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JMT

Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 1:05 pm
by oldhikerQ
Just curious. How many of this group have completed the JMT? If you have completed the trail, when did you do it? How many days to complete the trip? Days hiking and layover days? And how many resupplies?

I'll start the ball rolling.
1974 (seems like a million years ago)
28 days (24 hiking/4 layover)
1 resupply (Lake Edison)

Re: JMT

Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 1:38 pm
by longri
1989 - 17 days - Reds/MTR
2008 - 21 days (included sections of SHR), 1/2 day "layover", Reds/MTR
2011 - 9 days, TM/Reds/MTR
2012 - 8 days, no resupply
2014 - 9 days, TM/Reds/MTR
2015 - 11 days, TM/Reds/MTR
2016 (a) - 7 days (but skipped Whitney summit due to electrical storm), TM/Reds/MTR
2016 (b) - 8 days (but skipped last section TM to Happy Isles), VVR/Reds

Now I'm totally sick of the JMT and will probably never do it again.

It's a good walk. But even though it's always been crowded (at least in the 30 years that I've been walking in the Sierra) it has reached new levels in recent years, along with the impacts that increased numbers tend to cause.

The best trip I've had was in 2008, but that was mainly because we didn't stay on the JMT. The non-JMT, cross-country sections of our trip were the highlights by far. The best trip where I just stayed on the trail was the one time I carried everything from the start. It was nice to have that illusion of self-sufficiency and move fast and free. I'm glad it didn't rain though because my shelter was a joke.

Re: JMT

Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 1:55 pm
by markskor
7 times...well 6 actually as on one particular NOBO trip, when at Trail Crest, like above, experienced heavy lightning...thus, that time did not summit Whitney. Wisely, we made a bee-line down to Guitar Lake instead...don't know if that counts as a full Muir.
As for how many days -
My first ever backpacking trip was in high school...had never even thought about backpacking before - just wanted to get out of the house. That one summer, a teacher had divided the JMT into 6 segments, 10 kids and three "leaders/adults" started on week one from Yosemite Valley. After a week...we turned over the packs, tube tents, and sleeping bags to the next (car-pooled up group) 10 at Reds... Cost my parents $100. As all food was already bought/packed up/ready to parcel out to the next group, but...(go figure), two teens dropped out last minute and was invited to go on the second week free. Long story short - finished up 5 weeks later at the Portal - now hooked.
Shortest time after that, (my god, that was 35+ years ago!), was 16 days...only one layover day...thought that trip a bit rushed and much too short.
Longest time - permit said 25 days but fished the heck out of that trip and discovered you could trade w/ other JMTers - a string of fish for anything available. Wound up taking 32 days total. I do not know what happened to that extra week... (up in smoke?) - lots of layover days.
As for resupply places...TM, Reds (for milkshakes), prefer VVR over MTR but have done both. (VVR expensive but fun...MTR too stuffy.) Once did a resupply over Kearsarge too.

Re: JMT

Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 9:51 am
by sekihiker
It looks like partial completions are being included, so, 13 days from Tuolumne Meadows to Whitney Portal.
See: http://www.sierrahiker.com/JohnMuirTrail/index.html
I enjoyed the trip and took a side trip into the Kern headwaters. I started with 50 pounds and had no resupply. I was 42 yo.
It might be fun to do it again, but I doubt I could maintain my pace of 30 years ago and I really don't want to spend that much time on one trip.

Re: JMT

Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 11:34 am
by papercup
A JMT through-hike was my first ever backpacking experience in high-altitude mountains. Took 20 days, resupplied basically everywhere-- Red's, VVR, MTR, and a packer over Kearsarge. Did not have any clue what we were doing and carried way too much stuff, so basically a walking stereotype-- overloaded, slow-moving, inexperienced JMT through hikers. It was great though, and it got me invested enough to learn a lot more about what I was doing. Didn't take any full layover days, but had plenty of slow days. We hauled a frisbee and a ukelele with us, so we might hike two miles, stop in a meadow, hang out for awhile, and decide to just stay there the rest of the day. Also the occasional little side trip to see some sight or another that wasn't directly on the trail.

Re: JMT

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 5:21 pm
by franklin411
Never. Will try it when they have a Pizza Hut and/or Taco Bell every 10 miles along the way. :D

Re: JMT

Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2017 12:31 am
by Lumbergh21
Not the full JMT (those permits are near impossible to get now), but in 2015 I went from TM to Whitney in 13 days with a resupply in MTR. I doubt I will ever do the entire trail, as I've got a list of places that I want to hike nearly a mile long. I don't plan on taking 2 weeks of vacation to re-hike 200 miles and 23 new miles just to put a notch in my belt. Though, I might one day as it occasionally eats away at me that I didn't follow through with my plan to day hike from TM to HI after exiting at Whitney. Instead I drove a couple of guys I met on the trail up to Reno to catch their flights the next day and spend some more time hanging out together albeit in the slightly different environs of Reno.

Re: JMT

Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2017 6:34 am
by Mtncaddis
Hiked the JMT sobo from late August to mid-September in 2016 (3ish+ weeks). I don't remember the exact number of days on trail but as with all trips in the Sierra I wished I had more days to spend there. Took one layover day at Marie Lake, one in Tuolumne Meadow, and a few unplanned layover days in Independence & Bishop due to a badly strained plantar facia I sustained going down the east side of Kearsarge for an unplanned resupply. The podiatrist in Bishop assured me my plantar facia wasn't torn and after taping my foot he prescribed 800 mg Ibuprofrin and told me to "get back on the trail because the best section is from Kearsarge to Whitney". My planned resupply points were TM, Reds, and MTR.

Re: JMT

Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 11:41 am
by SSSdave
My recent Humphreys Basin backpack was my 200th, with most in the Sierra Nevada since my first backpack in 1971 to Laurel Lake in Yosemite. However none have been on through trail hikes though I have always understood that attraction others have. As a Sierra Club member during my early first couple decades, I learned to dislike the usual mind set of backpackers trail hiking most of each day whether on a thru trail or just a week long itinerary. Thus quickly became oriented in visiting trail less zones beyond trails much like GB as my first decade was mostly about fishing.

David

Re: JMT

Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 4:37 pm
by Wandering Daisy
I have never intentionally done the JMT, but have walked nearly all the miles as parts of other trips. I would like to do the whole thing in one trip but am saving that for my "old" old age. I still have too many harder off-trail routes on the bucket list for now.