What I learned on my JMT Thru Hike

[Anthony F]

Things I learned on the JMT

Disclaimer: Everything listed below is just my opinion. I hope it helps. It is not intended to be anything more than just my two cents. Always do what’s best for you and have fun.

Your experiences/opinions may vary from mine. It’s okay to do something different. I’m just a novice hiker.

Bio:
I am a 48 year old male, novice hiker (500 miles hiked) that lives in Florida. I’m currently section hiking the AT and Florida Trail. I sectioned hiked the AT for 14 days as training for the JMT trip ten days prior to its start. I lost 17.8 pounds for the JMT hike and had a backpack base weight of 18 pounds.

Here’s what stands out in my mind:

Introduction: The trail consists of switchbacks, streams, boulders, rocks, gravel, sand and granite steps in varying states and conditions. In some cases the trail has become a stream. If early in the season you might find snow patches are still present. As well as ice bridges. Muir Pass had the most snow of our hike (June 26-July 15).

1. Lighter is better when it comes to base weight (to a certain degree). But make sure you have what’s needed.
2. I would suggest wear the following clothing: long sleeve shirt w/roll up sleeves (Colombia Omni-Shield), convertible pants (Columbia Convertables), wide brim hat, underwear, merino wool buff, socks, shoes, gaiters and sunglasses. The long sleeve shirt and pants help protect you from the sun (12 hours a day) and mosquitoes. Otherwise bring plenty of sunscreen and bug spray and put some replacements in your resupply. Really good polarized (glare-resistant) sunglasses that wrap around and protect the eyes on the side. I used Oakley Straight Jackets. Sun gloves are nice also. I didn’t use them but can see the advantage.
3. I would carry 200-400 gram sleeping clothes, spare socks, spare underwear, short sleeve quick dry shirt, merino wool gloves and puffy jacket. Clothes weight a ton! It’s so easy to do laundry and have your items dry in a few hours versus carrying unneeded redundant clothing.
4. Socks get really dirty fast. Bring grey/dark colored socks if possible.
5. If you don’t have good balance for stream crossings on a single “downed’ tree you may find yourself removing your shoes for water crossings. BTW there are a lot of water crossings.
6. Zero sandals are not good for water crossing (unless no rocks) and are not good for around the camp. Sole is not thick enough.
7. Make sure your tent is warm. My Six Moon Designs Skyscrape X Cuben Fiber tent allows too much wind to pass under the rain fly and through the mesh. On chilly nights, I would wear all layers of clothing when sleeping. I slept in a Z Packs 900 down 20 degree sleeping bag and all of my clothes for most nights.
8. Use MSR Ground Hog short tent stakes or equivalent. Bring a spare or too. (I brought 5 spare and gave 4 away to a North bound PCT’er who lost all of his) It’s rocky soil (sometimes shallow) in most places. Put rocks on stakes for additional support if needed.
9. Double and triple check the area before leaving so that you don’t lose anything. I lost my cat hole shovel at Camp one morning (Mile 140). It’s titanium with yellow paint on handle and very light and strong. I hope it finds a good home.
10. Unless you camp often it takes about 3-7 days to get into the swing of living out of a backpack.
11. Depending upon your mileage and timetable it took me about 8-10 days to develop trail legs. Your experience may vary. The Sierras have big elevation changes compared to the AT.
12. Cool early mornings seems the best way to get mileage for the day versus a late start and hotter temps in the afternoon. Dress for 20 minutes down the trail to avoid excessive stop/starts.
13. There are an extremely large number of stream crossings. Which may consist of a single log bridge, double log bridge, formal bridge, rock hopping or wading across.
14. Leuko-P Tape and body glide are the best for blister prevention (hot spots) and post blister treatment. The tape sticks for days even when wet. Wrap tape on your trekking poles for easy access. Leatherman CS is a great multi-tool. Wrap duct tape on your trekking poles also for easy access.
15. The trail is dusty. Really dusty! I mean really really dusty. If using ventilated trail runners you will find a large amount of sand in your socks and shoes. This can easily cause blisters. Gaiters worked for me.
16. Water is readily available. I used a 2 liter camel back and a 1 liter smart bottle with a full size sawyer filter. No need for a pump filter. Aqua Mira drops as a backup.
17. We would stop and have break every 2.5 hours and drink at least one liter of water at each breaktime and then sip on the camel bak when thirsty in between breaks. We would also drink at least one liter before any of the passes. This helps to cut down on your base weight by not carrying around unneeded water. As they say on the AT: Would you bring matches to a fire.
18. Electrolytes are the best (I used Nuun Tablets) or Gatorade powder or equivalent. It makes dirty a liter or more of water at a time much more enjoyable.
19. If your last resupply is MTR be prepared to become the worlds best packer or hang a bear bag. Or better yet get the Bearikade Expedition or the largest Bear Vault. Rangers are checking permits and canisters. We were asked to see our permit/canister 6 times.
20. Keep body glide, Aleve, sunscreen, bug spray, lip balm, hand sanitizer easily accessible. I used my waist band pockets on my Osprey Exo’s backpack.
21. Make Xerox copies of trail guide and keep individual days map in a ziplock bag in a thigh pocket readily accessible if needed. Old days maps make good fire starter (where permissible). Trail is not blazed like the AT and the junction points can be confusing so choose wisely.
22. Mileage Watches, GPS’, Phone Apps that can determine your location in relationship to other places is ideal. I used Garmin Fennix 3 watch and the JMT Hiker on my iPhone in airplane mode/low battery mode. Both worked great.
23. Goal Zero Nomad Solar Panel works fabulously on the JMT and the best time to charge is during the day when taking breaks. At 12 ounces (8 without kickstand) it’s worth it’s weight in gold.
24. Put all items with rechargeable batteries, and water filters in the bottom of your sleeping bag. My iPhone showed a 15-25 percent decrease in battery when exposed to night time temps.
25. We experienced a 35-40 degree shift in temperature between day/nighttime temps. The nighttime temps seemed much colder than the recorded temperatures.
26. It’s easier to cool off than warm up when sleeping.
27. Put reflective tape on bear canisters and it’s easier to check on/see during the night.
28. My appetite was normal from day 1 and only grew. By the 10-15th day I could easily have eaten 1/3 more food than I packed. I “Yogi’ed” off anyone and everyone. Thank goodness my hiking partners packed too much food.
29. Tuolumne Meadows is the last place near the trail to mail unneeded items home. Unless you go into town.
30. TM, Red’s Meadow, VVR, MTR all had a very limited (read none) replacement gear. Choose your gear wisely!
31. Erik the Black trail guide has maps that are much easier to read then Wenk’s but Elizabeth’s Wenk’s Trail guide has more campsites listed. We had both on our trip. In addition the mileage was different between the two trail guides.
32. Check your trekking poles and see what tool(s) are needed to adjust the clamping mechanism and verify that it is in your multi tool.
33. Mosquitos were everywhere to some degree. I used permethrin on my clothes, 100 percent Deet, Natrapel wipes, mosquito head net and sometimes speed hiking. Speed hiking with mosquitos head net, long sleeve shirt/pants was the best combination.
34. I used Saloman XA Pro shoes but in the future I’m looking at Altra Lone Peak shoes.
35. I have no experience with snow (until this trip) and if I did the JMT again in June/early July I would bring micro spikes for personal comfort. Some of the snow patches/rock scrambles were challenging.
36. If using trail runners and you get them soaked. Remove the insoles. Walk the socks and shoes dry and reinsert insoles when they are dry. This technique worked for me several days in a row.
37. Lip balm is the best! Bring some.
38. Exped UL7 sleeping pad is really comfortable and easy to inflate with the schozel bag which also doubles as a clothing bag.
39. My homemade Tyvek Rain Kilt worked great under my air pad for additional protection and as a sit pad. It was also useful if it rained (which it hasn’t so far)
40. Nails grow so don’t forget. I used my Leatherman CS Tool for trimming toe nails.
41. Hands down the most versatile piece of gear was my merino wool buff. I used it: during the day for sun protection for my neck, head protection if not wearing a hat, nighttime sleeping for warmth (I don’t use a mummy bag), early in the morning when cold/cool. It’s worth it’s weight in gold IMHO.

 

Hope this helps

[Matt Swider]

Thanks for sharing Anthony.  I have a couple questions / comments

are you done, or still hiking?  what direction?  hoping the mosquito’s have mellowed out by next week when I leave to do a High Sierra Trail (not to be confused with the Sierra High Route).

24 – pretty certain this loss of capacity is short term.  your phone measures capacity by measuring the voltage.  battery voltage will drop when cold, but will go back to normal when it warms up.  If you are using a significant amount of power while the batteries are cold, then yes they will likely deplete faster, as they are likely driving a constant power load, and as the voltage drops the battery current will have to go up, depleting your capacity faster.  Batteries are essentially current sources.  enough tech speak for now.

28 – do you know how many calories a day you were packing?  and how many miles a day are you traveling?  Did you try to fish?  Fishing gear weight is quickly offset by the amount of additional food you don’t have to carry.  Albeit expensive for a liscense, especially out of state.

36 – what is the advantage of removing the insoles, quicker drying?  Seems like it would be a bit harder on your socks, I guess depending on your shoes.

39 – no rain!  hope that we get some on our trip.  How many days of no rain?

thanks, Matt

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