottonwood lakes for the first time with my brother this summer. My start date is in late June. I spent quite a bit of time researching and building our itineraries, and would absolutely appreciate any and all feedback from you all. The first slide is my hiking itinerary and the second is my travel day. FYI, we are both young (20s), quite fit and moderately experienced in hiking and backpacking (though not to this scale of time nor in this neck of the woods).
A few specific questions I have are:
I'd like to avoid paying the mailing fee at MTR, if possible. I know their shop is lacking for hiker food, but how likely is it to score enough food from their hiker bins for the two of us to push to Reds? We'd get there mid July.
I have a slight detour to Iva Bell hot springs, deviating off Fish creek, causing us to miss Purple lake and Duck lake, and eventually finding the JMT again back near Reds. Anyone familiar with that section of trail between Fish Creek and Iva Bella hot springs and all the way up to Reds? Can you please share some wisdom? Other than the hot springs, is that section of trail lacking in any ways visually? What would I be missing from the JMT?
As for transport on day 0: My plan is to drive our car to the trailend at Happy Isles and then make our way to the trailhead at Horseshoe Meadows that same day. It's an absurd travel day, but do you think it would be feasible? I emailed Lone Pine Kurt and am awaiting a response on whether he operates that late in the day.
Thank you! Feel free to share any wisdom :)
Need some help. I have a June 29 Cottonwood Lakes permit. My friends and the internet insist that a quilt is the only way to go, but despite being less material, they're more expensive than a bag? I'm not trying to drop more than $200 on a 20° quilt. Can yall help me out with some recommendations? Thank you 🙏
If I can't find a quilt in my budget, i'm thinking of doing a bag like the Anthracite 20 FireLine Pro or something from Big Agnes.