July 3-8th: 80-90 mile, partial cross country Sierran trip. EPIC!

Jack,

Leaving your car in Escalon is not a problem.

I've never been in the Sierra's "without" a bear can. It will be nice to leave it at home.

I'm thinking of bringing LOPSAK OPSAK odor proof bags ($13 for three 20" x 12.5" bags at REI) and sleeping with my food. Thoughts? However, I'll also bring some chord for marmot hangs just in case.

As Jack noted, all hangs will probably be from cliffs since we will be above the treeline.

"As Jack noted, all hangs will probably be from cliffs since we will be above the treeline."

Yellow-bellied marmots just love to climb rock for food. They have very small rock shoes, and they can climb 5.7 or so. They've learned also that they don't have to score the food bag directly. They can just chew the cord and they win it all. Better take steel wire rope.

–B.G.–

My thoughts?

I think that OP sacks aren't worth much. Bears can smell food inside a can. The bear rangers in Yosemite also say that OP sacks don't do anything to protect food from animals. We're not dealing with bears, but…

Just want to double check our plans with everyone as I get a menu together. I'm totally flexible if any of my figurin' is off…

Tuesday night: Dinner at the trailhead. Are we hiking in right away or can I count on eating food from my car (i.e. a burrito, cold pizza, etc.)…Don't know how close we'll be to the cars for this meal.

Wednesday: Same question: is breakfast at the trailhead, near our cars, or should I pack some trail food for breakfast? Lunch/Dinner obviously on the trail.

Thurs-Sat: Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner (+snacks) on trail

Sunday: Breakfast and lunch + snacks on trail, but I'm assuming we'll be out for dinner on the road home.

Let me know what everyone's thinking…Mainly just curious where we'll be on the first night and next morning to pack accordingly.

If we don't know what we're doing, that's fine, I'll plan on trail food for all these meals….

Good questions Craig.

I'm going to make the call and say that we're camping at the trailhead on Tuesday night. Us Norcal folks have a long drive and will be arriving pretty late (10-12pm?). We'll eat a restaurant meal on our way in.

Hiking starts early on the 4th. 8am? Cold pizza for breakfast would make me jealous. I hear it's good altitude acclimatization food ;)

At the end of the trip, you're right. Bring breakfast and lunch. Dinner will be on the road. I suspect that we'll camp on the west side of the return pass, wake up early and eat a late group lunch in Bishop on the way out.

How about shelters… normally, I'd figure we'd all have solo shelters. Anyone thinking otherwise? Any non-snorers carrying a multiple person shelter and want to split the weight? I'm not terribly tempted to shack up, but if it drops my shelter weight from 1 lbs. 3oz. to sub eight ounces, I'm tempted.

GPS units. Who's bringing one?

Everyone be prepared for nasty, stormy weather. It can get brutal up high. I'm crossing my fingers for blue bird skies but will be prepared for raging thunderstorms.

Cool. An XL supreme pizza might be in order for dinner and breakfast then…

Shelter:
Can't help you on the weight there…will likely go solo.
Curious, what are you carrying Jack?

GPS: have an older one, but rarely ever carry it. I'm not too GPS savvy, no maps loaded on it, though I can use it fine to get UTM map coordinates. Wasn't really planning on carrying it, but if nobody else has one…

I do also have a Fastfind PLB…Wasn't planning on carrying it either, but if it makes anyone feel better, I don't mind packing it.

I'll likely bring my Golite Shangri-La 1 or one of my Shires Tarp Tents.. Pitching a tarp might be a pain on this trip. What are you sleeping under?

I've got a decent GPS that I can bring if no one else volunteers. Anyone plan to geek out with their GPS? They're a good backup tool in low visibility cross country. I think we should have one along.

I'm bringing my SPOT, but carry your PLB if you plan on using it.

What are you guys thinking regarding food / cooking?

Specifically, I don't want to be the guy sucking safflower oil all day from a hydration bladder (see link below) while everyone else is making gourmet food.

Similarly, I don't want to be the guy who everyone has to wait for because they spend so much time cooking, cleaning, etc.

Are we all willing to go "no cook" for this trip?

Morning coffee?

Boiling water in the evening only?

Thoughts?

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/unsupported_john_muir_trail_speed_record_attempt.html

I plan on cooking simple dinners, mostly just boiling water for ramen and freeze dried, eat out of the bag stuff.

Mornings I like coffee, but usually cold breakfast.

I'll wake up extra early to get my coffee if need be…that's non-negotiable :)

Daytime I typically just do bars, nuts, cheese, jerky, tortillas, etc. No cook stuff that I can eat on the fly or with minimal breaks.

I like food. I cook in the evenings and stop for a lunch break. I generally don't cook breakfasts.

Morning speed and efficiency will probably depend on what our goals are for that day. I don't think we're doing any extremely long days that will require being hiking before 7am.. Morning coffee drinkers can be accommodated. I tend to be "efficient" in the morning and like to get moving in about half an hour, but right now our trip plan seems to have a little casual basecamping/peak bagging/day hiking in it.

I'm in a similar boat as Craig as far as food… Cold breakfast but coffee, snacks etc throughout the day, dirtbag easy freezer bag dinners.

I'm flexible on the morning joe…either first thing or an hour or two of hiking and then coffee break.

Shelter for me is a duomid.

In case anyone can't do this trip but is interested in something equally epic, check out a trip I'm organizing:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=65280

Guess i should check in here more often now that its getting close!

TT Moment, check. (hopefully stays in the pack)
No canister, check.
Marmot food hang, check.
No cook breakfast, check.
Storm-ready, check.

This pretty much covers all the questions i had. Did I miss anything? I still had all my food packed from a recently aborted mission, so I'm half way there already. I have no GPS or PLB to offer, unfortunately. For maps I was planning on bringing my Harrison's kings canyon map or something like that.

I remember swimming in Wanda lake last year and looking up a cobbled draw to the shattered peaks to the west and thinking, "I wonder what's up that way?"….

Dave T,

Here's the plan for the Bay Area people meeting up with Jack in Escalon.

I work in downtown Oakland next to the 12th Street BART station and plan to drive to work on Tuesday. Google says the drive from Oakland to Escalon is 1.5 hours so if we meet around that BART station around 1:30 pm we should have plenty of time.

sent you two PMs… thanks!

I'm pretty excited about this.

Weather forecast looks great.