Trip Preparation

The Gear

Here is a list of all the gear I brought on this trip along with any thoughts about how each item held up and anything I would do differently next time. I personally reject the idea of tracking weight down to the ounce, though I understand why people do it. For myself, I would rather make sure I am comfortable with my equipment, even if it's not as light as it could be. I do know that my pack leaving Muir Trail Ranch (MTR) with 8.5 days of food and 2 liters of water weighed 38 lbs.

There were a few common items that I did not bring:

• Rain pants/skirt - It did rain on me almost every day but I felt that keeping my torso and pack dry was sufficient. Maybe if it had been colder I would have had a different opinion, but my regular pants dried very quickly and it was fine.
• Toothpaste/Soap - Even though there are supposedly safe versions for the environment, I didn't think these were really necessary. I used baking soda to brush my teeth and just water to wash my clothes and body.
• Toilet paper - None needed with the bidet method!
• Camp towel - I thought about bringing one, and it could have been nice to have to dry off after a mid-day swim.

The Itinerary

I wanted to take my time on this trip and not feel like I had to rush through everything. So I gave myself 25 days between flying in and out of Mammoth Lakes to complete the trail. I ended up hiking for 23 days, and I really enjoyed the pace, though I definitely could have physically gone faster. I highly recommend taking extra time if you can, but no shame in trying to fit the trail into a work vacation (which is likely what I will have to do next time!).

I got thrown off my planned itinerary multiple times due to forces beyond my control. First, it stormed almost every afternoon/evening, especially in the first couple of weeks, which really limited progress on some days because it wasn't safe to go above the tree line. Some people would wait out the storm and then hike more into the late evening, but I found it hard to summon the motivation to do that. I would continue hiking through the storms as long as I was in a safe, sheltered area, and then just call it quits for the day. I didn't have much trouble making up that lost mileage in the long run though. Then, in the last week of the trip, I was receiving reports on the Ferguson Fire from my partner via my InReach device, which strongly suggested and later confirmed that I would not be able to exit at Happy Isles. I slowed down a lot because I thought the rangers weren't letting hike people past Tuolomne and I wanted to prolong the journey. More details about that in the daily journal.

Food

As you can see based on my itinerary above, I carried approximately a week's worth of food at a time. The longest stretch between re-supplies was between MTR and the end of my hike, but I knew I would be passing by VVR, Red's Meadow, and Tuolomne Meadows if I needed to supplement (which I surely did!). I kept a pretty regular diet each day, which consisted of the following:

• Breakfast: oatmeal (hot) or granola (cold) with dried fruit + protein powder, sometimes peppermint tea
• Mid-morning snack: granola/protein/meal bar
• Lunch: tortilla with cheese and pepperoni or peanut butter or hummus
• Afternoon snack: trail mix, chicken or beef jerky
• Late-afternoon snack: granola/protein/meal bar
• Dinner: Mountain House meal or ramen w/ veggies or mashed potatoes w/ bacon, gravy, & veggies
• Drink w/ Dinner: electrolyte powder mixed into water
• Post-dinner snack: Twix bar

I added variety by adding different dried fruits to my breakfasts, packing a large variety of bars, and trying a bunch of different Mountain House meals. The only thing I regret is all the trail mix. I hate trail mix on the best of days, I don't know why I thought I would want to eat it every day on the trail. I will have to find a comparable substitute next time.

I think that this was an adequate amount of food. There were days I didn't eat everything (primarily at the beginning) and days that I never felt full (primarily at the end). I did lose about 10 lbs, but I think the majority of that was early on when the altitude was likely dampening my appetite. I bounced back pretty quickly once I reached civilization.