My plan was to start at Toulumne Meadows in Yosemite, about 18 miles 4000 feet above the official trailhead. To get there I would fly to Fresno, take the train to Merced, board the shuttle to Yosemite and stay at Curry Village for the night, then take another shuttle to Toulumne Meadows.

Food Plan

My plan for the food was to eat oatmeal and freeze dried fruit in the morning, beef jerky and trail mix for lunch, energy bars for snacks and freeze dried dinners. I prepackaged McCain’s quick cook Irish oatmeal with a variety of Trader Joe’s freeze dried fruit: blueberries, mangos and strawberries – measuring each one out into a ziplock freezer bag. Cooking was easy – just pour boiling water in the bag, seal it and let stand for a couple minutes, then fold the bag down on itself to create a bowl and eat right out of the bag.

The beef jerky was the star of the trip – made by the father of friends of mine, George Y’s beef jerky is incredibly great – more about that later in this report! The trail mix was a blend of a couple different varieties of Trader Joe’s and I never tired of it, even after twelve straight days of eating it.

The Mountain House meals were surprisingly good – I’ve eaten them before on occasion, just not every night. Easy to prep and again, no dishes to clean up. I also had Starbucks coffee in the morning and chamomile tea each evening. Finally, I had one small shot of Middleton whiskey on the first night and on the resupply night.

The food was divided, and half was sent via UPS to the resupply point, Vermillion Valley Ranch – I crossed my fingers that it would be there when I arrived…

The final food list:
11 Freeze Dried Meals
38 Beef Jerky
2 bags Trail Mix
5 Powdered Electrolyte
12 Energy Bars
10 Oatmeal (packaged in bags with dried fruit)
3 Shot Blocs
12 Fruit Leathers
12 Coffees
12 Chamomile Tea
3 Bags M&Ms
Flask of Midleton

The Gear

My gear consisted of the following:

Osprey Aether 70 backpack – I’ve been using this pack forever and still like it. Nice and lightwieght, plenty of room – just wish they would have redesigned the top opening compartment a bit better, but overall a very comfortable pack. By day five I really didn’t even notice wearing it.

Big Agnes Seedhouse SL1 Tent – I’ve had this for five years or so and love it. Lightweight, able to withstand massive winds and storms, dependable. I replaced the original tent stakes with titanium ones and they rock!

Kelty Khamsin Sleeping bag with Thermarest Neo Air sleeping pad (and repair kit) – I absolutely LOVE this pad! It packs down small and light and is the most comfortable pad I’ve ever slept on. It’s not easy to roll up or inflate, and it seems easy to puncture, but so far it has held up well.

Black Diamond Headlamp (spare batteries) – Full moon for most of the trip, so I never really needed light that much.

Katadyn Hiker Pro Water Filter (with Water tabs as a backup) – This has worked great for a number of trips in the past and performed flawlessly on the JMT.

MSR Pocket Rocket Stove (w 2 fuels) – Been using this stove for seven or eight years and it has never failed
1 Liter Nalgene Bottle / 5 liter Dromedary

ZipShot Tripod – This thing is GREAT! I loved being able to quickly setup shots for longer exposures or to just get myself into the shot. You have to be very careful able where you’re setting it up and aware of high winds, but I had no problems and loved the super lightweight of it.

Nikon D40 Camera / 3 batteries / TS Media Lens cloth / 20 GB of SD chips

Trowel / TP
First Aid Kit (bandages, advil, sunscreen, bug repellent, neosporin, pads, tape, lighter, pins, immodium, chapstick, toothpaste, brush, tweezers, etc.)
Journal /Pencil
Compass/Thermometer/Magnifying Glass/Whistle
Duckback Rain cover for my pack

Bear Vault – Mandatory on the JMT because of all the bears, and at first I hated using one because of how heavy and bulky there are. Eventually I learned to appreciate the multi-use functionality of these things: food storage, camp stool, good protection for delicate gear like the filter and camera, good for dousing fires (empty the food and fill with water from the creek), washing clothes, etc. I also stored my duct tape by wrapping it five or six times around the bottom of the can.

CRKT folding locking Knife (4″ blade)
Titanium Spork, Aluminum Pot, Insulated Cup, Measuring Cup

Underwear, Socks/Liners, Convertible Pants, T-Shirt, Fleece Shirt, Rain Jacket
Biodegradable Soap / Ziplock bags
REI Towel
Tom Harrison Maps / Pages from Elizabeth Wenk’s “John Muir Trail” guidebook
30′ Cord

And last, but not least, my buddy Jirs’ Blues harp. We lost Kevin a long time ago, but he’s one of the primary people who got me hooked on wilderness adventure and it felt right to have him along for the ride in some small way. I don’t know how to play the damn thing, but it still sounds nice around a campfire.

The total weight of my pack with two liters of water and all the food on board: 35 pounds.

I started in Yosemite National Park and finished 150 miles and 12 days later in Bishop, California. Along the way I climbed stunning mountain passes, walked along crystal clear lakes teeming with fish, saw lots of wildlife and wildflowers, and most importantly… reconnected with the natural world.

The trail passed through Yosemite National Park, Ansel Adams Wilderness, John Muir Wilderness, Kings Canyon National Park, and Sequoia National Park. Most of the trail is above 9,000 ft elevation and it peaks at 14,505 ft Mt. Whitney.

For the next couple weeks I’ll be posting images and narratives about the trip – it was grueling, but jaw-droppingly beautiful! THANK YOU to everyone who supported and encouraged me to make this trip – I really appreciate it.

We were headed toward Knolls lake, but were blocked by a forest fire – a controlled fire, but still scary.

Like pretty much all of us, never thought I’d make it, but here it is.

I had an amazing morning to kick things off with a 4:30am hike up Squaw Peak. Made it to the top by sunrise and sat there for about an hour.

The most astonishing thing was my arrival to the summit. The skies were a dull gray with good color at the base, a slight breeze blowing through and a rare steady shower of rain. Hundreds of feet above the nearest plants, a hummingbird flies to a point in front of me and hovers for just a moment – what was he doing way up here?! He darts away and just as quickly, a dragonfly flies into my space and hovers! WTH? I thought dragonflies were supposed to live down low where there’s water. He cruises away just as quickly and now a lizard enters the picture – it’s like the animal kingdom is coming out to say a little good morning!

After that it was just nice calm views of the city and mountains and a couple sips of Midleton – my new favorite whiskey that was given to me by the Yatso family.

Sublime.

On the way down I got comments about my crazy awesome orange boots – the third time in three hikes! This time the dude was the coach for the US International Wrestling team – we chatted all the way down the mountain and were stunned by how many people we both knew – including Nate Carr and Daryl Peterson.

The rest of the day was a good swim, back to bed for a couple hours, breakfast and a couple screwdrivers at Dicks Hideaway (Carne Adovada :WEEP:), a movie (“Inception” – cool), water BBall with Conor (kicked his ass), cocktails with Dorothy and Antoinette (Manhattens!), Cioppino at Tutti Santi (Flaming Sambuca with Debi and Brian!), a family poker tourney (Conor took out all three of us on one dramatic end!), and then chillin out on my mac with a glass of Jameson 18 year (thanks Doug!).

Great day – and the party is tomorrow!

Thanks to everyone who supports my efforts to keep this going and all the critical feedback on the images.