Pre-JMT Shakedown

I have been asked many times about the John Muir Trail, why I chose to undertake this journey and how I have prepared. With my hike only a couple short days away, I felt the time was right to give you a glimpse into this trail and my preparation for it.

History of the JMT

The John Muir Trail (JMT) spans 213.7 miles of trail in California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range, passing through Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. 

This long distance trail starts at the Happy Isles trailhead in Yosemite Valley near Half Dome on its north end and finds its southern terminus at the summit of Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous U.S. at 14,505 ft. There is a cumulative 47,000ft of total elevation change along the trail’s length, including many high mountain passes and scenic basins. The JMT shares about 160 miles with the path of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) that spans all the way from Mexico to Canada.

The JMT is named after John Muir, a naturalist, though it was originally dreamed up by 14-year-old Theodore Solomons while he herded his uncle’s cattle near Fresno in 1884. The Sierra Club was later founded in 1892, with John Muir being a founding member and the first president of the club. In 1914, the Sierra Club appointed a committee to cooperate with the State of California to begin construction of the trail. John Muir died later that year, and the proposed trail was renamed in his honor. The entire trail took 46 years to complete.

Most JMT hikers hit the trail in the weeks from July through September, when the weather tends to be most agreeable. Early season, hikers contend with snowpack, icy slopes over high mountain passes and streams raging with snowmelt. Though prime hiking season tends to be sunny and dry, afternoon thunderstorms are always a threatening possibility. Black bears frequent these trails, so Sierra hikers are required to carry their food (and all other scented items) in hard-sided, heavy duty bear canisters.

The majority of JMT hikers travel north to south (southbound, aka SOBO) from Yosemite Valley to Mount Whitney for an array of reasons. The elevation at the north end is lower, allowing hikers to slowly acclimate to the elevations of the trail rather than having to immediately tackle a 6,000ft climb to the summit of Mount Whitney. Also, there are more frequent and conveniently located resupply points to replenish food and other consumables throughout the north half of the trail, allowing hikers to carry a lighter food load early in the hike. The southern half of the JMT is more remote and higher in overall elevation, making for tougher hiking and scarce resupply opportunities (that usually require hiking far off trail over side passes to accomplish).

That said, permitting for a northbound (NOBO) permit can be easier to attain, and some hikers find themselves drawn to the challenge of the road less traveled.

Why I Chose the JMT

The origin story for my love affair with hiking will be the subject of another post not far in the future. That said, I have been enamoured with the idea of thru hiking since I first glimpsed a stretch of Washington PCT across a Cascade Mountain vista in the summer of 2016. I knew then that I would someday hike a longer trail, though I didn’t yet fully understand why it suddenly mattered so much to me.

It turns out, the trail had so much more to teach me than just how to survive in the wilderness. It also taught me – still teaches me – how to navigate the dark forests of my own depression, find balance in my role as a veterinary professional and grow an unshakable, deeply rooted strength within myself.

After spending a week in the High Sierras last summer, I decided to go all in and walk the entire length of the JMT in 2019. And here I am, a few days away from achieving a dream over three years in the making. Somebody pinch me, because this almost doesn’t even feel real. 

My Planned Route

Although I would have preferred a SOBO route starting in Yosemite, I unfortunately did not succeed in locking down a permit. This trail has become so popular in recent years, the forest service created a competitive lottery process for acquiring permits.

In my stubbornness and determination, though, I got creative. I found a point 20 miles south of Mount Whitney along the PCT (Horseshoe Meadows) and easily got permits headed NOBO instead. Elevation, snow and scarce resupplies be damned, this thru hike was going to happen!

HP and I start bright and early on August 5th, and we will be summiting Mount Whitney only 3 days later. Hoorah. From there, we will continue northbound over a 28-day period, reaching Happy Isles at the beginning of September. This trail will be filled with 230 miles, 47,000 ft of cumulative elevation change, 3 resupplies, 12 mountain pass traverses, 1 mountain summit and innumerable beautiful, challenging, breathtaking (literally and figuratively!) moments.

The Logistical Planning Process

There are many details to consider when planning a JMT thru hike. Each of these logistics could encompass entire posts of their own, but (for now) I will start by summarizing them here. 

1. Permits

If you plan on starting the JMT at the Yosemite end and hiking SOBO, you need to apply for your permit directly from Yosemite National Park. To apply for a permit, you need to know your desired start date, where you will camp the first night, and your exit location and date. This permit process is done by online rolling lottery, and you can check out all the details here.

All NOBO permits starting out of Whitney Portal, Horseshoe Meadows (my starting point) or other similar trailheads at the south end must be reserved at recreation.gov. No matter which direction you will be headed, I strongly recommend thoroughly researching the application process at least 6 months in advance.

2. Itinerary

Once you know your starting trailhead and final destination, the next step is mapping out your itinerary. I started by dividing the total number of miles I plan to travel by the total number of days I have set aside for the hike, which gave me the rough number of miles I will need to hike each day. I then poured over a map of the trail to find camp spots near that mileage. I also looked closely at the terrain, the elevation gain/loss, water sources and whether a mountain pass would be involved to make sure that daily distance is realistic. Thunderstorms can happen at any time in the Sierras but are most notorious in the afternoons, so I will try to be over high passes early in the day wherever possible. Resupply stops and occasional zero days (rest or zero mile days) need to be factored into the itinerary as well.

4. Resupply

Food weight adds up, and you can only carry so much in the mandatory bear canisters. This makes resupply stops a necessity. I have three resupplies planned along my trek. In the southern end of the trail, this usually means hiking over a pass or having a resupply bucket brought in by mule. I will be hiking over Kearsage Pass and using the Mt Williamson Motel and Basecamp for my first stop on day 7 of the hike. Next will be Muir Trail Ranch at the midway point of the trail, situated right off the JMT proper. They offer cabins, resupply pickups and even a hot spring to soak those sore muscles. My third and final resupply will be Reds Meadow Resort, where I will splurge on a cabin for the night before trekking into the Yosemite wilderness for the last stretch of trail.

I placed my resupplies into 5-gallon plastic buckets with lids, which can be purchased through a home improvement store or found free by asking nicely at the right bakery or restaurant. Each bucket contains all food needed for that stretch of trail (generally 6-9 days of food), sunscreen, toilet paper, ibuprofen (gotta have that Vitamin I!), toothpaste and sanitary towelettes. For hand delivered resupplies, I added fuel as well; since this cannot be shipped, I plan to purchase fuel at the Muir Trail Ranch resupply stop.

5. Gear

I will resist going into detail here about gear, as this will be the subject of future posts and is too broad a topic to condense to a few sentences. For now, check out my gear photos and my final JMT gear list here.

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6. Food Prep

On the trail, you burn massive calories – usually far more than you can possibly consume. This means you should be shooting for roughly 3000 calories of food intake per day. This is easier said than done, especially when you need to fit it all into a hard-sided bear canister and carry it over mountain passes.

You can plan to purchase pre-made meals or dehydrate your own food at home. I opted for a combination of pre-made and home-cooked options for my JMT hike. For each breakfast, I will have either instant oatmeal or Idahoan mashed potatoes and a Starbucks latte (powdered packet). For lunch, I snack throughout the day and plan 3 units of snack each day, usually including a Go Macro protein bar, a Cliff Shot Blok and either a king-sized Snickers bar or Justin’s PB and jerky. For dinners, I have an array of options on rotation to keep things interesting – mac & cheese, alfredo, stroganoff, taco soup, pad thai noodles and mushroom risotto. I add extra calories by tossing bacon bits, oil packets or crushed up Fritos into meals.

In each resupply, I also included an extra bag of chips and a large pack of candy orange slices or peach rings to catch up on calories. Even with all of this, I’m still likely to lose a fair amount of weight over the next month.

7. Other Details to Consider

In addition to the logistics outlined so far, I focused additional attention on an array of other planning details.

Physical conditioning is essential to build up the muscle strength for the passes, for Whitney and for hiking at elevation. I accomplished this by a combination of cardio, strength training (squats for daaaaays), interval training with Beachbody On Demand and weekly day hikes in the Cascades Mountains. I also got out for a few overnight trips to test and refine my gear. The trail itself is NOT the smart place to be trying out new gear for the very first time.

Safety knowledge becomes very important in remote areas like the Sierra mountains, so I learned about safe river crossing, got certified in wilderness first aid through AWLS and took a snow self-arrest course in case of high snow. My AWLS course also introduced me to the basics of lightning and avalanche safety, as well as covering how to put together a solid first aid kit for the wilderness setting. I carry a GPS (that I took a navigation course to learn how to use properly) with an SOS feature in case of emergency. This device also allows me to text my husband at home each night I reach a camp spot, so he can rest a bit easier while I’m out there.

You can plan and learn and pack all the right things, but the wilderness cannot ever be tamed. Risk always remains, so the goal is to mitigate that risk as much as possible. The Sierra mountains – like every other area of this beautiful, wild world – demand respect. They are vast and rugged and breathtakingly epic and worth every bit of preparation you can muster.

Standing atop a mountain pass with basins and peaks and alpine lakes in every direction as far as the eye can see… Filtering crisp mountain water from pristine, bubbling streams… Following a dusty, winding trail through changing landscapes that make my soul leap and sing… Enjoying a well-earned dinner as I watch the sun set and the stars peek out a few at a time to light the growing night… There is no place I have ever felt more alive, more human, more connected to myself and my world, more grateful for every moment of my fleeting, glorious life.

Get out there and enjoy the beauty of this world, my friends.
<3
Brittney