In February, my brother and I won the permit lottery for the JMT starting from Happy Isles on July 30th. We were ecstatic to find out our dream was one step closer to becoming reality. We began prepping for this trip in many ways: buying gear, creating an itinerary, selecting food and re-supplies, and of course, training. The first thing we did was watch endless Youtube videos, read blogs, and check out instagram to get the scoop on the trail and to see what we were in for. My two biggest concerns were food and training, so those were the two things I tackled first.
Training:
First, I’d like to note, that I wasn’t following a strict routine or really tracking my progress in any way other than how I and my body felt. Depending on how I was feeling that day I would build my workout around it. If it was a nice day, I would go outside and hike or run. If I felt like road running instead of hiking, I would do that. If I felt like yoga was enough of a workout for the day, that’s all I did. Every day looked different and I changed it up on purpose because I believe movement should be joyful even if you are training towards a physical goal. The only things I made sure of was that I was strengthening my lower body, and building the endurance for long distance hiking because one of my fears was getting injured from being underprepared physically.
When I first started training, it was still too cold (for me) to be hiking or running outside. So I started in the gym. I would hop on the tread mill and run/jog a mile or two to warm up. Then I’d do some interval/endurance/strength training on a cardio machine: the treadmill, the stair-master, and the spin bike.
I would also add in some weighted strength exercises to build my calves, quadriceps, and hamstrings: like squat variations, lunge variations, calve raises, hamstring curls, extensions, dead lift variations, and some dynamic movements.
I would also go to hot yoga classes at YogaSpark 3 or 4 times a week which was a great way to stretch everything out.
When the weather got nicer, I started going on runs both on the street and on trails (3-5 miles), and long hikes (5-10 miles). Once I had most of my gear, I would hike with my pack to test out my equipment and get used to the feel and weight of my pack.
Food:
I was worried about not getting enough calories, eating boring meals, getting tired of my food, how heavy it was all going to be to carry, and if it would all even fit in the bear canister. I did a lot of investigating (Pinterest, Instagram, and blogs) to find some inspiration for tasty backpacking meals that I could make myself with the caveat that I am Vegan and want to eat plant based on the trail. So, I set out to work assembling my meals.
Breakfast: Every day, I plan to have oatmeal. To keep it interesting I would switch up a few of the ingredients and flavors. I would take a cup of oats, a scoop of chocolate or vanilla protein powder (I like Garden of Life Raw Protein), chia seeds, dried fruit, and granola. So one breakfast might look something like this:
Carrot Cake Oatmeal
1 cup oats
1 scoop Vanilla Protein
3 tbsp dehydrated carrots
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp chia seeds
1/4 cup maple granola
And I always have to have my coffee in the morning so I packed Via Starbucks Instant Coffee to make on my stove.
Snacks: Instead of a lunch meal, I plan to have snacks continuously throughout the day so we can keep moving at a good pace. The snacks are high in calories and usually high in protein. Some of the snacks I prepared were Clif Bars, mixed nuts and seeds, dried fruit like apricots, pineapple, and dates, corn nuts, chia seeds, peanut butter, and plantain chips.
Dinner: Dinners will consist of a rice or noodle base, accompanied by some dehydrated veggies, beans or TVP ‘meats’ and lots of spices and flavors. These meals would either be with some broth to make soup or with Daiya vegan cheese sauce.
Hydration: Propel packets and/or Nuun electrolyte and vitamin tablets.
Treats: I packed a few sweet treats to boost morale and reward myself for my efforts so I packed Sour Patch Kids and Watermelons, Fruit by the Foot and Swedish Fish
After planning out the ways I would train, the next thing I started working on was our hiking itinerary. I figured we would be hiking around 10 miles a day considering the crazy elevation gains and losses on the trail. I also looked at some of the highlights of the trail as well as the major passes and based our itinerary around them.
(Potential) Itinerary:
Day 1: Arrive in Yosemite, hike Half Dome, camp in Little Yosemite Valley (12 mi)
Day 2: Little Yosemite Valley to Sunrise Campground via Clouds Rest (11.2mi)
Day 3: Sunrise to Tuolumne Meadows RESUPPLY! (11.6 mi)
Day 4: Tuolumne Meadows to Donohue Pass (11.6 mi)
Day 5: Donohue Pass to Garnet Lake (9.2 mi)
Day 6: Garnet Lake to Johnston Lake & Meadow (10.8)
Day 7: JL&M to Purple Lake (13.4 mi)
Day 8: Purple Lake to Pocket Meadow (13.4 mi)
Day 9: Pocket Meadow to Vermilion Valley Resort RESUPPLY (7.6 mi)
Day 10: VVR (0 mi)
Day 11VVR to Bear Ridge Trail (10.8 mi)
Day 12: BRT to Selden Pass (8.9 mi)
Day 13: Selden Pass to Evolution Valley Junction (13 mi)
Day 14: Evolution to Muir Pass (15.3 mi)
Day 15: Muir Pass to Simpson Meadow Junction (11.3 mi)
Day 16: SMJ to Mather Pass (11 mi)
Day 17: Mather Pass to Saw Mill Junction (13.9 mi)
Day 18: SMJ to Rae Lakes (10 mi)
Day 19: Rae Lakes to Onion Valley (12.3 mi)
Day 20: Independence RESUPPLY (0 mi)
Day 21: Onion Valley to Bullfrog Lake (7.1 mi)
Day 22: Bullfrog Lake to Forester Pass (8.4 mi)
Day 23: Forester Pass to High Sierra Junction (9.3 mi)
Day 24: High Sierra Junction to Guitar Lake (7.2 mi)
Day 25: Guitar Lake to Mt. Whitney (15 mi)
Day 25: RELAX AND CELEBRATE
Resupply:
I decided before I started planning the itinerary that we would be re-supplying at: Tuolumne Meadows, Vermilion Valley Resort, and in the town of Independence. I read on some other blogs that this is a common thing to do, and I figured, if I want to stop at the other resupply points along the way for a cooked meal or to check out their camp store I totally could. The plan is flexible, but I want to make sure I have enough food to fuel my body through it all. So, what did the resupply boxes look like ? Well, I picked up some 12x12x12 boxes from Staples (I ended up making them smaller following the directions on the box). And shipped them through UPS (*I later realized this was a big mistake!*)
The first box was mailed to:
Tuolumne Meadows Post Office
Your Name
C/O General Delivery
Tuolumne Meadows Station
Yosemite National Park CA, 95389
Which is about 22 miles from Happy Isles where the trail begins. Mind you, we are squeezing in Half Dome on our way which will add 7 miles to our trip, so we had to carry food to account for the 2-3 days it would take us to get to Tuolumne Meadows. After Tuolumne Meadows the next resupply is in 66 miles.
This resupply box contained:
six breakfasts,
18 snacks,
5 dinners,
12 electrolyte tabs/packets,
9 Via instant coffee packets
sweet treats: a couple fruit by the foot and a bag of Sour Patch Kids.
This box weighed about 12 lbs. Our next resupply spot is Vermilion Valley Resort which we expect to reach on day 8 or 9. In order to get to VVR we’ll have to either hike 5ish miles around a lake or wait/pay for the ferry that crosses twice a day (we’ll probably end up taking this option round-trip).
The second box was mailed to:
Vermilion Valley Resort
Your Name
Vermilion Valley Resort
c/o Rancheria Garage
62311 Huntington Lake Road
Lakeshore, CA 93634
Once we get to VVR, the next resupply spot will be in about 100 miles and we are planning to carry about 9 days of food. This is going to be the most food we will carry and weighed about 17 lbs.
This box contained:
9 breakfasts,
27 snacks,
9 dinners,
14 instant coffee,
18 electrolyte tabs/packs,
sweets: a bag of sour patch watermelon, a package of Swedish fish, and a couple fruit by the foot
The third resupply was mailed to:
Independence Post Office
Your Name
Independence Post Office
c/o General Delivery
101 South Edwards Street
Independence, CA 93526
Now, this resupply is a little more difficult to get to, we need to hike about 8 miles over Kearsarge Pass into Onion Valley and hitch our way from the trailhead into the town of Independence where my last resupply box will be waiting for me at the post office. After this, Mt. Whitney is in sight and I will not be needing another resupply box because in 4-5 days I’ll summit the beast, complete my adventure and be chowin’ down something tasty in San Diego.
The last box contained:
4 breakfasts,
12 snacks,
4 dinners,
4 electrolyte tabs/packs,
6 instant coffees,
Sweets: Sour Patch kids, and watermelons, Swedish fish and Fruit by the Foot.
This box weighed about 10 lbs.
While I was getting all my food together I was also on the search for gear. Knowing I would be walking over 200 miles I wanted to only bring the essentials and select my gear to be as light as (financially) possible.
Gear:
Here are the items that made the cut:
ULA Circuit backpack (used)
Kelty 20 Degree Sleeping Bag (used)
Static V Sleeping Pad
The North Face Storm Break Single person tent
Bear Vault 500 Bear Box (used)
Trailbuddy hiking poles (used)
The North Face Thermoball puffer jacket
LL Bean Fleece pullover (used)
Patagonia mid-weight Capalene long johns (used)
REI rain pants
Outdoor Voices Shorts
Fit Lab sports bra crop top
Rain poncho
Injinji toe socks
Feetures socks
Bombas socks
Teva sandals
Altra Lone Peak 4 trail sneakers
Ex-oficio bug repellant hat (used)
Ben’s bug net
Ray ban polarized sunglasses
Bamboo spoon and toothbrush
Gardening gloves (for Half Done cables)
2 bandanas
Sawyer water filter and pouch
Black Diamond headlamp
Dr. Bronners soap
Bug spray: Deet 100 and Picaridin
Microfiber towel
Wilderness wipes
First aid kit: Neosporin, Band-aids, ibuprofen, tweezer, moleskin, tape, ace bandage
Biodegradable toilet paper
Anker powercore 2000 portable charger
Apple earbud headphones
Jolmo Lander 900mL titanium pot
Camp stove and lighter
John Muir Trail maps
Nuetrogena 30 SPF sunscreen
Carmex lip balm
Lil B’s Big Adventure notebook and pen
Bee's Wild Life 