Summer Women’s Gear List for John Muir Trail

[Martha Lawhead]

Does anyone have a gear list for women? Or does it matter?

Four of us are planning to do the JMT starting the 2nd Week of August, taking roughly 23 – 25 days. We won’t be carrying more than 6 days worth of food as friends are hiking in to resupply us.

Most of us backpacked extensively 20 years ago, and still do weekend trips. We all want to go ultralite so we can have a good chance of finishing. We range in age from 48 – 68.

[Colleen Clemens]

mainly, women tend to be colder than men, so we usully require a little more insulation. most “unisex” gear tends to be pretty functional for women, but there are a few items where i have found it is nice to have a women’s model. pants and shirts definitely. sometimes women’s packs are very nice – i have a huge heavy-duty Gregory women’s pack that i use when i have to carry a LOT of gear & food (family trips). it has pretty much the nicest fit i’ve ever had in a pack, too bad it weighs over 6 pounds…

but for the most part, if you can get unisex gear at a good enough price then you don’t need to pay full-price for women-specific gear.

[Shelly Skye]

I’m 53 and hiked the JMT solo two summers ago. I brought
1 super light wind pants
1 tank top to wear in camp and to sleep in
2 pr underwear (1 worn)
1 bra
1 long sleeve poly shirt for hiking
4 pr short nylon socks (2 worn)
1 light wind shirt
1 primaloft jacket (16 oz)
1 pr shorts (worn)
Long underwear tops and bottoms-light weight
Vasque trail hikers
Teva water sandles for water crossings and in camp
light gaiters to keep the crud out of my shoes
Head net and cheap baseball cap
Silnylon poncho (homemade)
fleece hat (homemade)
fleece mittens (homemade)

That’s it for clothes. For other stuff I carried all of it in an Ospry pack. One of their women’s models (I don’t remember exactly which one)and it weighed in at about 3# and a bit. My shelter was a one person Henry Shire tarptent. Great shelter! I had a 30 degree down bag that weighed in at 1# 8oz I believe. A 3/4 length Mt. Washington sleeping pad. For cooking a homemade alcohol stove with one Ti pot and a lexan spoon. Aqua Mira for water treatment and soda bottles for storage.
Oh, and a very heavy bear canister. My base weight was 12 pounds without food and water.

The only major change I have made to this list is to buy a ULA P-1, which I am very happy with and it weighs in at just under 2# with all my extras.

I know this was long winded but I wanted to encourage you all to go for it. The trip was a life time experience for me. In fact, I’m going again this summer!
Good luck!

[Martha Lawhead]

This was very helpful…. thanks so much… looking for a bra… any brands and models you’d recommend?

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