I moved out to California about 4.5 years ago and in the past 2 years have really taken an interest into backpacking. In those two years I've almost went on one 3-day trip a month which I think is pretty good considering my limited vacation plan at work. The problem with short trips is that one can never really get away from the general population and so I settled on the idea of a longer hike, the John Muir Trail (JMT). While quite popular I hope it'll give me this solitude, it also helps that I'll be going solo North-South (SOBO).
As of Feb 4, 2013 I have my work vacation approved as well as my permit out of Yosemite! I really can't be more excited and I'm sure this is the peak of February :-) Now I just need to plan my arrival/departure and food resupply strategy but those are the easy parts.
The JMT will essentially be my trial-run/testbed for doing one of the longer hikes such as the PCT, AT, CDT. Well, probably not the CDT...haha. I hope to keep this blog up-to-date with my planning as if this were a long distance thru-hike of the above trails. If nothing else it'll be a good account of what not to do for anyone out there also planning such a hike :-)
As far as some stats go:
- Length 215 miles according to johnmuirtrail.org
- Accumulated ascent of 34,620 ft.
- Accumulated descent of 45,029 ft.
- Highest point is Mt. Whitney at 14,476 ft.
- Passes through Yosemite, Ansel Adams Wilderness, Sequoia National Park, King's Canyon National Park
- Planning on covering 15mi/day on average which comes out to 14 days. Throw in a few rest days (zero days) as well as some days which are 6-8 miles and I plan to be out there for 18 days total.
