Another newbie JMT gear list

[Aaron Madsen]

I’ve never been much for making spreadsheets and weighing out all my gear,  but then again I have never been on a trip quite like this. My longest prior trip was about 60 miles and that was when I was a 13-year-old Boy Scout. I will have my 11 and 13-year-old sons accompanying me on this trip, and so a lot of the gear in my gear list is actually group gear.

I’m  sure that there are a lot of little things that I can do to drop my weight, like cutting down my toothbrush, but there are a few specific areas where I am looking for help. I am probably taking too many clothes, and I am considering swapping out the cook set for something a little lighter. I am also considering swapping out my 30° quilt for a 20° enigma as I tend to run a little cold. I could probably leave some of the clothes home if I made that switch, but I am still on the fence about it. I’m also  considering going to a different method for water filtration. Maybe a steripen with AquaMira as a back up?

There are a few places that I’m not willing to cut weight, like my sleeping pad, or the fishing or camera gear. Thank you in advance for taking the time to look, and for any advice.

https://lighterpack.com/r/2omgv6

 

 

[Ken Thompson]

Do the boys carry any first aid themselves? Your kit is two to three times heavier than what a lot here carry.

[Aaron Madsen]

The boys won’t be carrying their own first aid kits, but there are a few things I could probably take out of it, like the full size Sam splint. It’s mostly medications, tape, a few bandages, small scissors, and tweezers.

[Matthew / BPL]

Yeah, you can cut pounds off that list. I hiked the JMT with my 12 year old son in 2015. I’m familiar with what that is like.

What is your start date? Some of the gear recommendations will change based on when you are hiking.

I question GoPro, camera and iPhone. That’s a lot of camera.

Your sleeping pad is quite heavy. My NeoAir is super comfy and warm at 12 ounces.

You don’t need a groundsheet the Triplex tub is waterproof and durable.

I carry a Maratac AAA flashlight that clips to my visor. It’s a solid headlight for night hiking.

You don’t need 18 ounces of fleece PJs and particularly if you are bringing long underwear. I never wore more than my underwear and a merino 150 long sleeve T at night.

Puffy is heavy and more than you’ll need.

Are you cooking or boiling water? Cook set is heavy.

You don’t need a towel.

Carry a tiny SAK instead of the big folding knife. You aren’t going to baton kindling on the JMT.

You mention cutting handles off your toothbrush… A half ounce off everything quickly adds up to a couple pounds. Ditching the groundsheet and rethinking headlamp is almost a half pound… Leaving some large items at home can drop pounds more.

[Matthew / BPL]

Yeah lose the SAM splint. Have you done NOLS WFA training? Lots of good information about improvising stuff like splints.

[Ken Thompson]

Good advice Matthew

[Katherine .]

GSI Halulite popped out at me. Those little sets are so dang cute, but i don’t understand how they manage to make them so heavy!

And if you’re cooking for three isn’t the Dualist size pot too small anyways?

I’d prolly get an 2+L Ti pot, maybe Evernew, the SnowPeak Ti bowls if you’re feeling spendy, and either Ti mugs or cheap REI plastic camp mugs.

[David Thomas]

What I don’t glean from your post is WHEN you are hiking the JMT.  This year, especially, that will be critical with the deep snow pack.  Regardless, there will be lots of water in the creeks and lots of small streams and springs with flowing water, so water storage is less critical than many years.  If you’re going very early in the season, then maybe 4-point crampons, micro-spikes, etc.

I concur with others that 3.3 ounces of folding knife is more blade and less functionality than a .75 ounce Victorinox Classic.

Burner can’t be lighter than the BRS-3000T you’re planning on, but I’m not even going to Google that cook set at 17.3 ounces to tell you that is too much cook set for 3 people.

It took me a few years to warm to the concept of UV filters but compared to a 5 ounce Squeeze, a 6-ish ounce SteriPen is less bother and back-flushing.

If fishing is fun and a bonding activity, great.  If you plan on reducing calories because of all the fish you’ll catch, don’t.  I’ve known people who could do that.  But they’d fished for hundreds of days in the Sierra and backpacked for many hundreds of days in the Sierra.  They could catch fish that you or I couldn’t.

GPS, Anker battery, GoPro camera, Lumix camera, iPhone7, and Tripod?!?  You know people have done that route, for decades now, with NONE of those?  Route finding?  Get up each morning, head north (or south).  Wash, rinse, repeat.  Unclear on anything?  Ask the next person to come along.  Break your femur?  Ask the next person along (3 minutes later) to hit the panic button on their sat phone.  If you think you’ll take better photos of that terrain than Ansel Adams did (p.s. NOT!), then just bring a 6-ounce digital camera with 1 or 2 extra batteries ($1.68 each on eBay).

Pack, quilt, pad, and tent look good.  That’s great.  Quilt is maybe a little light, but you can wear the long underwear on that one, coldest night.  And while the pad is overkill, those balance each other out.

No PJs.

+1 on the polypro.

[David Thomas]

I’m not much on redundancy on such a well-traveled trail, but in two areas:

Fire-starting:  You have a lighter and a flint/steel.  Fine.  Or two mini-Bics.

Socks:  There will be lots of stream crossings.  Some right before you stop for the day to make camp.  A pair of sleeping socks (which double as gloves in a pinch) can be worth the weight.

If you bought that 8.7-ounce first aid kit from REI or anyone else, it isn’t as functional as what I’d assemble myself for 2 ounces.  Learn how to improvise with the gear you have along to make splints, bandages, etc.  I’d rather my wife tend me with a 2-ounce FAK than a newbie with a 2-pound, store-bought one.

[Matthew / BPL]

Regarding filtration, the Sawyer mini with two 2-liter bladders became a chore on the JMT for the boy and I. The flow rate is slow even with crystal clear mountain streams. I’d imagine it to be even more of a chore with three people drinking. I recommend you consider other means for providing safe drinking water.

Steripen seems great, fairly quick. I’d get one of the models that seals on a Smartwater (or similar) bottle.

I’ve been extremely happy with my BeFree filter once I realized it was working properly and didn’t have a hole in it (protip: read the instructions carefully). The flow rate is night and day different than the Sawyer filter. I’ve only put ~20-30 liters through it so far but it’s been great so far.

You’ll want to carry backup AM or tablets, of course…

[Aaron Madsen]

We have a permit for Cottonwood Pass starting 8/16. I’m applying for a Yosemite permit as well, as I would prefer a SOBO, but I know the odds aren’t great. I think we should be OK as far as snow is concerned.

I’ve heard it said that if you never wear all your clothes at once, you are probably taking too many clothes, and so I probably should cut some things out. Probably the pajamas. I will keep the longjohns to sleep in as I prefer having dedicated sleep clothes, especially if I decide to upgrade to a  20° quilt. I’ve been looking at the new Montbell down jacket, but I don’t know if I can swallow the price. The down puffy I currently have just isn’t warm enough for the weight.

The fishing gear is not just an attempt to supplement our diet with some fresh protein. My sons are both obsessed with flyfishing, and I enjoy it too. Fishing in photography will probably take up 90% of my free time on the trail. I am comfortable fishing high mountain lakes and streams, and while I do occasionally get skunked, I still have great time doing it.

I’ll probably switch to a steripen just for the ease of use, with some tablets for backup.

Swapping out the pad for something lighter  is something that I’m going to have to think about. I am a side sleeper, and generally wake up multiple times during the night while backpacking with a sore shoulder, or a numb arm. I just got the double Z hoping that the 4 inches of thickness would help with that, but I think I will try it out here at home to see if it is really any better than my 2 1/2 inch thick pads. If it is no better, I can always just take it back and swap it out for a neo-air.

The first aid kit is something that I put together. This Sam splint is probably most of the weight, but I could probably do with a little less tape in it. It’s really just tweezers,  fine scissors, a few small bandages, Benadryl, Pepcid, ibuprofen, zofran and Imodium. I will probably add some Diamox to that, especially if we are starting at Cottonwood Pass.

Thanks for all the advice, and keep it coming.

[David Thomas]

Skip the SAM Splint.  For legs or a straight arm, learn to make an air-splint using a sleeping pad and some straps/cordage.  Like any air splint, you need to carefully check air pressure changes due to weather and elevation changes: you should always get a distal pulse, but the splint should provide support.

Most breaks in the hand, wrist, arms or elbow are stabilizing pretty well just in a sling.  And can be further splinted with pack / tent components.

Breaks in the ankle or legs are going to be evacuated anyway – you’re not going to self-rescue the victim in a splint you brought or improvised.

The rest of FAK seems right.

If you need a thick sleeping pad, you need it.  No sense in saving 6 ounces if you don’t sleep well.  HYOH.

If you’ve got the days and food supply for a leisurely pace, then photography and fishing sound like great activities, even more so because your sons enjoy it.  And it seems you have enough fishing experience to realistically assess your chances.  Sorry if I tweaked on that, but I see so many people – well, always guys – who imagine they can trim food weight with their caught food along an extremely well-traveled route.  The friends I know who always catch trout in the Sierra also always hike far from the trail and sometimes up into the next valley where there is no trail.  That adds time and caloric demands of its own.

So starting at Horseshoe Meadow (10,000′) and going over Cottonwood Pass (11,200′)?  No chance to acclimatize to the elevation.  Any time spent high (camp in Tuolumne Meadows or even Lee Vining on the way there?) will make those first days less of a grunt.  Or that first-come-first-serve campground at Horseshoe Meadow itself.  Spend and a day and night there, have a last luxurious breakfast out of the ice chest with fresh fruit, etc, and get a really early start on your first day.

[Greg F]

3.5 lbs of electronics can be cut significantly

The Frogtogs is only bring the top.  You likely don’t need the pants

find some liner shorts and wear those as underwear.  You have the long underwear to sleep in / around camp when you wash your shorts.

Do you use your note book and pencil or is taking notes on your phone enough?

that seems like a pretty big tube of body glide

for  camp kitchen I use IKEA bowls and spoons and a grease pot and dollar store plastic cups.  It’s cheap and As light as anything else I can find.

 

[Aaron Madsen]

Our plan is to drive down the day before and stay the night at Horseshoe Meadows.  I have nearly a month off to complete the trail, so we’re only planning on doing about 10 miles a day.  Particularly the first few days when we are trying to acclimate. The boys have hiked at over 10,000 feet on several occasions, and have not had issues with the altitude. We are planning to summit Whitney on day three.

Any fish we we catch will only be a bonus. I’m planning our food so that we will have plenty even if we get skunked for the whole trip.

[Ty M]

Since these guys covered all the big stuff, something more trivial to change might be to cut almost an ounce by swapping your 1.2 oz. DEET with the little .5 oz sawyer Maxi-deet spray. It can be found here for a good price.

[David Thomas]

Ty: Nice find on that 1/2 ounce DEET spray.  That’s a great price from GG.

I’ve got a 1-ounce DEET container I refill from 2- and 4-ounce bottles but for a few days or even a week solo, often 1/2 ounce is enough.  I like keeping things in factory containers when possible to avoid, say, rubbing olive oil on myself as mosquito repellent or making my tabouli with DEET.

[Matthew / BPL]

yum

[Francis DeRoos]

If you tend to run cold, I’d definitely recommend swapping out to the 20 degree quilt, even in mid august

Now that may be because, contrary to prior posts, I relied on catching fish for many meals (flyfishing with a 3 weight)  I had absolutely no problem eating fish with each meal but high country trout are so lean they don’t give you many calories. Don’t get me wrong, still some of the tastiest and likely healthiest calories I’ve ever consumed but not enough to fuel 10 mile hiking days so I ran cold at night and lost a few pounds during my trip.

Also, I think the comments about the photography equipment is accurate. easy place to cut weight but, more importantly, you need to decide what your purpose/goals are for the trip. Sometimes the more stuff you have, the more distracted you can get from what you’re actually doing the trip for.  if it’s to capture some amazing images that you’ve been planning/scouting and dreamed about all your life, then take your very best camera/lenses but if it’s to archive the memories and share with others (the images will be fabulous just because of the setting and how happy you’ll all be) then keep it simple (and light) as possible.

Also bring an extra top for your gatorade bottle (if it cracks or gets lost, thats a pain) one backup for all three of you should be good.

As far as fishing equipment, are you carrying all the flies/nippers/floatant for the trip or are your son’s carrying those things too? It may be nice for each fisherman to be “self sufficient” so that each person can do some exploring around the lake or upstream w/o worrying about extra flies/tangles, etc.   If they are not self sufficient, yet, having them learn a daveys knot and how to repair their leader BEFORE the trip, will reward you greatly. There are all small all foam boxes that weight about an ounce and each of you could carry one filled with all the flies you’d want for the entire trip.  I did the trip from Cottonwood NOBO and I really enjoyed that direction. I felt that starting out in a less crowded/hectic area, really got me “away” sooner.

[John Rowan]

+1 on the quilt- I tend to run cold as well, and I’d definitely do a 20* for the JMT, although you can get away with the 30* JMT, especially if you get warm nights. (On my 2014 JMT hike, I had a bunch of nights that bottomed out in the low 50s, but that was super unusual, and shouldn’t be used as a baseline.) My summer nighttime temp guidelines when I’m in the general Sierra area (maybe 45ish nights or so at this point, a few more if you count hanging out in Yosemite Valley) are something along these lines: mostly 40s, some 30s, 20s plausible.

It’s been said before, but that pad is low-hanging fruit. That said, it’s an area where comfort is king, so if it makes a difference and helps you get a better sleep, definitely keep it.

Electronics- of what you have, I’d probably ditch the GoPro- you’re carrying a separate still camera, and if you want videos, you’ve got the iPhone. (Heck, that camera probably does videos for all I know).

Cookset- you can save a good bit of weight for not a lot of money depending on your needs and what you’re planning on cooking.

There’s some other areas that can lighten up, but a lot of them are obviously tied into trip objectives (photography, fishing, etc.), so you know what you need/want there. No point in detracting from the general experience for the sake of saving weight.

[Matthew / BPL]

Extra cap is a great idea. We lost a cap in a raging stream in Tully Hole and we were super happy we had an extra (a Smartwater sport cap for backflushing our Sawyer filter).

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