John Muir Trail 2013 Updates – #1

After submitting and resubmitting our application (waiting for the fax machine on their end not to be busy) all afternoon, I finally received a “success” message at  2 or 3 in the morning and waited painstakingly over the weekend for the permit office to get back to me, hopefully telling us that one of our requested trail dates had been approved.

A group of us folks have been planning to hit the trailhead in mid July to hike the famous John Muir Trail. This 220+ mile wilderness trail takes the outdoor adventurer through the Sierra Nevadas all the way to the summit of Mt. Whitney (14495 feet).  We met on Social Media and through a shared interest in the outdoors (4 outdoors bloggers, including the manager of the Sierra Trading Post hub and STP’s video blogger) and have been working together on this project for almost a year now.

On that cold, cold monday I woke up and started checking my email. Ok, I don’t actually know if it was cold and I can’t remember what I did, but I do remember the email that said that every one of our 3 choices was rejected. We had a small window so it was quite a pain. Anyway, I sent several hurried emails to the group informing them of the problems and in an our found myself calling from Bolivia to the Wilderness Permits office. The JMT is quite popular and the fact that I hadn’t been able to get through to the fax machine for the entire day just confirmed that.

The office was very helpful and we ended up making the best of the lemons we were giving and reserved a start at Tuolumne Meadows (missing out the first 22 miles, Yosemite and the Half Dome). The good news is that it gives us a start date of the 13th and it allows us 14 days to do the remaining 200 miles of the trail.

Myself not being content did some more research and found that 40% of trailhead permits are reserved for a first come, first serve basis starting at 11 AM on the day before you want to start. As a result I’ve decided to arrive at Yosemite a few days early and try to get a walk in permit starting at Happy Isles and try to get the opportunity to Hike the Half Dome. I’d then make the 2 – 3 day trip to Tuolomne where I’d meet up with the crew and from there hike the rest of the trail together.

In other news, I’m finally working out the big details of my gear list and am trying to get rid of extra stuff. One of the biggest downers is having to carry both a bear canister, and food. a 10 lb base weight balloons to 13 with a bear can and 25+ with food.

Take a look at the tentative list which will eventually be moved to my John Muir Trail 2013 planning page (It’s currently a PR page… ever bit of help counts).

Tell me what you think, what you would add and what you would leave out.

Packing

• 2013 Gossamer Gear Mariposa – 27 ounces
• Stuff sacks ?

Shelter

• Big Agnes Fly Creek UL 1 – 34 ounces

* I can lighten my tent by leaving the mesh tent behind if I want, but bugs and mice will be around.

Sleep set up

• Columbia Moonstone 15 degree 800 fp bag – 37 ounces
• Klymit Static V – 18 ounces
• Klymit Xlite – 6.7 ounces

*I haven’t decided if I want to save 12 ounces and go UL or enjoy some more comfort with the static v.

Cooking

• Olicamp XTS 1 liter pot with Vector stove – 8.5 ounces
• Bear Vault 500 – Bear Cannister – 41 ounces

Trekking Poles

• Leki Micro Sticks – 17.6 ounces a pair

Footwear

• La Sportiva Raptor Trail Running Shoes – 20 ounces
• Socks? Something in Merino

Electronics and Gadgets

• Spot Messenger – 5 ounces
• Sony PJ580V handycam – 5 ounces
• Sony Action cam –
• DSLR ?
• Solar Charger
• Giotto Tripod – 18 ounces
• Pelican Memory Card Case
• Spare batteries

Fishing

• Tenkara Iwana Fly Rod – 2.5 ounces

I’ve left a few things off that I’m not sure about, but these are more of the concrete items.