2010 John Muir Trail Gear List

Water treatment?

How much food per day? Longest time between resupply?

Weight of fuel?

Weight of first aid?

This is a good list.

Looks good to me.

On the water filter note, I wouldn't carry one. I've always thought that the sources are so good that Aqua Mira drops alone were good enough- if they're even necessary. For cooking I just used boiled water and AM for drinking.

The only things I'm carrying that are much different than you (weight-wise) are:
1. Shelter: Shangri-La 3 (23 oz.). Last time I was on a longer Sierra trip I hit 3 days of serious rain/storms. I had a small tarp…that really sucked for prolonged rain. I decided to carry the Shangri-La this time; a total 1 man palace in bad weather- lounging, cooking, etc.
2. I'm carrying less sleeping pad: GG Thinlite with a GG Niightlite. Saves ~10 oz. over your setup, kinda makes up for the shelter weight.
3. Golite Jam2 pack. Something a few ounces lighter might be nice but spending money to shave a few ounces off a perfectly good pack is silly to me.
4. Clothes: aside from worn (t-shirt, running shorts, hat) I don't carry spares except one pair of socks. Packed clothing: Driducks suit (doubles as wind shell/mosquito protection in camp), patagonia Cap 1 top and bottoms, Montbell Thermawrap jacket, thin gloves, balaclava, headnet. It seems some of your clothing is redundant- but at your low weight, who cares if it's how you're comfortable?

Forgot to mention; I'm referencing the gear I'll be carrying for the JMT starting July 1, 2010.
…still waiting to find out if an axe might be prudent for early July. Last time I brought one in July it was a glorified potty trowel…but that was a lighter snow year than 2010. But the July a few years prior had a few spots where one would've been nice (Forester Pass early morning).

I wouldn't carry that much in extra clothes. Call me crazy but I did the same trip with extra socks, Cap3 top and bottom and a barclava. If I did it today I would also add a windshirt.

Drop the spare shorts and i would drop the pants or the rain wrap. talus pants are crazy water resistant

drop 2 top layers, u have 2 tees, a l/s hoody, wind shirt, rain shell and down jacket. u could survive with, 1 tee, wind shirt, rain shell and down sweater. I did the west coast trail with 1 wool tee, wind shirt and rain shell and it got to 30C in the day and 4-5C and night

-Nix the groundsheet. You have a bivy. Save 1.6oz
-Bivy– make sure that this is needed for your trip (bugs/adverse weather)
-You could save an ounce or so by pairing down your stake set– there is no need for 10.
-Nix the pad and get a torso length CCF pad. Save 6.4oz.
-Nix the Spintex stuff sack and stuff your bag directly into your pack. Save 0.01oz

-Weight on Hygine/FAK? Nix the vaseline– I can't see a need.
-Does the MLD not come with a sturnum strap whistle? If so nix the one you have listed. Save 0.3oz
-Nix one microlight. Save 0.27oz
-Nix cell phone and charger, save 5.1oz

-REI Ti pod+lid is a lot of pot if you are just boiling water. Consider pairing this down to something smaller and lighter. A SP 600 with foil lid will save you 1.5oz
-Not familer with the JMT, but is there really a need for 4L of water capacity? Just take two liters. Save 1.6oz.

-Nix the balaclava, the beanie will be fine. Save 1.7oz
-Nix the spare running shorts. Save 4.4
-Nix one pair of socks. Three is excessive. Save 2oz
-Nix the MH Pants. If your legs get cold in the shorts, wear your silk tights under them. Save 12.9oz
-Nix the Sun shirt– just wear either your Impulse hoodie or MH wicked T for hiking in. Save 2.9oz by nixing the sun shirt from your worn list and 4.4oz from your carried list by wearing the Wicked Lite T– even more if you wear the Impulse.
– Nix the shirt (MH Wicked or Impulse) that you decide not to wear. (One baselayer, windshirt, down jacket, driducts, warm hat, gloves and sleep wear are all that you need). Save 12.4oz.
– Nix Rain wrap– running shorts and silk tights dry out quickly. Save 3oz.

I have basicaly paired your clothing carried list down to 32.2oz. Saving 40.5oz

Total savings: 58.28oz/3.6LB– you now have a sub-10lb base-weight.

I would say this is necessary for the end of the trip if you are going to be picked up, but I can't imagine you getting a signal anywhere on the JMT except for the top of Whitney. I don't recall getting much of signal between Whitney and Donahue Pass. Anyone have any other experience with this?

You should know that 911 calls will often go through even if you don't have much of a signal – they get priority from all the networks. Hopefully you wouldn't ever need to call 911 (self-rescue and all that jazz), but carrying a cell phone in your pack, switched off to conserve battery power, might be a good idea even if you don't have great signal.

Thanks all for the insight:

Food: My current plan is to leave from Happy Isles (assuming I get a permit) with only the food I need to get to TM (it makes sense to me to not carry extra food up and out of the valley). Resupply in TM, stop at Red's for lunch, stop at VVR for a day to enjoy the experience and eat, and pick up final resupply at MTR. Longest stretch should be the last 6-7 days. I have a BV450 already but I'm thinking I'll rent a Bearikade Expedition. I'll be only heating water at night and maybe a few times in the morning for tea or breakfast. I need to finish up the gear and travel plans before turning my attention to food over the next month.

Cell phone: I need to take this for the beginning + end of the trip and to make my wife feel better. Otherwise, I'm hoping that it stays buried in the pack!

Clothing: this is definitely where I can lose some ounces, especially on the headwear (hoodie, balaclava + microfleece hat) and shirts.

Thanks again for your comments!

Steve, My itinerary was similar. I did not spend a night at VVR, but I sent a re-supply there and it was great only to have to carry a small supply of food to MTR. VVR has a convenient satellite phone with a small per minute charge. There was no cell phone reception after Red Meadows. I did call home from The Portal. (verizon)

I rented the Expedition Bearikade and was glad to have it as it was full when I left MTR with 8 days of food! As it emptied down, I used the extra space to store other gear which helped keep my pack balanced.

Random thoughts:
Use the bivy as your ground cloth wether you are inside it or not.
My SpinnTwinn has tie-outs for 12 stakes.
Sun Hat, beanie,balacava,hoodie = a lot of head cover! Hoodie and beanie do the same job.
Dura gloves and Mitts? Mitts should do it. or gloves and water-proof shell.
1 pr of shorts. The rain wrap should keep them dry
I use Golite rain pants as my long pants, even in town and the flight home! They are also a nice warm layer around camp.
I carry a signal mirror (have an old CD?) There is plenty of sun along the JMT!
Chris says, "(One baselayer, windshirt, down jacket, driducts, warm hat, gloves and sleep wear are all that you need)." I added a long sleeve shirt layer to hike in for sun protection and a comfortable shirt for the evening.

Be prepared for an overload of beautiful scenery.

Lots of good comments so far. Here's my two cents.

Late July and early August will have heavy mosquitoes this year, so plan your gear accordingly.

NeoAir-short pad (lighter and oh so comfy)

You mention cell phone to keep your wife happy. It is more likely to make her anxious, because you'll rarely if ever be able to use it to call her and she might think you forgot about her. Two options to reassure her: Spot Tracker; ask exiting hikers to send her an email. You won't need a cell phone at the end of the trip to get picked up, because there will be 100 other people in the Whitney Portal parking lot and most of them will loan you a phone (if there is reception) or give you a ride down to Lone Pine.

You'll never be >1 hour between water sources, so you don't need that much capacity.

I, too, would skip the filter and use Betadine or Aqua Mira.

Similar to other comments, you don't need that much clothing.
2 pairs socks, or 3 if you want a pair for sleeping.
long johns, shorts, rain pants
warm weather hiking shirt (you call "sun shirt")
zip turtleneck base layer
windshirt
one insulating layer on top (Montbell Thermawrap or WMFlash jacket or Cocoon or equiv.)
rain coat or wrap or poncho or whatever
light gloves, one warm hat/balaclava, visor

Good luck have a great trip.

Steven, I thru-hiked the JMT in 2008 with a Frontier Pro filter and loved it. My recommendation is to leave the Aquamira drops at home. I brought a 1 liter plastic bottle and screwed the Frontier Pro onto it,and drank through the straw. No chemicals and no waiting. Have a great trip!

Can't comment on the water quality on JMT, but the caveat is that the Frontier Pro only filters out the big stuff and not the bacteria or viruses, hence why I would always take MicroPur (or similar) on every trip.

FWIW, 30L of MicroPur weighs 0.9oz– worth it if you ask me.

I'm also hiking the JMT this year. Starting from Happy Isles the afternoon of August 15, and topping out on Whitney at dawn on August 29. Most likely not passing through Trail Camp, which I hear is an ecological disaster area. Instead, I am heading south on the Crest to Sky Blue Lake for the night, then on the morning of the 30th dropping down to the Meysan Lake drainage to the Portal.

My gear list is here:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AlDTX1jCn4MddGI3dEYzTTRkTFJ2eGFpWFRwMDZyelE&hl=en#gid=0

Base weight five pounds heavier than yours, but looking at where I was two years ago (column D), I've come a long way! This spreadsheet also contains the analysis I did of various lightweight options as I pared weight, as well as notes on food and what is going in my resupply packages (sending to Tuolemne and VVR).

Let me know what you think (anybody)!

Dave Pex

I completely agree szykg szykg, especially the part about the Bikini.

What the……?

David, your spreadsheet was not accessible..

David,

Google is not allowing me to look at your spreadsheet. Do you need to change authorizations for that document?

Daniel

Sorry about that, I have updated privileges to allow all to view.

Dave