r/JMT

Planning on doing SOBO from Red Cones trailhead through Whitney, over 14 days. Although I have good experience backpacking, with my longest trip a week and 70 miles long, for the past couple years I've just been focusing on strength training. I almost bailed on the trip because I was worried about my physical conditioning and the real possibility of losing muscle. I'm in great shape and at a healthy weight. What can I do planning wise to both prepare myself physically and mentally? Any other folks who primarily focus on strength training can share their experiences on trail?

Another concern is food availability. With my activity, I have to eat a high volume of food to stay satiated and not hangry. On the trail, I simply can't afford the space/weight for that much food. Are there specific foods to bring that are super filling, or will I just need to accept the fact that I'll be hungry, even though calorie needs are met?

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

We have a SOBO permit for beginning of sept. Unfortunately we did not list all of us (3 in our party) as a part of the original lottery application. So there is only one name on the permit. That person will be able to pick up the permit and we will hike together. But what happens if the permit holders needs/wants to bail after 70 or 100 mikes (or whatever) and two of us want to keep going including mt whitney. Will the rangers check and hassle us?

We have a SOBO permit for beginning of sept. Unfortunately we did not list all of us (3 in our party) as a part of the original lottery application. So there is only one name on the permit. That person will be able to pick up the permit and we will hike together. But what happens if the permit holders needs/wants to bail after 70 or 100 mikes (or whatever) and two of us want to keep going including mt whitney. Will the rangers check and hassle us?

We have a SOBO permit for beginning of sept. Unfortunately we did not list all of us (3 in our party) as a part of the original lottery application. So there is only one name on the permit. That person will be able to pick up the permit and we will hike together. But what happens if the permit holders needs/wants to bail after 70 or 100 mikes (or whatever) and two of us want to keep going including mt whitney. Will the rangers check and hassle us?

I did JMT in 22, and am doing it again this year. Because I like to get up early and get going, I tend to eat a quick breakfast. Last time it was basically Pro-Meal bars or Pop Tarts. Neither were that great in the early morning hours as they were usually cold, hard, and just not that appetizing. I'm curious to what you all eat when on trail when you don't want to take the time to heat up anything and is nutritious enough to get your day started on the long climbs.

Has anyone used a trekking pole tent while hiking Mt Whitney? I plan to overnight at trail camp so I can have an early ascent up the switch back.

However, I am nervous because I hear trail camp is very rock and can be very windy. Has anyone used a trekking pole tent at trail camp?

What was your experience?

TIA!

This may be a long shot but I’m wondering if anyone knows of a service wherein someone would hike in my resupply to Kearsarge Pass area this July. I know that packers will bring it up to Charlotte lake junction but I thought I heard somewhere of a person who did this as a business. I may be dreaming this up :)
I will be North Bound and at Charlotte lake on July 17th. If someone is keen on splitting the fee for the packers to come up I would also be interested in that!
Happy Trails to all :)

Still haven’t bought a pad, I have a nice quilt but looking to find a way to make it a little warmer. Maybe going warmer on the pad or getting a sleeping bag liner to reduce drafts. Do you guys think I’ll be okay?

leaving late june ending after july 4th. doesn't include food or water weight.

https://lighterpack.com/r/cca8po

Looking to see if there’s anyone here who’s done the 1 resupply at Muir trail ranch coming from happy isles.

I’m a fast hiker but also a big hiker so I like to have a lot to eat… seeing how doable that 1 resupply could be.

I did the trail last year and had a slow start but a super quick finish. I feel like I could do it but looking to see other people’s opinions.

Happy trails!

Hey JMTeam - I am planning on having someone meet us halfway through the JMT at Onion Valley. They have agreed to help us with our resupply, and we are looking for the most efficient (and cost-effective) way to get these people our resupply package.

Ideally, we can just drop off our resupply package in a box at the USPS in Independence and have them hold it for 13-14 days (we are happy to pay) until our friend picks it up and brings it to us at Onion Valley Campground (Kearsarge). We don't want to pay shipping if we are driving past the post office anyway and can just drop it off.

My question is, does USPS provide this service? And/or are we overthinking this, and is there a better way to do this?

Thanks so much, first time resupplying and doing the JMT, so any other advice is greatly appreciated.

Best,

Dan

I'm shooting to complete the JMT in 7 days, North Bound. I have seen a few reports/vids on men that have done this. Any women? Not including FKT's, just any record of women that have completed the trail in 7 days or less.

I just grabbed it. I hope the reason you cancelled it was a good one, and not that life has thrown you sideways, or that injury derailed your thru hike. I’ve been going through some tough times, and getting this permit is the first thing that’s happened in a long time that’s given me something really good to look forward to. So whoever else is going SOBO from TM on July 16, I can’t wait to see you out there. And to whoever needed to cancel: thank you. It means more than you know.

How reasonable is this, using the 2 weeks permit system. And advice at all would be lovely. And do we think an ice axe will be necessary.

Interested in perspectives from folks who did MTR to Whitney Portal without resupply in between. I’m planning on getting a BV500, but I’m interested in whether I could get away with something smaller.

- How many days did you take to do this/ rough mileage per day? (Also curious as much of your itinerary as you remember!)
- Approx cals per day? (Or pounds of food per day, however you think of it)
- Which bear canister did you use?
- If BV500, was it too much, or everything barely fit?
- if you went smaller, how did you do it?

I’m familiar w repackaging backpacking meals, cal-dense foods etc. I may end up being limited by having disproportionately more meds with me (can’t be helped, pre-existing conditions).

Since we’re on containers, was reading one of the guides that recommends you pretty much only need to carry 2L water at any time. So for me that’s one dirty bottle 1L, filled and attached to the filter, and one clean smart water filled. Did you find that to be enough? Or should I consider bringing a second clean bottle?

It is early May and getting the logistics done for our hike SOBO starting on 5 July.

Since my brother and I (65 & 67 YO) arrive and start over a holiday weekend it required making reservations for flights, rooms and buses to be made early. Flying in from Philadelphia to Reno, taking the Eastern Sierra Transit bus to Mammoth Lakes, overnight at the Holiday Haus, then the YARTs bus in the am to Yosemite NP.

Doing resupplies at Toulumne Meadows Post Office, Reds, stopping at VVR (without resupply there), MTR and Mt Williamson Motel.

Next will be finish purchasing of our food and getting it mailed out in late May and early June.

Taking are time, the plan to be on the trail for @ 30 days.

Hope to meet you all on the trail. I go by Fathertime.

Hi I just had to cancel my two person permit for may17-30 starting at happy isles, pasy Lyv(donohue pass eligible). Unfortunately my boss did not approve of my PTO. I hope someone is able to find use of this!