JMT food and resupply

Breakfast – 600 calories
Lunch – 750 calories for cliff bars, plus 800 in almonds

That's 2150 calories.

So if you've got 900 calories in you dinners, you're set.

You might lose a little weight, but you won't notice it.

What do you mean you are "dropping a package at TM"? Where, or to who? If you leave it in the bearbox, you might find it gone, rangers will confiscate it (I hear) and you will have to go to them to get it back. You cant drop it off at the PO either, unless you actually mail it.

Id resupply at TM , Reds Meadow, VVR , and MTR. Why? Why not? Simply because you can, and it makes your hike easier for what, $10 shipping for a 2 day drop at Reds and VVR.

You wont starve. I would throw in a lot of junk snack foods. My day often goes like:

Breakfast – something quick to get on trail , about 400 cal
Mid morning- granola with Nido, and jerky or bacon
Lunch – tortillas with peanut butter or pepperoni, and Peanut MMs
Mid afternoon- trailmix
Dinner – pasta side/tuna or MHouse meal spiked with olive oil, fudge brownie or snickers.

Your menu ought to work but the lunches do sound boring. I'd add some dried fruit – and of course, some chocolate.

I would go for Tuolumne (mail it), reds, and MTR. To me the side trip to VVR is longer than I'd want, and resupplying at MTR gives you the shortest last leg – which tends to matter because it can be a challenge to get all the food for the last leg into your bear canister.
Put some goodies in for sure – canned peaches is what I'd go for, and maybe cookies. Whatever you like as long as it's not perishable. At reds and Tuolumne you can buy goodies and more. Tuolumne has the grill – get a burger and an ice cream cone, why not! Red's has great milkshakes.
At MTR the buckets of food people have left make for interesting grazing – you could resupply totally from the buckets if you were willing to eat whatever, as there's usually a lot of stuff but mostly boring stuff.
For efficiency it's nice if you can hit the resupply spots at a mealtime and eat right there – that's a meal you never carry. I ended a day at Tuolumne (burger at the grill); arrived at Red's at lunchtime – lunch at the cafe; and hit MTR at lunchtime.

Pablo,

I am thinking you should be OK leaving it in a box at TM. I have done this dozens of times when parking there. You just need to leave it in one of the boxes near the parking lots on the north side of the road – there are many along the dirt road that turns into the trail to Glen Aulin. It may be a bit of a special case there, but of course you are supposed to take all the "smellables" out of your car before a day trip or a short backpacking trip. If you leave a note attached saying the date on which you will "get back" you might be ok. Especially as it would only be there a couple of days.

I suppose in theory you should have your license plate number included to verify. I've always wondered what would happen if I paid the "postage" but just delivered a package to a post office by hand to be picked up later what they would do – probably laugh in my face. Anyone ever tried this?

With VVR only running the ferry at 945 am this yr, while it runs, it could be a bit out of the way. Im planning on it being a 12 mile round-trip detour due to this. But that detour will get me not just a resupply, but 2 nights in a bed, and one day of doing nothing but laying around, reading, and eating myself silly.

You can also do the alt route, apparently. Personally haven't done it before, but am planning on trying it this summer for giggles. They will give you a ride from the resort (for $10 I think) to the Bear Creek trail head and you can take that route from VVR back to the JMT. No ferry ride, shorter, and you avoid all the switchbacks south of the ferry landing. If you are going to be in VVR anyway an option.

A few thoughts…

Yes, dried blueberries!!! Yum. A bit "jam-like" in flavor aot fresh blueberries, but still really tasty.

I agree that you need more variety. Honestly, after a week, you won't want to look at a Cliff bar again! Get some mixed nuts, some tamari almonds, some un-shelled pistachios (Trader Joe's), etc. And don't forget your favorite junk food, like Cheetos, or Cheese-its or candy bars…

I'd recommend using TM (mail it — it's not worth the gamble), Red's, and MTR (although their fee is usury!). But you may want to add a final resupply in Independence via Kearsarge Pass, so you can avoid the long carry. That's what I'm doing…but it is a 7.5 mile detour off the JMT (albeit in one of the more stunning areas of the Sierras).

In defense of MTR and their package handling cost, it is the only place where the resupply has to be packed in by mule for more than 5 miles. Also location, location, location. :-)

So I work at MTR over the summers and thought I need to chime in to defend the cost of their resupply fees…

When Someone mails a resupply bucket to us…

Someone has to drive from Florence Lake to Shaver Lake to pick up and load the buckets(about a 2.5-3 hour round trip) We normally pick up 100-200 buckets at least once a week during peak season.

Once the buckets arrive at Florence Lake they are unloaded and loaded from the vehicle into a boat or onto pack animals and brought across the lake. Many times this takes multiple trips

Once on the other side of the lake the buckets are unloaded and reloaded from the boat onto a large Unimog (old military style 4×4 truck). Once loaded they are driven for about 2 more hours on a GNARLY 4×4 road to MTR.

Once at MTR they are unloaded a final time, categorized, and organized into the storage building.

So…for your bucket to reach MTR it is traveling with us for 4-5 hours and is loaded/ unloaded four different times. Also keep in mind we do this with hundred of buckets a week.

In my opinion, as someone who has hauled many many many of those buckets, I would have to say the price is very reasonable.

But you could always hike out 12+ miles one way and have someone meet you at Florence Lake with your resupply, or have someone hike in your resupply to you.

ANYWAY….Ill keep an eye out for your bucket Pablo :)

Oh….and you may want to check, but I am pretty sure the VVR Ferry will not be running at all this summer.

What do they charge?

$65 per package.

$1 an ounce for alcohol.

Between 8 am and 5 pm.

"Hikers can't use the restrooms. Sorry …."

yeah, the restroom bit was a little off-putting I have to say.

They'd make a FORTUNE if they had a coke machine.

Just saying.

"$1 an ounce for alcohol."

I thought it was a bit suspicious how much they encourage you to by fuel there. :-0

I caved and rented a cabin. Been trying to get my neighbors to come to alleviate some of the guilt. But unfortunately they don't want to do the hike (in their 70's)

The ferry from VVR will only run (1) time a day–9:45 am

So thanks for all the advice y'all. How about the coffee tho, I'm sure its been discussed before but I just cant seem to bring myself to VIA… Also do we really think putting a bag in the bear boxs @ Toulumne for 2 days is presumptuous of me to think it will be left alone?

Also I'm thinking of mailing to Reds and forgoing the deadline of the ferry at VVR. Timelines and deadlines seem counter to the whole experience, also on principle I prefer to stay on my feet.

Pablo,

If you're worried about caching food at Tuolumne, why not mail it to the post office? I don't think they have any exorbitant fees, just the cost a flat rate box. I agree with Valerie – I'll put my faith in the post office.

I'm leaning on skipping a resupply at VVR because of the amount of time it takes to get there and relying on the ferry – seems like a big pain in the butt.

I plan on mailing myself a package at Tuolumne, Red's, and MTR and hoping I survive till Whitney.

I'm doing the same as last year – mailing a box to TM, Reds, and the bucket to MTR. I also stopped at VVR and stayed the night – it was AWESOME!!! My friends who bypassed VVR and instead overnighted at MTR were disappointed at their MTR cabin tho…

VVR rocked.

At VVR you have a WELL stocked store, a great diner, washing machines for clothes, showers and a free backpackers camp. Everything cost $$ but it is worth in my book! VVR is a very isolated location for sure. OH did I mention ICE COLD BEER at the store and diner!!!! 8/12 can not come soon enough.

My eyes went straight to ice cold beer. The seeds of doubt have been planted.

Dammit.

"Someone has to drive from Florence Lake to Shaver Lake to pick up and load the buckets(about a 2.5-3 hour round trip) We normally pick up 100-200 buckets at least once a week during peak season."

And at $65 per bucket that makes someone a nice $6500 to$13k round trip.

Not a bad days work if you can get it.

Still factor in all the other costs associated with your trip, it's not terrible.

I dont think the MTR fee is unreasonable, given your options.

They also, check that all buckets they pick up are on their list and have been paid for, Correspond with you about the payment and confirmation, will ship your bucket bacl to you if dont make it to MTR and want it back, provide secure storage for it for some period of time, allow you to use their property to sort it and repackage it, they take your trash, unneeded items, and dispose of them as well.

Yeah, they could do it for less, but they couldnt do it for nothing, because they dont make any other money off hikers really.

VVR alternate route is not much shorter from what I can tell. It is a bit easier hiking though. Dont know why anyone hiking 220 + miles/46,000 +ft vertical would worry about 2 miles and 1000' vertical difference. But go figure.

Must be the same reason that thru hikers on the AT will hike 2185 miles, but will try for hours to get a hitch at a road crossing to avoid walking a couple miles into town. Because they can, and they dont want to walk any more than they have too.

For some reason I thought VVR was waaaaaaay further than just 2 miles.

Ice cold beer here I come.

I believe VVR is about 6.4 miles from the JMT IF YOU HIKE THERE. If you take the ferry, it's only about 1.5 miles of hiking, then ferry/van ride.