just finished the JMT… a few observations and thoughts

Thanks for the thoughts and your observations. I can say that during my solo JMT last september, the few people I met and spoke with, I wished I had spent more time with. Everyone seemed really engaged with the place and understood how special the sierras and their time enjoying it was. Maybe that was because it was later in the season and more older (I'm 48) were about. A few people I spent a few days camping with and getting to know. THose nights and shared meals are some of my most memorable of the trip.

@ Doug
I agree. let's keep it civil and friendly. It's OK to disagree and debate but give everyone the benefit of the doubt that the language and words they choose are not meant to be antagonistic.

Glad you enjoyed your trip. Regarding the people you met. People are people. Some days in a department store I run into a bunch of jerks. Other days in the same store everyone is wonderful. That's life.

I have found that I meet mostly nice folks when on the trail or when bicycle touring (I bicycle tour a lot more than I backpack). I have not found that how heavy or how light they choose to pack or how fast they choose to go has anything much to do with whether they are nice or jerks, if you give them a chance to be nice. That last is important, if you are have an attitude (positive or negative) about them from he get go it will usually be a self fulfilling prophesy.

To all. My fast comment wasn't intended to judge anyone or try to get anyone to do it my way. It was an attempt to describe my perspective of trail time. Trail time is, FOR ME, a time to savor my surroundings and spend as much time there as possible. Some people like to go fast. Fine with me. I don't necessarily understand why, but so what. As long as I'm not an a$$ about it my opinions about what is MY right way to hike (or anything else) are just my perspectives and are not proposed as THE right way.

By the way, what's wrong with HYOH? That is an honest question, not a challenge.

Jim – a slow, old fart who enjoys being out there, not in here.

when you say it is a 4 letter word it has pretty negative connotations to it doncha think?

the "why" people prefer to go fast have been discussed all over. ever consider that your "fast" is just someone elses "normal" or even "slow" you said "why hurry" which is often said but who said anyone is hurrying?

HYOH goes both ways and a lot of times people who tout it are also hypocritical

Jake…

It appears that you and I agree much more than disagree. I just didn't say it very well.

I would say that for most of the folks on this forum, my fast is their normal or slower. I agree that my comment about four letter word was poorly chosen. The whole point is that each of us should enjoy the hike for whatever reason we're out there and allow others the same freedom to enjoy it for whatever reasons they have. We should also feel free to express those reasons. If it bothers you that I haven't read all the gazillion old forum posts to know that "fast rationale" has been discussed before, I am sorry.

HYOH definitely goes both ways. I have seen hypocrits on both ends of the speed/weight/simplicity spectra. Hopefully I won't be misunderstood as one. Or worse, hopefully I won't be one.

Jim – An apparently not very effective communicator who is a slow (as in unhurried – not pace but approach), light (not Heavy, UL or SUL), simple (not luxury laden or austere or ascetic) hiking, old fart. Just to be clear – the stuff in parentheses is not wrong, just choices that lead to someone else's hike, not mine.

i'll agree to that. mostly how you said it came out bad. now we know what you meant :)

I plan on doing the JMT next summer after I quit work and before I go back to school. I will literally have all summer to do it, and judging on what everyone has said, I will definitley take my time. Fish lots of lakes a climb lots of peaks and ridges.
I also plan on doing it only with mid 19th century-ish gear, should be a very unique experience.

Did you really mean the 19th century (1801–1900)? Or was that a typo?

If you will really be using mid 1800's type gear what will your gear weigh? Just curious.

That sounds awesome. How did you/will you get a hold of all the old gear? I wonder if John Muir posted his gear lists anywhere?

Yeah, more or less that time period. Wool blankets, canvas pack, canvas tarp, wool sweaters, ect. Pretty heavy stuff, but way lighter than a lot of traditional backpackers. 6lb blanket, 3lb tarp, 2.25 lbs in insulative clothing, 2.5lb pack, ect.

The gear shouldn't be too hard to get ahold of. Canvas packs, wool blankets, and canvas tarps can be bought brand new. Some minor stuff that would be extremely difficult to get I might cheat on. I will also need to give in and carry a bear canister.

I'm not going to be hiking around in wool knickers and hob nail boots like I am reenacting something., probably just cotton shorts, leather moccasins, canvas hat.
Sorry, didn't mean to derail the thread. I made a thread about this a little while back
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=66685

Wow! Pretty cool. Doesn't appeal to me personally, but it is an interesting approach. Please report back on your experiences.

We did the JMT in 1971 in the opposite manner as a fast hiker of today. We took 27 days, and had 3 food drops, and 4 layover days. We climbed 17 peaks along the way. The climbers would go climb peaks, and the fishermen would hike on to the destination lake of the day, and start catching fish. The climbers would arrive at camp, clean fish and help eat them. Different then from now:

no permits
no bear canisters
no problems with bears
no stoves
no tents, except plastic tube tents
no goretex
no nylon pants (I did have a nylon shirt)
no water filters, and no problems with giardia
no internal frame packs
no titanium gear
no packs under 60 pounds

I've read of much faster transits than ours, but none that climbed as many peaks.

I went in at South lake this summer (2012) and was surprised at how many old people (my age, 62) were hiking the trails, many of them with the old gear of the 70s and 80s.

"I went in at South lake this summer (2012) and was surprised at how many old people (my age, 62) were hiking the trails, many of them with the old gear of the 70s and 80s."

I've noticed the same thing down in the JMT area. Most people you see are over 40.

You see a lot more 20-somethings and high schoolers in the tahoe rim area

Don, were you the other person having breakfast in Red’s on August 27th?

There was only one other person. He told the waitress that he’d done the JMT in 7 days a few decades ago and was planning on doing it this go around in fourteen days or so. We didn’t talk, but I had a great conversation with the waitress after you left.

I had a great JMT hike. While I’m somewhat fast, I don’t think I fit your description. Didn’t meet anyone overly pompous either.

Nice write up Jack and pictures. 9 days WOW!! Why do you think the trees are dying in the Sierras?

Thanks Jay!

I’m not a scientist, but as a long distance hiker, I’ve seen the tree death first hand.

The Sierra is not unique in this tragedy. Read this article from the USGS: Tree Deaths in California’s Sierra Nevada Increase as Temperatures Rise. My understanding is that warming temperatures, beetles, drier conditions and low level pollution are conspiring to kill the trees.

I’ve been taking photos of dead forests for years. Here is a recent one from this summer.

To this comment: "I've been thinking about doing a thru of the JMT within the next couple of summers and this sounds a little disheartening."

My wife and I hiked the JMT recently, finishing on Sept 24th. I don't recall any trash or t.p. or the like along the trail, nor did I have any but positive encounters with other hikers. Sure, climbing out of Yosemite there are a lot of people on the trail (or there were when we started in early Sept), but I don't recall any unhappiness there either.

We had a great time, with great weather, no bugs, mostly easy access to water (even late in this melted-out-early year), lots of animal sightings, not that many other hikers out there outside of near trail access points, and it's still as starkly beautiful as I remember it from a few years ago. And FWIW, I was comfortable in a 30F bag with some clothes on inside it (YMMV on that one in Sept of course).

Perhaps if you pick one of the shoulder season times to go you might enjoy it better (?). I've never hiked in there in July or August. I can say that going through it southbound in September is a more relaxing experience than hiking northbound in (a typical) June! But either time is, I think, a bit less crowded, and thus perhaps folks might as a result act more … civilized (as opposed to how we too often act in 'civilization').

Well I just off the SHR a few weeks ago and didn't run into anyone who was particularly rude, in fact everyone was really nice. I had just gone over Kearsarge for a day hike and ran into a fellow named Paul who was out for 5 days, we got to talking about families and such and before you know it we had been talking for over and hour! I do find that people disregard nature. Two instances were people using camp suds in pristine lakes (glacier and palisades). I couldn't believe when some guy was taking a bath around the corner and here comes the suds. We were like WTF.

Sometimes I hike fast, sometimes slow. All depends on my mood and schedule/plans. I love the athleticism of running at high altitude with a nimble pack weight. I also like moseying along, orienteering or just checking out every other pool in the creeks. On my last outing in SEKI, my son and I ended up running most of the way from Lake Reflection to Road's End. It just seemed about impossible to stroll or even walk fast. We stopped many times to chat, but sometimes we just blew by folks.

It seems these days there are many different modes of travel in the back country. It used to be fairly much just either hiking or riding. I personally am more put off by someone upset by the hike I've chosen than whether they conform to my expectations for them. The only thing I don't have much patience for is trashing the environs.

I give folks a lot of slack on the trail because of the affect altitude and exertion have on mood and rapport.

And to Susan's encounter, that level of irritability can be a sign of an impending heart attack or something close to it. My family was playing at Muir Rock in SEKI some years back when another father fell into a foul mood. He moved around the rock from us to sulk we guessed. He died there, not 15 feet away and we didn't see it happen. Left behind a wife and two young girls. Now we are all keenly alert for those warning signs. I hope your antagonist fared better.

Just like climbing…"The best hiker is the one having the most fun"

Interesting… I get away from the concrete jungle to *not* run into those personalities :-)

I didn't read all the posts here, but just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents.
This wasn't my experience at all on the JMT in '12. I felt everyone was happy to be there and very respectful of one another. I passed a lot of people, but when I did I'd either wait for them to yield if the trail was narrow or I would go off the trail and around.
I wasn't trying to break a record or anything, but I enjoyed going fast. I'm a trail runner, and was in the middle of training for 50K races when I did the JMT. So, I felt the need to run, and I did at times. I'm addicted to running. It makes me feel great, it makes my experience better. So for the '13 JMT, I'm going to do a smaller section, but I'm going to camp in a few spots and just go on trail runs around camp. For example, camp at Rae Lakes, run up Glenn Pass, down the other side 5-10 miles and then back to camp @ Rae Lakes.
My base weight with a bear can was around 8lb., but I didn't ask anyone what their "base weight" was. But if anyone commented about how effortlessly I ascended to each pass, I praised my lightweight pack – whether out of modesty, or because I wanted them to be able to better enjoy their hiking experiences without the oppressive/excessive pack weight.