Another August JMT First Timer.

Looks like a good list. A couple things…

Ditch the stuff sack for the sleeping bag – just stuff it into the trash liner. Consider using a lighter ground cloth like polycyro or no ground cloth at all. Definitely take sunglasses – protect your eyes. Personal choice but I'd ditch the deodorant.

Also, try to get out on an over-nighter before your trip. It will help you figure out if something isn't working well. Give that ridge rest pad a try as well and make sure it works for you.

First off, just post a list without mentioning the necessary diabetes stuff. No use posting it or even counting it up if you NEED it. So I'd just look at it like that.

I personally wasn't super happy with trash compactor bags for multi-day trips of a week or more, so I bought a zpacks cuben liner. Try it out though, huge soaking rain storms you can't hide from and last all day are few and far between here. For the sprinkles I see way more often you barely need even a trash bag. The problem I had was with slits in the garbage liners.

I don't need a spare pair of shorts when I hike. Hell I don't really even need undies if they have a liner in them. What I do is just at night wash them while in my sleeping pants. I don't mind hanging out in sleeping pants.

16oz of fuel really depends. I brought 17 oz of fuel for myself, boiling with about 1.5 a night in my cat stove. I didn't have enough for hot breakfasts and tea, so I wish I would have brought a bit more. For you and two people you may want to bring extra fuel, or maybe your stove is far more efficient.

My JMT rule for filtering is that if it's a fast moving stream I dont filter, unless there are animals poo'ing upstream of it or campers upstream. It's also good to visually inspect for bigger critters (I had that happen 3 times this trip).

Benadryl makes me want to sleep man. Have you ever tried zyrtek? Amazon sold me a 365 or some such bottle for $30 that's kept me happy.

Pinecones: Actually Clelland means the tiny baby ones that are a bit softer. The smooth rock thing works well. In a pinch a stick even helps. What you're really after though is grass, or some big soft plants. I've done it two years in a row and haven't minded or looked back. I prefer it. Using some soap after actually feels way cleaner, and is, because duh, it's soap. You just need 1-2 drops for bathroom time, 3-4 for cleaning hands.

I bring a tiny bottle of soap, but only really use it for bathroom time and before meals. I feel very clean after having bandana washed with just water, provided my clothes are clean too. 4oz seems like way too much soap, but I understand that having come from using body wash in the shower it seems reasonable.

I'm 26/220lb and ate 3600'ish calories a day, losing 10lb over 19 days. I think everyone just loses weight on these trips. Nutella, peanut butter, olive oil (to add to dinners) are all amazing calories/ounce.

cut toothbrushes almost always suck to use.

since you're bringing a ballcap any headnet works very well. I use a coughlan's (something like that) that was $8.

Sunrunner is a pretty good hat. I got burned on the bottom of the back (on my neck) as there was a little gap. This year I took a Kavu Chillba and couldn't have been happier. My problem with the sunrunner was the sound it made while walking, sort of like when you have your jacket hook up. That fabric rubbing noise. I wanted something off of my ears so I got a dif hat. To each their own.

Have an epic trip! Evolution Lake: When you first hit it, just stay there and sleep. The sunset has a beautiful alpenglow, and sometimes there are deer. There was one a week ago.

Cheers

Thanks. Ya I already noticed the noise with having the sun runners cap.

Do you think the 2L platypus is enough water storage for Late August/Early Sept of what I hear is a dry year???

I was also considering taking some sort of pocket guide book. Do you think a guidebook will help out enough to be worth its weight?

Mitch – Jumping in with both feet, first overnight trip is a 21 day hike! You're in for a real treat.

+1 — "Also, try to get out on an over-nighter before your trip. It will help you figure out if something isn't working well."

Trash compactor bag – I assume you mean pack LINER, not pack COVER. It will shred on the outside, and there's no need to keep the outside of your pack dry anyway – you just need to keep the inside dry, ESPECIALLY your wool top and long johns and down stuff. Trash compactor great on the inside of the pack – I've been using them for years, one bag treated with a modest amount of care easily lasts me an entire six week long trip.

Ditch the ground cloth.

Ditch the spare running shorts. And I'd recommend you'd bring light rain pants instead, they'll work for rain and for evening warmth. Given that you don't have a lot of experience as a backpacker, I recommend being conservative in terms of preparing for things that could cause you trouble. It's absolutely true that weather in August is *usually* clear and dry and beautiful. But I've certainly had a few serious storms in August in the High Sierra, and it could happen to you. A friend had a 68-hour August monsoonal storm in the Kern drainage – very unlikely, but as a beginner you might err on the side of being over-prepared for safety.

Gloves – Bring a lightweight pair of "liner" gloves. Expect night-time temps in the 30s.

Sunglasses – reduce risk of cataracts, personal choice.

Ditch the head net. Given the anemic snow pack this year, bugs should be essentially done by mid-August.

Camp suds – 4 oz? — whoa, way too much. I don't carry ANY soap in wilderness areas. Never ever use soap where it will enter surface water. Wet wipes or a little alcohol are a better option for health related hygien. Don't worry about body odor and filth – that's just part of the deal.

Deodorant – Arid Extra Dry Cream, transfered to a tiny pill container, will weigh 0.1 oz. Same for Body Glide.

Rope/cord – a short length of light cord might come in handy

Food – There's a ton of info on these forums about food, you can learn a lot by browsing. One data point — Jim and I each eat 26 oz per person per day while backpacking, strongly skewed toward foods with HIGH FAT CONTENT since fat is 9 calories per gram while carbs and protein are only 4 calories per gram. Therefore you'd need to take ~2 oz of noodles or oatmeal to get the same oomph you'd get from ~1 oz of fatty food. Chocolate, cheese, salami, nuts are staples. Choose high-fat crackers, cookies, bars instead of the low-fat varieties. Pack the heat-sensitive food inside your pack such that it is buried inside clothes/sleeping bag so it doesn't melt/spoil. We don't cook, but that's a personal choice. It's easier not to cook, it doesn't attract as many bears, you don't have to mess with dirty pots, and cooking doesn't add any calories, just adds water. Fatty foods don't need water added. Take enough protein, focus on fatty foods for calories, and reduce the carbs to whatever it takes make you happy. All that said – the type of food you'll find appealing is very personal, and you'll learn that over time via trial and error.

Last year I took a 1L water bottle, and a 2L platypus (only used for "in camp" (dishes, laundry, cooking, whatever)). This year I did the same thing. Fewer streams, but you just fill the bottle when you're getting low. I think I only had 1-2 stretches where I ended it empty thinking "thank (#*#, a steam!". I think on the JMT any "danger" for lack of water would be pretty hard to come by in July/August. So, to answer your question, even in apocolyptic JMT conditions, I'm wagering 3L capacity is far too much to be full when hiking, so you're perfect with that and don't need more. I wouldn't ditch the platy either, it's nice to have for camp water.

The guidebook doesn't really help given you're taking maps in my opinion. This is a personal choice. It says things like exit points (which I'm sure you can write down and print), what kind of trees you're going through, and sets up an expectation of your day. Essential? Definitely not. Oh and I occasionally used it in spots like Rae lakes for campsite recommendations, where I knew there were a ton and was looking to find which part might have the better ones. You could, I suppose, also just walk around for five minutes.

If you want to be reeeally weight conscious though you can nab a kindle and take as many books as you want for the same weight (at 21 days you'd want to bring a charger too). That's what I did. The kindle keyboard 3g lets you web browse anywhere you get signal (Lake Edison JMT side, some spots in Tuolumne by the road, red's meadow resort). Note – the touch version has 3g and a browser, but it only lets you get wikipedia and shop amazon.

"Camp suds – 4 oz? — whoa, way too much. I don't carry ANY soap in wilderness areas. Never ever use soap where it will enter surface water. Wet wipes or a little alcohol are a better option for health related hygien. Don't worry about body odor and filth -"

the 4oz is for me and the other person travelling with me.

It is mainly for washing hands as I hear it works better then hand sanitizer, although that could have just been 1 persons .02 cents.

Would you recommend splitting a 2oz bottle and then getting a 2oz hand sanitizer? It seems like it would just be the same thing.

Hard to wash your hair with hand sanitizer and difficult to wash your hands with soap if you don't have water to spare. So yes, a little of each is the way to go.