High Sierra Topix

The longest without resupply was 17 days, Tuolumne Meadows to Kings Canyon (Cedar Grove). It was the last trip for my 1972 red Kelty pack. According to our bathroom scale it all weighed 57 pounds (with tripod, but without water bottles) .

Nowhere near as well traveled as most of you, but 11 days is my longest trip w/o a resupply or with one. Went from North Lake over Lamarck Col then south on the JMT and exited over Sawmill Pass. Three of us shared cooking gear, stove and fuel, but carried our own meals. It was supposed to be a 9-day trip, but poor weather and an unexpected route change made it 11. We had little food left, but actually never went hungry as we realized we would be getting out late about mid-trip and supplemented our meals with trout (and rationed our supplies). We ate trout 6 times the last 4 days (not including the last day hiking out). I don't remember the pack weight, but they seemed to always weigh about 60 lbs in those days

17 day loop out of Virginia Lakes in 1976. No bear cans back then. Food in 3 stuff sacks (breakfast, lunch, dinner). Gang of 4 and we did group dinners. Everyone was responsible for their own breakfast and lunch. My pack (Kelty external Serac) weighed just over 70 pounds to start. By the time we got to Summit Lake at the end of day one, we were all wiped.
JMT in 74 was done with only one food drop at Lake Edison. Two weeks of food at a time, pack weight was in the mid 60s at the start.
Stronger than I was smart back then. Great times.

Recent years have taken/enjoyed many a 14 - 15 day trip with the OldRanger...Sawtooths, No. Yosemite, Woodchuck country, Yosemite 5-slam trip, the Bears, etc. I don't even ask where anymore - he does this extensive, off-trail, route planning thing and I just ask how many days, and provide my own breakfast and lunch menu. He buys all dinners (I do all the cooking...long story there) and afterward just pay my fair share of whatever owed. Our last time, out for 15 days to the Benson area this last September, and my 60 L pack w/ my Weekender was a little under 50 pounds to start.

My longest without a re-supply though was 15 years ago...my last JMT. The Yosemite permit stated 20 days but...after 10 days and a stop off at MTR, my boots pointed/ headed south... proceeded to try some extensive off-trail fishing along rest of the way. Soon enough, discovered the art of trail trading, can trade a stringer of trout for almost anything - dinners, alcohol, ?...you provide and cook trout for whatever treats you can barter for. This plan works very well if flexible and 420 friendly.

That trip, finally hit the Portal after 32 days total. Now my math may be a little off as one day seemingly melted into a week...(up in smoke?), but it looks like that stretch was 22 days, and surprisingly, I came back in with food to spare.

Many eight and nine day trips in the Sierra, and a few 10-day trips. Because of work schedules, trips began on a Saturday morning and ended the following Sunday. I took longer trips if camping out before and after the trip is included. Many more 4 or 5 day trips (Sierra, Pyramid Lake in Nevada, central and northern California coast, deserts, Lost Coast, Los Padres National Forest, etc). I also did several 8 or 9-day Sierra Club service trips (as a leader and participant) in California (Tuolumne Meadows area, twice, Goodale Pass trail, and Marble Mountains), Wyoming (Cloud Peak Wilderness), Utah (Uintas), and Washington State (Mt. Rainier, twice).

12 days last year solo, bear can, ice axe, crampons, and rock shoes. From onion valley cross country all over, to HST meetup, lots of peaks without pack, but many passes with it! Out Taboose pass walked out to 395 to hitchhike. Pack and all equipment UL and came out with some food granted Jim did fish for me 1 night...Thank you for that, but added fish to already packed food...I was hungry by then I think day 8 or 9. Pack about 40 pounds.

23 days in 1980. I used a North Face external frame pack, and carried a 4 lb down sleeping bag, blue-foam pad, tube tent, MSR white gas stove, lots of Ramen and other noodle dinners, chedder cheese, salamie, Ry-Krisp crackers, etc. A very heavy pack. I created my own version of the Sierra High Route. Resupplied on Day 24 at the South Lake parking lot (brother Van and friends met me at the trailhead). The pack was heavy but I took it easy the first few days.

Mike

I like that sign at McGee Pass :-) Speaking of pack weight, in 2011 when I did my first (and only one so far) long solo trip (8 days) I packed way too much food, a Mountain House meal for every night in addition to soup, the usual nuts, etc. I told myself it was insurance food should I need it. But I had never needed that much in the past. The pack was 48 pounds (and it's a Kelty Cloud ultralight pack). I usually carry 35. I made myself eat those whole dinners. Also, it took me less time to get to my destination then I thought. So for three nights at Lake of the Lone Indian on the Silver Divide I was in one spot and trying to force down the food while day hiking all around to try and at least work up an appetite (hee).

I've been logging my trips since the 70s and one statistic is trip lengths that have totaled below. So my longest trips have just been 10 days and found that to be about as long as I ever want to be out decades ago so never plan trips any longer. I am a hungry person and take a good deal of food so beyond 10 days would also start to get into weight issues since my photo gear heavy packs are already ridiculous.

trip length number of trips total days
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2 = 38 76
3 = 56 168
4 = 36 144
5 = 23 115
6 = 10 60
7 = 11 77
8 = 8 64
9 = 15 135
10 = 3 30
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totals 200 869

For me, my longest trip was 9 days and my distribution of backpacking trip length is even more heavily weighted toward shorter trips, so that I can easily remember the trips of 5 days or more because I've done so few of them:
9 days: New Army to Shepherd shuttle (1996), 8 days: "Ring Around the Goddard" (1994); Mordor I= Tableland/Deadman Cyn/Glacier Ridge//Cloud Cyn/Colby/Triple Divide/Lion/etc. (2002), Mordor II= Kaweah/Red Spur etc. (2003); 7 days: Dumbbell Lakes (1993), Sawboose (1997). 5 days: Rockbound/Blue/Harriet/Lyell Fork/Twin Island (1994), "Astride the Glacier Divide"= Darwin Cyn, 11092, Knob, Puppet et al.(1997), Blackchuck= Blackcap Basin + Woodchuck Country (2007), Tunechuck= Blue Cyn, Tunemah area + Woodchuck Country (2008), Gold at the End of the Rainbow=Little Lakes Valley to North L. (2015). I have enjoyed the longer trips, although they are not very long by the standard of many. For the types of trips I do, I can't think of a trip I'd like to try that would go longer than about 10 or 11 days.