Rain Man's John Muir Trail 2018 Thru-hike

[MuddyWaters]

A few have commented on food.
Managing the last 110 mi. From mtr.
Either you can, or cant
Depends on mpd you hike. And size of cannister.
If cant, theres the packers, or resupply at onion valley

I found jmt easy to do 18-25 mpd , But factor in hrs by end of sept. Days get shorter.
Slightly higher avg miles than on AT. Trail tread pretty good, graded for stock.

I had 3 days food left in bearikade weekender out of 8.5 I started with ...and....i buried a little in catholes too. Even with a short 10 mile day on account of rain, the last half flew by, lots of long smooth downhill 10 mile walks from passes.

I heard of people running out of food, etc. Totally not my experience. But i saw a lot who stopped at 1 pm. Not sure what they did for next 7 hrs.

[HooKooDooKu]

I found jmt easy to do 18-25 mpd

I would say that that kind of mpd is well above the average JMT thru hiker.

I averaged about 13mpd, and I would say that I found I was hiking faster than about 60% to 75% of the hikers out there.
(My hike was from July 11th to July 28th).

My guess is that the 50th percentile is somewhere close to 10mpd (especially given the suggested itinerary in Nat Geo is 21 days).

lots of long smooth downhill

Yea, but for every smooth downhill... there is as much or more smooth uphill.

But I will give you that over-all, the trail is pretty smooth. The only sections I can remember being kind of rough was that last two mile traverse to the top of Whitney, and the entire descent to the Whitney Portal. The traverse includes some large boulder-type steps you don't get on the rest of the trail... and the decent into WP is something like a 6,000 drop in about 8 miles. Based on how I had been doing coming down off the passes, I originally estimated that I could do that 8 mile section in only 4 hours. But it took every bit of 5... and others around me that day took 6.

[MuddyWaters]

I would say that that kind of mpd is well above the average JMT thru hiker.

I averaged about 13mpd, and I would say that I found I was hiking faster than about 60% to 75% of the hikers out there.
(My hike was from July 11th to July 28th).

My guess is that the 50th percentile is somewhere close to 10mpd (especially given the suggested itinerary in Nat Geo is 21 days).




Yea, but for every smooth downhill... there is as much or more smooth uphill.

But I will give you that over-all, the trail is pretty smooth. The only sections I can remember being kind of rough was that last two mile traverse to the top of Whitney, and the entire descent to the Whitney Portal. The traverse includes some large boulder-type steps you don't get on the rest of the trail... and the decent into WP is something like a 6,000 drop in about 8 miles. Based on how I had been doing coming down off the passes, I originally estimated that I could do that 8 mile section in only 4 hours. But it took every bit of 5... and others around me that day took 6.

The avg jmt hiker .......has zero hiking experience. I met a few with 65 lb packs getting off trail. Boggles mind that they hadnt discovered internet as info source yet. I met a couple girls taking a month....55 lb packs. Camera equipment. One made a book with the photos she took.

What im saying, is if you do 10 mpd on AT, you can probably do 12 on most of jmt. If you avg 15 on AT, then probably 18 or so. Etc. You will not average less. This is hard for people to estimate not knowing terrain at all. You shouldnt low ball it. You will just carry extra food weight if do! Worst case for experienced hiker plan avg AT mileage per day, except for long climb out of yosemite to tuolumne. Certainly not saying anyone else should plan on my mileage. Could stop early every day...and do what? Twittle thumbs? I stopped early for rain, and when met interesting people to talk to for while. There was usually time to do even more, never hiked close to dark, and never got going before 730 am when sun was up. In summer, 14 hrs daylight, and smooth trail, makes for possibility to do high miles when want, or need to make up time. Will be less in late sept.

John Ladds survey is great for info source about hikers. 25% do not finish! After planning a year, they cant pull off 200 miles. Sounds like the AT nobo crowd doesnt it? Same problems...too much weight....too poor shape. People dont listen to advice of others and continue to do it "their way". They like "their boots". Lighter gear is "too expensive". Convince themselves walking around their block with pack for 30 min is "training".
I have no idea what a suggested itinerary is, or what national geographic has said, or why anyone would listen to them. But the funny thing about averages is, they dont actually exist. They represent no real data point. Everyone is different. In july, timing to get over high passes in mornings is a big part of planning daily mileage. You dont have many options. One pass per day, or waste a bunch of time waiting till next morning.

[imscotty]

For another reference point I hiked 270 miles on my JMT hike (did some other miles) over 23 days. About 12 miles per day. I am an older, out of shape hiker. That included a zero day and lots of fishing, photography, wildflower identification, and taking in the views. Typically would spend at least two hours on a mountain pass. Why not? I earned i. I usually got up with the sunrise and hiked until sunset. But boy did I lollygag along the way. I was never bored.

[rocketsocks]

For another reference point I hiked 270 miles on my JMT hike (did some other miles) over 23 days. About 12 miles per day. I am an older, out of shape hiker. That included a zero day and lots of fishing, photography, wildflower identification, and taking in the views. Typically would spend at least two hours on a mountain pass. Why not? I earned i. I usually got up with the sunrise and hiked until sunset. But boy did I lollygag along the way. I was never bored.

that sounds wonderful...nice!

[MuddyWaters]

that sounds wonderful...nice!

The Sierra would be a wonderful place to just wander around for a month and fish. The weather is so benign and the scenery is so fantastic. Head out to a town and resupply once a week or so would be awesome.

[Coffee]

John Ladd's surveys make for interesting reading for sure. Daily mileage is not high on the JMT. The demographic is not the same as the typical AT long distance hiker. Most of the people I have met on the JMT are people taking a three week holiday from their jobs and want to take their time, setting up camp pretty early in the afternoon and soaking in the scenery. Nothing wrong with that at all, of course. It is a trip of a lifetime for many. I have spoken to many folks who never anticipate being able to take that much time off again. It is very much a trail populated with people on an extended holiday, not people for whom long distance hiking is a lifestyle or is likely to become a lifestyle. I also agree that UL hikers, or even lightweight hikers are the exception rather than the rule. With my ~14 pound base weight in my ULA circuit on the JMT I usually have one of the smallest volume packs. Obviously this is not light by UL standards, but it is light on the JMT.

[MuddyWaters]

John Ladd's surveys make for interesting reading for sure. Daily mileage is not high on the JMT. The demographic is not the same as the typical AT long distance hiker. Most of the people I have met on the JMT are people taking a three week holiday from their jobs and want to take their time, setting up camp pretty early in the afternoon and soaking in the scenery. Nothing wrong with that at all, of course. It is a trip of a lifetime for many. I have spoken to many folks who never anticipate being able to take that much time off again. It is very much a trail populated with people on an extended holiday, not people for whom long distance hiking is a lifestyle or is likely to become a lifestyle. I also agree that UL hikers, or even lightweight hikers are the exception rather than the rule. With my ~14 pound base weight in my ULA circuit on the JMT I usually have one of the smallest volume packs. Obviously this is not light by UL standards, but it is light on the JMT.

Yep
I never encountered a group of about 15 japanese tourists on the AT, or ANY other trail for or that matter.

Or a guy walking behind a horse packer paid to carry his gear....

But if you are light, and move quickly enough, stopping at noon for the day dont make sense either.

I always had time for great camps as well. I didnt swim, but did soak feet a few times in cold water. Etc. The water is inviting, lake bottoms are often quite silty.

[Miner]

You definitely don't want to hike in the Sierra Nevada very far into September. Thru-hikers should always hike it in July/August. Nothing to see after Labor Day. You'll have a miserable time with less people, no blood donations to the local mosquitos, lack of snow on the passes, fall colors. Absolutely the worst time to hike. That said, due to permit issues in not getting a Labor Day permit and getting pushed by the lottery into the 3rd week of September, I didn't finished my hike last fall till the end of the first week of October. The photos of my hike show just how bad it was.

I started in Yosemite Valley, resupplied 2 days later in Tuolumne Meadows at the store/post office, 2 days later in Red's Meadow Store (you can take a bus from there into Mammoth Lakes for a real town), 1.5 days later in VVR (mail a box), a day later is Muir Trail ranch but their mailing rules and cost is too expensive for my taste, and then 5 days later I took the side trip over Kearsarge Pass to the town of Independence, and then a few days later over Whitney to Lone Pine. Even as late as I hiked, I found a 20F down quilt warm enough, even with a little snow thrown in. You could hammock, but you'll limit yourself on where you can camp and I suspect you'll still end up camping on the ground a few times. August can have thunderstorms which can dump a lot in a short time or hail. You'll feel less pain if you train ahead of time doing a lot of climbing. Altitude will be an issue for anyone coming from back east since there are no places to acclimate till you get to the Sierra Nevada. I recommend taking an extra day or two in the High Country prior to starting just to adapt. The Yahoo/Facebook group has a nice crib sheet with all the transportation and supply options along the way.

[gwschenk]

Could stop early every day...and do what? Twittle thumbs?

Swim. Fish. Explore. There are a quite a few peaks that could be climbed in an afternoon: Guyot, Junction, Pinchot, Split, Prater, Spencer, Darwin, Lyle. Several of those are much more interesting than Whitney.

[Berserker]

I didn't read all the replies in detail, so I may end up repeating a few things. It looks like you are planning to do it 24 days. That's a pretty slow place, but you'll be able to take a lot in going slower. I did my JMT hike in 2013 in 20 days, and that turned out to be slow. I loved it though because I got to relax and "smell the lodgepoles" (a little dumb sierra humor there) while I was there. I was usually making camp by 4 to 5 everyday after leaving camp in the morning no earlier than 7:30 (with the exception of the last day when I summited Mt. Whitney).

The main places where you can easily get out and/or re-supply are at Tuolumne Meadows, Reds Meadow, Vermillion Valley Resort and Muir Trail Ranch. The main tricky part of doing the JMT assuming you are going South is that stretch between MTR and the portal due to no re-supply (note there is the Onion Valley option). So planning that out is a good idea. Also note that you can easily get into Mammoth by catching buses from Red's Meadow.

The main tip I would give is acclimating to the altitude. The JMT is actually very nicely graded, and once you acclimatize you can actually knock the miles down fairly easily. The second half going South is the harder part due to crossing many passes where you'll be maxing out altitude-wise as well as getting exposed to weather (my hike was T-storm free). My acclimatization plan was to stay in Mammoth the first night in CA, camp in Tuolumne Meadows the 2nd night, and then hit the trail.

Another tip I have is that as long as you don't get hit with a lot of rain plan to have the means to wash your clothes. This was awesome for me. Since most of my hiking has been done on the East coast I'm used to being wet and not being able to get stuff dried out. That's not the case in the Sierras. You can actually wash stuff, hang it up over night, and it will dry out. So I carried two of everything (shirt, shorts, etc.) where I could wash the set I was wearing at the end of the day and put on clean stuff. It felt great. Washing was simply using a collapsible bucket to where I could get water from a water source, and then wash my clothes using biodegradable soap disposing of the dirty water a ways away from the water source.

Other than that you can check out the details of my hike in my journal (http://www.trailjournals.com/journal/entry/414703) if you are interested as I don't want to regurgitate everything. I documented a good bit of detail of the logistics and all that kind of stuff in the pre-hike entries.

[blue indian]

We are currently looking to do a flip-flop starting at Reds Meadow, north to Yosemite and back to Reds to walk to Mt. Whitney in mid August

Been following this thread, I hope folks dont mind me asking a couple questions as well.

Anyway, does this sound like an ok plan? Id rather walk a continuous footpath but we didnt get lottery permits so we are going to try and walk up.

Reds makes it easy to Resupply and gives us a better chance at walking up. At least I think....

[double d]

I personally can't add anything to this discussion, but have a great hike and experience Rainman!!!!

[imscotty]

We are currently looking to do a flip-flop starting at Reds Meadow, north to Yosemite and back to Reds to walk to Mt. Whitney in mid August Been following this thread, I hope folks dont mind me asking a couple questions as well.Anyway, does this sound like an ok plan? Id rather walk a continuous footpath but we didnt get lottery permits so we are going to try and walk up.Reds makes it easy to Resupply and gives us a better chance at walking up. At least I think....

Sounds like a good plan to me. The Yarts bus will take you back from Yosemite Valley to Mamouth Lakes, and then the shuttle up to Reds.

[Rain Man]

I personally can't add anything to this discussion, but have a great hike and experience Rain Man!!!!

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes! If my calendar math is correct, I have 18 weeks left for practice hikes, weight loss, gear tweaking, resupply decisions and logistics, and ... butterflies. This weekend I drove through the Smokies and was feeling apprehensive about hitting the JMT and somehow not being up to it. Today, I'm feeling "let's do this thing already!" LOL

It looks like you are planning to do it 24 days. That's a pretty slow place, but you'll be able to take in a lot in going slower.

The main tip I would give is acclimating to the altitude. The JMT is actually very nicely graded, and once you acclimatize you can actually knock the miles down fairly easily.

Yep, I tend to plan conservatively, and then take advantage of any spare time that I actually have as a result. But if it turns out I need that cushion built into the schedule, I have it. We can always finish early if it turns out to be easy and boring?! FAT CHANCE!!! LOL

I definitely will read your journal. I've been watching YouTube videos of various JMT hikes. It'll be nice to read a journal instead.

Thanks and thanks to all for taking time to share advice, experience, etc.!!!

My daughter "Grass" (many of you know she is an '04 AT thru-hiker, now an Air Force Chaplain) had her baby last week, a little girl to go with her big brother, so I'll be spending some travel/family days on front end and back end of the hike just being a Grandpa in Las Vegas. If I finish the hike early, I'll just have extra days doing that. I plan on family driving me to Yosemite and picking me up at Lone Pine. I'll fly into and out of Las Vegas.

[saltysack]

We are currently looking to do a flip-flop starting at Reds Meadow, north to Yosemite and back to Reds to walk to Mt. Whitney in mid August

Been following this thread, I hope folks dont mind me asking a couple questions as well.

Anyway, does this sound like an ok plan? Id rather walk a continuous footpath but we didnt get lottery permits so we are going to try and walk up.

Reds makes it easy to Resupply and gives us a better chance at walking up. At least I think....

I did exactly this from devils PP....was easy...cinnamon bear inn actually took me to trail free of charge.

3.5 days to HI then catch bus back to mammoth...next day DPP South to Whitney 9-10 days on sep permit..Inyo office just up road from cinnamon bear inn...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gwschenk]

This weekend I drove through the Smokies and was feeling apprehensive about hitting the JMT and somehow not being up to it.

Don't worry, you'll have no issues. It's all really excellent trail. Spend a day beforehand at some elevation and even acclimation is not an issue. If you never been there, you'll be flabbergasted.

[MuddyWaters]

This weekend I drove through the Smokies and was feeling apprehensive about hitting the JMT and somehow not being up to it.

Easier than most of AT. Graded for stock. Just follow the mule crap.
If you acclimate reasonably, and have no routine altitude issues, youll be fine. Most benign weather possible too. A hard rain is a drizzle by eastern standards.

Only thi.ng that requires thought, is planning to get over passes before noon, tstorms and lightning are frequent in afternoons. Sunglasses with good lenses are most important gear item too, imo. Not to protect eyes(any can do that) , but to let you see the contrast in scenery, etc. Cheap lenses rob you of what you came for.

[gwschenk]

In September the afternoon thunderstorms are pretty much gone as are the mosquitoes. September is a fine month to hike in the Sierra. Days are shorter, nights are cooler, though.

[blue indian]

I have a question that we cant seem to find an answer for...

If we flip-flop starting at Reds Meadow, do we need 2 seperate permit? One for going nobo and one for going sobo??