Post Comments

Many people attempt to hike the entire JMT in 21 days. I planned only 12 days starting from Tuolumne Meadows and actually summited Mt. Whitney in 14 days. It was a crazy plan. One that I had to tweak in the middle. Would I ever do it again? Probably not. At least not in the same direction. I wonder what It would be like if I hiked South to North? A totally different view, I guess.

Hiking solo is a very personal choice. I did it because I wanted to “hike my own hike” Nobody to hold me back or complain about the weather or trail conditions.   I don’t recommend everybody to hike solo. You really have to know yourself and the trust you have in yourself. You should have extreme self confidence and a have plenty of backcountry experience. You don’t have to be a “loner”. There are plenty of people you will meet on the trail.
If you sprained a ankle or broke a arm, could you hike 20+ miles on your own to get out? The JMT happens to be the longest backpacking trail without a road running through it.

Notes about my gear:
I made most of my own backpacking equipment and even developed a new concept of ultralight backpacking. I’ve been experimenting with new materials for the custom external frames as well as new machining and jointing techniques.

I would not recommend to anybody to try making his or her own equipment and then hike 200 miles without testing them on similar shorter trips. I’ve been experimenting and testing my custom gear for the past 5 years and have experienced minor and major failures in the backcountry.

I also modify and make improvements on existing gear. Take for example the Aquastar Plus water filter. By drilling a small hole in the supplied nalgene type water bottle and simply adding a hose and mouth piece, I reduced the possibility of dropping the UV element whenever a drink in needed.

The Aquastar Plus water filter happened to work perfectly. On a set (2) of 3 volts batteries, I was able to perform about 50 cycles before the batteries need to be changed. I went through 2 brand new sets in the 14 days.

If you never used the Aquastar Plus, I recommend that you try it. Basically, all you need to do is scoop, swirl and drink. Improvements could be made with the Aquastar Plus but it beats carrying a traditional water filter. It weights only 3 ounces.

The following are just some of my thoughts on some of the traditional l gear I used on the JMT.

North Face Trail Runners Model unknown. Stay away from these shoes! I used these shoes for 8 days before the JMT to break them in and throughout the JMT. After only the 12th day, the tread on both shoes started to fall apart. The uppers in the toe area wore out exposing both my little toes.

REI Peak UL line Carbon trekking poles. Great poles, locks never did slip, very light weight, less than 13 oz a pair.

Injinji trail socks. I thought that I would never wear another pair of socks until the Injinji socks started to prematurely wear out at the big toes. I brought 2 pairs and only used them for 8 days prior to the JMT. They started to fail after the 12th day of use. These would be the perfect sock if you are prone to tew blisters.

Marmot Preclip Jacket. Great jacket I borrowed from my brother Cliff. Light weight and packable. Pit zips are a nice feature that I used several times.

Railriders Adventure shirt. Still my best backpacking shirt. Great ventilation on the sides and fabric breaths well. Dries fast.

Columbia trail shorts. Great shorts with plenty of pockets. Dries fast
No need to wear briefs since it has built in netted brief.

Sandisk Sanas c150 2.0GB Mp3 player. So Great I bought 2 identical units so that I would have a backup. I loaded 300 songs on each and switched between the two of them from time to time. 1 AAA battery last 12-16 hours!

Western Mountaineer Megalite Sleeping bag. It is designed with a generous 64 inches of shoulder girth and only weights 1 lb .9 oz! Rated to 30 degrees

Big Agnes Seedhouse SL2 tent. Still my favorite tent in the world. Trail weight less than 3 lbs, freestanding and fits me and all my gear inside with room to spare.

Wild ideas Expedition Bearikade. This bear can weights less than the Garcia and holds twice as much food. It cost a pretty penny, but worth it. I use it as part of my ultralite concept.

Homemade energy drink alcohol stove. I build my own alcohol stoves and wind screens. I can cook 2 complete meals with only 1 ounce of fuel.
Peak 1 Titanium pot cook set. The perfect cookset for my type of meal prep. Typically used to boil water only and occasionally used to cook food in.

Esbit fuel tablets. My second choice of fuel to cook. I turn my homemade alcohol stove upside down and place the Esbit tablets on top.

Thermarest z-Rest sleeping pad. Another essential component to my ultralite concept. I only use 9 sections of the 12.

Sevylor inflatable pillow. This is only treat I take on all my backpack trips. I have to sleep comfortably at night. Otherwise, I’m grumpy in the morning. I don’t normally have extra clothes to stuff in a sack to make a comfortable enough pillow. Weighs only 8 ounces and is worth it’s weight in gold!

Patagonia Puff Vest. Great down vest and weighs only ounces. Packable

Mountain House freeze dried dinners. This is the first time in 30 years I bought freeze dried dinners. What a improvement from the first time I ate them! The single serve meals are perfect size for me when I add Ramen noodles as a second course. Love the Pasta Primavera dinners the best. You should plan to add just a little more water than directed and double the wait time.

Enertia Trail foods. Great variety of choices. Taste good. Usually takes 2 steps to prepare. I kept the plastic see through bags used to make the meals and use with homemade meals I normally take backpacking.
Top Ramen. I never leave the trailhead without it. I like to spice it up with Tobasco in the individual single serve packages. Throw in some freeze dried veggies and you have a super meal.

A note about my single re-supply at Muir Trail Ranch.

Don’t make the mistake I made when I re-supplied. This may only really apply if you only have 1 re-resupply. The food I didn’t eat on the first half and left behind at Muir Ranch I would have killed for on the 2nd half. I had to yogi snack food from other hikers on the second half because I ran out.
I never should have left behind the granola, Chex mix and trail gorp. I should have loaded up on all the great snack food left in the hiker buckets like mixed nuts, trail mix, granola. I had room in my bear can for all this extra food but didn’t take them. I guess it was the 100+ heat that made me make the mistake.

Yeah, that’s it. I had a mild heat stroke. That’s the ticket.