John Muir's Gear List

[Erica R]

I carried a 10 oz book, “The Wild Muir” on my recent (June 2018) backpack into the Trinity Alps. I find quite a contrast between my 18 lb, 5 night load, and what John Muir carried into much wilder country.

“Many hikers and climbers know of John Muir’s minimalist approach to preparing for a wilderness adventure. When he set off to walk from Indiana to the Gulf of Mexico, “I rolled up some bread and tea in a pair of blankets with some sugar and a tin cup and set off.””

“Muir never lived off the land,” reports historian Michael P. Cohen. “Since he wasn’t a hunter or fisherman, he was frequently hungry.”

“When asked what kind of bread he took to the mountains, Muir replied, “Just bread.” At his home in Martinez, California, he’d buy sourdough at an Italian bakery. In Yosemite, he’d secure French bread at Black’s Hotel, or soda bread from Degnan’s. Sometimes he would bake cakes of unleavened flour over the coals. His preference, however, was “feeding on God’s abounding, inexhaustible spiritual beauty bread.””

“On excursions into the back country of Yosemite, he traveled alone, carrying “only a tin cup, a handful of tea, a loaf of bread, and a copy of Emerson.”[31]:52–53 He usually spent his evenings sitting by a campfire in his overcoat, reading Emerson under the stars.” Apparently he sometimes considered the overcoat a burden to be left behind; he once spent the night on Mt Shasta in a storm without the overcoat.

It seems he, or probably people in general, were tougher in those days, around 1875.

[Alex H]

“It seems he, or probably people in general, were tougher in those days, around 1875.”

True that!

The joke on the AT is the ultralighters are the cold and hungry ones.

[AK Granola]

Erica – can you publish your gear list? Curious about getting down to 18 pounds for 5 days. I know there are lots of gear lists, but I keep wondering if it’s just easier to carry less in the Sierra than elsewhere. Maybe easier to find a sheltered place to camp and therefore need fewer warm layers? Or slightly more predictable weather? I’ll bet Muir took more gear when he visited Alaska!

[Bruce Tolley]

“Muir never lived off the land,” reports historian Michael P. Cohen. “Since he wasn’t a hunter or fisherman, he was frequently hungry.”

Muir often relied on the hospitality of strangers, bought food with cash, or before he became famous worked odd jobs.

[Erica R]

Hello Karen, I started to list and weigh everything in my pack, but found it tedious and unproductive. There is nothing really remarkable about my 12 lb base weight. The big 3 are all from Zpacks, which helps lots. I eliminated some clothing, so now I just carry merino wool long johns and a synthetic Patagonia top to sleep in. Sometimes some sleep socks. I have a down puffy and a hat and a Houdini. Water filter, etc. I carry a canister stove, so my dinners are freeze dried; I figure 1 lb per person per day for food and liquor, which I guess is low, but it works for me. In the Trinitys just hanging your food is fine, otherwise I usually use a Ursack. 18 lbs does not include water or the clothes I am wearing.

[Erica R]

I do not consider my load at all Spartan, having seen how Muir traveled.

[W I S N E R !]

One thing I think worth considering in his Spartan approach is Muir’s childhood, as well as the general lifestyle of his culture.  I’d wager that in his mind, shivering under the stars in the Sierra without a lot of food was heaven compared to being dropped in a well to dig or long days of labor with an unrelenting taskmaster hovering over him.  He was free, and the wilderness was the only place this could be experienced.  His family life was intense, taking a Protestant ethic to the extreme, as was work and life in general for a lot of people of his generation.  And then there was his brush with blindness, which seemed to be another powerful catalyst.

https://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/life/god_john_muir_mark_stoll.aspx

[Nick Gatel]

I started to list and weigh everything in my pack, but found it tedious and unproductive. There is nothing really remarkable about my 12 lb base weight.

One of the most refreshing comments I’ve read here on BPL in a long time.

 

 

One thing I think worth considering in his Spartan approach is Muir’s childhood, as well as the general lifestyle of his culture.

That’s it! We are obsessed with all the stuff we own, not with living a good life. Muir was obsessed with spending as much time in the wilderness, which he thought was a good life. Much of the Sierra was true wilderness unlike today.

[AK Granola]

I too find listing and weighing tedious, but not unproductive for me. If I don’t, I do obsess with bringing way too much. I doubt I would enjoy the Alaskan wilderness with a blanket and a loaf of bread. Even on my 5 mile walk today in the woods, I was almost picked up and carried away by the mosquitoes. Thanks to my “stuff” – head net and a can of Off, I could enjoy the walk, the birds, the woodland wildflowers. Poor John Muir, no Off to be had.

I’m also really grateful NOT to have been raised by Puritans or Presbyterians, although I can see that having a rough childhood could make someone tougher. I don’t mind being a happy bit of marshmallow.

I think the Sierra must indeed be an easier place to backpack, or else I am just a weenie. In Alaska I always have wool baselayer, a fleece, a puffy, full raingear, several sets of socks and fleece gloves (nothing ever dries, ever, not your shoes, nothing). I bought a Houdini and it’s nice when there’s a light sprinkle of rain; it does NOT cut it during an all-day downpour or a heavy hail/sleet/shower.

He was an amazing guy, for sure.

[Nick Gatel]

Travels in Alaska, by John Muir

Alaska Days with John Muir, by Samuel Hall Young

 

[AK Granola]

Thanks for the links, Nick. I read those years ago, but interesting to re-read now, through different eyes.

I note that indeed, he took a lot more to go camping in Alaska:

”After my twelve-mile walk, I ate a cracker and planned the camp. I found that one of my boxes had been left on the steamer, but still we have more than enough of everything. We obtained two cords of dry wood at Juneau which Captain Carroll kindly had his men carry up the moraine to our camp-ground. We piled the wood as a wind-break, then laid a floor of lumber brought from Seattle for a square tent, nine feet by nine. We set the tent, stored our provisions in it, and made our beds. This work was done by 11.30 <span>P.M.</span>, good daylight lasting to this time. We slept well in our roomy cotton house, dreaming of California home nests in the wilderness of ice.”

[Author]

Posts