Transformation

Welcome to my John Muir Trail 2011 blog. I am hiking the JMT this summer and this is my story about the journey. I have all my permits and I am psyched to hit the trail. I have been researching and dreaming about hiking the JMT since the end of last summer. After some challenging times over the last few years my planning on hiking the JMT has become my occasional escape from everyday life. I've joined online backpacking forums, watched all of the YouTube and Vimeo videos I can find and read countless trail reports.

I have gone through a transformation from my usual traditional backpacking style last summer to becoming an ultralight hiker this season. It all started when my old external aluminum frame backpack finally started to disintegrate early last summer. With another backpacking trip coming up I wanted to get some better gear. . . so off I went to REI during their annual March sale to buy a kick ass internal frame load monster. I got an Osprey Argon 85 with full suspension system including a custom molded hip belt anticipating my 'need' to carry 60lbs for a 'long' four day trip. I ended up getting blisters during a short 5 mile hike using my heavy Zamberlan boots, a Big Sky Evolution 2 person/2 door/2 vestiblue double wall tent, a titanium Monatauk Gnat canister stove among other traditional gear. Ouch.

Then I started to check out information on ultralight websites like Backpackinglight, Gossamergear, Hikelight and Zpacks. My friends and I used to make fun of ultralight hikers, joking that they were a little too in-to-it with all of the extreme obsession with the number of calories per oz in their food, hollowing out tooth brush handles and long mileage hikes. But all that we were doing was hiking heavy packs a few miles and taking day hikes.

Eventually I returned all of the heavy traditional gear after picking up a Gossamer Gear backpack, a Six Moon Designs Gatewood Cape, Neo Air sleeping pad, trail runners and other simple lightweight gear.

My first UL hike was toward the end of last summer and it was all off-trail in my usual Dinkey Lakes wilderness area, but this time I did a 3 day/2 night solo trip and hiked miles and miles into the wilderness. With my low pack weight I could climb the rocky boulder field up to a 10,000 foot peak in total comfort with all of my gear still on my back. I was hooked. Here's the view from my first UL camp on the shore of an alpine lake at 9,250 feet~

I have since refined my UL settup and my base weight (the weight of everything carried, not counting food and water) is less than the weight of just that Argon 85 backpack empty. 

With this new found freedom I realized I could take on much longer trips with relative ease and comfort. That's when I started planning on doing the JMT this summer.

Here is how we used to do it. These are friends Travis, Dawn and Brad on a typical summer trip in the Sierras.