I Made It! A Job Done Well!!!

I just wanted to do a quick update and proudly say that I completed the JMT.  I have been home about a week and will slowly start to transcribe by journal to share with you all.  Overall I have to say that the journey lived up to all my expectations. The JMT is a trail of grand views.  I am afraid that the pictures I took will not do it any justice, but I will post them soon as well.

I would like to give a big thanks to all of the JMT Yahoo! Group and JMT Facebook members, who provided great advice prior yo my departure.  I hope I can return to the favors and advice to others in the future. I would also like to thank all the other hikers I met out there who not only provided some friendship, companionship and inspiration when I needed it:

• Don and Karen - my first JMT "friends"
• Feona - hope your trip went great, and you are feeling good.
• James and Zohar from Jersey - thanks for inspiring me on those days when I really needed.  I hope Vegas rocked.  Next time ... Colorado- the door is always open!
• James and Avery - my Colorado buddies - Vail Rules! 
• Lee and Bob -Sorry Bob I did not get to fish Guitar.  I'll save that one for next time. Lee I can't wait to read the stories.
• Chris - we teachers must stay united!  Best wishes on the upcoming marriage.
• Patrick and Carter - best of luck in France
• Ruby - a jewel by any other name as well.

Stay tuned for the story of the entire journey:

A Few Muir Miles:  A solo Journey Along the John Muir Trail

He aint heavy, he's my pack

“All my bags are packed. I’m ready to go.  Standing here outside your door…”

All my resupply boxes are out of the house and on their way to their destinations.  I have already realized a couple of things that I forget to put in the boxes.  Luckily nothing that will end the trip early.  At least that’s my hope.  Let’s also hope that the hiker barrels are filling up as I write this, just in case.

I laid out all my gear on my living room floor the other evening.  It was depressing to look at the mass of gear assembled before me.  I felt like there was no way it was all going to fit in my pack.  I slowly started to fill up the pack on commercial breaks.  I tried to slim down my load once again.  When I compare my gear list to that of others on the web, it seems like I am taking a lot more.  I

read a great comment on Eric the Black’s website.  It is not necessary about being ultralight, but rather about being able to comfortably carry all the you bring for as long as you want each day. I am not sure that I am there yet, but I will give it another go and see what else I can leave at home.

I had planned on trying to get at least a single overnight trip in as a shake down before I leave, but that is not going to happen due to various reasons.  I did get out for a day hike today with my pack loaded with a 95% of my gear, and without a full food load..  My initial thought while climbing uphill… I have to lighten up!!! On the way down the pack felt great.  I will spend some time tomorrow going through the pack once again to see what I can get rid of.  What I really need is a local thru-hiker to give my pack a good shake down. It is hard to know what I can comfortably do without, with never having done a hike of this length before.  I am erring on the side of too much rather than too little. Rookie mistake I know but I can always donate to the hiker barrels!

Who's Hungry??

I am buried under a pile of food, or at least my basement is.  Food resupply packing for the trip is in full swing.  My basement has been turned into a 12 year old boy’s dream; junk food everywhere.  I felt guilty when I went trip shopping with my five year old. I must have looked like the worst parent ever as I pushed him through the check-out line, with junk food piled in, around and on him in the cart.

I am planning on 3 resupplies: Tuolumne Meadows, Red’s Meadow and Muir Trail Ranch.  The boxes for T.M. and Red’s are all packed and waiting to be taped up and sent out.  The MTR supplies are gathered, but the problem is that I cannot get them all to fit into the 5 gallon bucket.  If I can not get them to fit into the 5 gallon bucket, how in the world am I ever going to get them fit into by ber canister? I am definitely starting to worry. I probably have too much food, but but I am worried about my hunger kicking into high gear during the second part of the trip. I will have to carefully pack once at MTR.  Any extra food will be donated to the hiker barrels.

For my food choices I tried not to rely too heavily on one type, to help prevent boredom and burnout.  I am not sure how well I actually did with this. Breakfast will rotate between the following choices: granola with dried milk, oatmeal, probars and Mountain House Skillet Breakfast.  Lunches will be tortilla based: pepperoni, peanut butter, tuna.  I am a little worried that I am lacking enough variety here.  I am keeping my fingers crossed for now. It looks like I will only have 3 commercial freeze dried meals.  The remaining dinners were either dehydrated by me, or dinners that I assembled.  I hope that my dehydrated meals do not go bad before I get to them. Surprisingly for me, there is no Ramen on the menus.  Can that be right???  I am planning  on 2 snacks per day (a.m./p.m.), from the following: Payday bars, M&Ms (multiple flavors), almonds, GORP, Corn Nuts, Pringles,  Cliff bars and a few Goos for the passes at the end.I also threw in some gum, Jolly Ranchers and Root Beer barrels, for in between snack times, and hopefully a quick pick-me-up.

My goal for tomorrow is to try to get the top on the MTR five gallon bucket.  Then get everything mailed out.  My departure date is going to be here quicker than I had imagined.  It has seemed to have just snuck up on me after the past year of planning.  

Tuolumne Meadows Resupply

Red's Meadow Resupply

Muir Trail Ranch

Muir Trail Ranch - Part II

Getting Closer Everyday

I dreamed of the trail last night.  Well not the trail actually, but the night before getting on the trail.   I was at the house of a trail angle with a bunch of other hikers, as we made one final check of our gear before heading out in the morning.  In my dream I meet a lot of the people that I had been chatting with through Facebook and the Yahoo! Group.  Spirits were high and everyone was laughing and joking with each other.  It was such a positive and supportive place.  As I woke from this dream, I found myself actually trying to force myself back into the dream, as I was not ready to leave it yet. 

Hardly a night goes by without me looking into some aspect of my trip; looking at maps, re-evaluating my gear and food lists, looking for chargers for my phone, searching for undiscovered JMT websites or Youtube! videos…  I hope I am not alone in this; that I have not turned into an obsessive person.  I think, for me it is more of a way to help pass the time until I actually fly out for this grand adventure.  And for me it is a grand adventure!

Many people have said to me that this is a trip of a “lifetime”.  I hope that this is not the case.  A trip of a lifetime to me is a onetime thing; an event never to be exceeded.  My hope that this is just the start of many great adventures to come.  As I look back at the things I have done in my life, I do not see many great adventures yet.  There have been a few like volunteering at Chena River State Recreation Area in Alaska, before my junior year of college, moving from Ohio to Colorado, and of course parenthood (this is the true “lifetime” adventure).  Most of my exploits have been relatively short, 3-4 days in length at most. This trip will be my catalyst to more adventures (or a good reason to take up golf if I end up hating long distance backpacking).  While this trip will be solo, the future ones must include my family. 

This trip will prove to me that I can undertake such grand adventures, but for me to fully enjoy it, I want to share it with my family (I am already planning a 2019 JMT hike with the full family.  My son should be old enough to make it by then).  One Bbog that I really like is The Big Outside by Michael Lanza. In this blog he shares his stories of experiencing the natural world with his family.  If you have kids and have not checked it out I highly recommend it.

Until next time ... HIKE ON!!!!!

“Don't be afraid of your fears. They're not there to scare you. They're there to let you know that something is worth it.” 
― C. JoyBell C.

One of the most reoccurring questions that I get asked when I tell people about my trip on the JMT is “who’s going with you?” Most seem quite shocked when I tell them that I am going alone? Is it because they cannot imagine me going alone or themselves? Afterwards come the questions: What if you get hurt? Won’t you get lonely? What about the bears and mountain lions?

To be honest I am afraid, but my fear does not come from wild animals or wild people, but rather from my doubt about my ability to actually finish the trail.  As I prepare for this hike I have little doubt that I will be able to do it.  Finishing simply boils down to putting one foot in front of the other; one step at a time; day after day.  However, in the back of my mind there is a little voice that keeps asking “but, what if….” 

I have been dreaming of doing a long trail for over 20 years, and now that I am finally getting the chance to do one, I cannot help but wonder if I have the mental toughness to actually be successful.  Can I actually get up day after day and put one foot in front of the other and enjoy the moment, rather than worry about what is up ahead?  Will being away from my wife and son for longer than I have ever been before mentally beat me down? 

It is not the unknown trail that puts fear into me, but rather the doubt and fear of my own unknown self.  Do I have what it takes to live up to the image that I have constructed of myself in my own mind’s eye?  What if I do not?  How will this change me as a person and my own belief about myself and my own abilities?

Am I an addict???

My free time has been given over to planning my trip.  I wake up in the middle of the night and I am thinking about the trail.  Hi, my name is Jay, and I am a trail addict. I imagine I am not alone in my growing obsession with the trail.  With still over 5 months to go before I need something to do to help the time to go faster, and as I said before I love to plan.  I came across a great JMT trip planner program (Excel file) through the Yahoo! JMT group. It allows you to enter your campsite (based on Elizabeth Wink’s book) then calculates your daily mileage, elevation gain and loss. It is even customizable to your departure date, and will give you the sunrise and set time each day. A big thanks to its creator!

Currently it looks like I am going to be doing the trail in 18 days.  I am trying to get one of my permits changed to be able to leave a day early which would give me a 19 day trip.  The longer the better! It will be nice to be able to take it slow at the beginning and enjoy the trail.  The only fixed date I have is to get to Muir Trail Ranch 8 days before I finish, due to the amount of supplies that I am sending there. Using the Yahoo! Planner I have come up with the following plan:

Day	Daily Mileage	Campsite
1	4.4	Little Yosemite Valley CG
2	13.4	Lower Cathedral Lake
3	11.7	NW Evelyn Junction*
4	13.8	Thousand Island Lakes
5	12.2	N. of Minert Creek Crossing
6	9.2	N. of Deer Creek Crossing*
7	11.8	Lake Virginia
8	11.1	Quail Meadows
9	15.5	Sallie Keys Lakes
10	5.7	MTR South Cut-Off*
11	9.0	Evolution Valley Area
12	13.2	North Evolution Lake+
13	16.0	Upper Palisade Lake
14	16.1	Sawmill Pass Trail
15	10.3	Sixty Lakes Junction
16	18.2	Tyndal Creek
17	11.6	Guitar Lake
18	13.07	Lone Pine Hotel

                                                                       *Resupply                               + possible zero day

Even as I put this plan down in type, I wonder if I will actually stick to it once I hit the trail.  The best laid plans of mice and men and all.  It is a good way to pass the time, but I hate to think that I am going to be so rigid that I will not take advantage of opportunities when they arise out on the trail

Travel Logisitcs

Logistics are coming along well.  I made flight and hotel reservation this week.  The plan is to fly into Reno, then take the Eastern Sierra Transit Authority bus from the Reno airport to Lee Vining.  I’ll spend the night at Lee Vining and then catch the YARTS bus the next morning to Tuolumne Meadows. I plan on catching the first bus of the day, which will give me a 2 hour layover in Tuolumne Meadows before the bus leaves for Yosemite Valley.  I plan to use those 2 hours to check in with the Wilderness Rangers to see if there are any same day or next day’s permits available out of Happy Isles to Little Yosemite Valley or beyond.  If there are, I will jump back on the bus to the valley.  If no permits are available I will probably spend the night at the backpacker’s campground in Tuolumne Meadows, then head to the Valley the next day.

I looked at the possibility of taking the ESTA bus all the way into Mammoth and spending my first night there.  My thought was that I would be able to hand deliver my resupply package to Red’s Meadow, and save a little money.  But the reality is that the cost of lodging in Mammoth would be at least double of the money that I would say.  Plus the timing would be a little tight to make all the public transportation to and from Red’s Meadow once in Mammoth.

Trying to keep up my routine of getting to the gym 5-6 days a week.  Usually 2 of those days are spent in a lifting class (Body Pump) and the other days are divided between running on the treadmill, stair climber with a weighted pack and a spin class.  Not sure how well these workouts will actually transfer to the trail, but it is much better than sitting on the couch and eating Bon Bons.  I need to get outside!  I am starting to get a little cabin fever being at the gym so much.