Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Muir Trail Ranch to Whitney. Kearsarge reprovision

Yeah going back up with a full pack wont be easy and for me it's going to be the largest load of my trip with about 2 weeks of supplies.

I wish I could say after Forester Pass it's all down hill but I have 8 more mountains to climb after that

when I did the Muir in the late 89s and early 90s multiple times, I think I never carried more than 45 pounds, and I did it in about 10 days each time. They just didn't call it ultra-light at the time. Only reason I carry more now is that my kids simply cannot carry their share, as the pack/body weight ratio would be much more extreme for them. I doubt I'll have more than 50 pounds in my pack this year, even fully loaded, though, and I don't really hike "ultra-light" - just good lightweight gear and leave behind whatever you didn't need on your last hike.

the main reason I never did the south-north hike is that I actually don't care much to have the highlights of the trip at the beginning and then end up in a tourist-infested Yosemite Valley as my finale. Even this time, I think we'll cut the valley out of our plans and start/finish at Tenaya Lake or Mono Pass trailheads. Not sure yet

I would also expect to hike JMT in around 10days IF I could get weight down to 45# (or below....as many Ultra-lite proponents say is doable!) based upon initially doing trip in 21days carrying 65-70# and then 15days carrying 55#.

Herein is my problem, though, I challenged everything in my pack last year and still ended up with 55#. So, I need some help since I did not overdress, used simple bivvy tent, limited water carriage (due to abundance on trail) and kept to simple dehydated meals. So, I am looking for help as to what to do next: striving for lighter weight, faster time and less body abuse???

And as for all downhill from Forester, I will grant you that indeed there are a few more inclines to negotiate enroute to Yosemite but nothing that you can't handle having done Whitney and Forester carrying the heaviest weight!

It's all in the mind!

I just bought two nice postal scales to get all anal about weight of everything I pack for this summer. I will post my gear numbers in a few weeks once I get through the process of measuring everything. There's a thread about that weight cutting thing already, so I'll just add to that with another example when I get the weights recorded.

The ultra-light guys I met last summer were carrying less than 30 pounds even fully loaded with food, but they also had no more than a poncho/tarp for shelter, a 1 pound "sleeping bag" and ate cold food only, wore shoes I'd consider good enough for camp use. Meanwhile we even carried two stuffed animals across the Sierras...

I was told the same thing: <30# is achievable goal which is amazing if you ask me! But then you have to re-think tradition approach (carrying the kitchen sink) and be prepared to sacrifice some trail luxuries in order to enable more mileage and less body abuse.

From your list, key difference for me would be no hot meals or my daily brew (tea) which is somewhat sacriligous to ex-army brit hiker. Cold food & drink would require no fuel or stove and thereby decrease weight significantly. Also, no water filter presumably and just depend upon ClO2 tablets.

I'm not sure if I am quite ready to go there yet...until the right challenge comes along (such as attempting JMT in 7days which my buddy is planning to do in 2 yrs).

Cheers.....

I may have been one of those- it was my first trip in a long time where I did a week with less than about 50 pounds. From Muir Trail Ranch to Whitney I took 7 days. My pack was probably about 29 pounds leaving MTR including food. Leaving Yosemite Valley it was 21 pounds with just two days' food. My base weight (no food or water) was under 18.

The only place I scrimped was the tent- I took an 18 ounce bivy sack instead. Now with a couple new purchases my base weight is hovering around 15- including a self-inflating pad, 15 degree down bag, bear can, and now a 35 square foot, standing height tent.

I didn't scrimp on food- In the final week from MTR I had so much that I gave away probably 2 pounds of food. I had hot breakfasts, hot dinners, and a fresh baked muffin every day.

My footwear was a pair of Montrail Continental Divide trail runners. They have a very substantial sole and a stiff sole plate to protect from rocks. With a light pack and hiking poles my feet and ankles were in better shape than on any trip before- I came off the desk and did 220 miles in two weeks with only one small blister on day 2.

I presume that you resupplied at Reds to spread the load on first half of trail while you acclimatized? I'm still surprized you can get below 30# carrying stove, fuel, food for the 7day stretch from mtr to whitney.

I did northbound trip last year and was probably too conservative leaving portal (carrying more water & coleman fuel than I really needed) but my pack still weighed 55# and could perhaps have been 10# less (minus extra fuel & water) but still that would not even be close to your 29#. What sort of stove were you using and what meals were you eating?

Ultimately, i did the trip in 15days and like you only had a few blisters to deal with on homebound stretch as compared with severely swollen ankles the year before carrying much heavier load southbound.

I'm still in awe of true ultraliters and really appreciate all the advice and shared opinions.

I consider myself an ultralighter, although I don't consider myself Hard Core. I've given a number of talks on the subject, mainly to the Sierra Club. Having to organize a talk really makes you think about the minor details of a subject, and I've always maintained that moving from traditional backpacking to ultralight should be something that comes with experience (because you have to know what to do for backup), and should probably be incremental, not done as a one-time switch. I, personally, am always experimenting with something.

However, there is no doubt that the repository of the most information is among the PCT through hikers. It is one thing to embark on an overnight carrying 5#, it is entirely another to embark on a trip of 3,000 miles carrying that.

The seminal book was Ray Jardine's, most recently published as:
"Trail Life: Ray Jardine's Lightweight Backpacking"
Due out shortly.

However, there are a lot of books and websites dedicated to ultralight techniques.

To access the discussions among the Hard Core, take a look at the PCT Listserver, found at

http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/

and click on the most current months date, and start scrolling.
There's a lotta great info here.

By the way, the last time I hiked from MTR to Whitney (which took my group about 12 days out), my pack weighed 39#. Today, it would weigh about 29#.

I'm still busy putting stuff on my scale (and I just received my brand new Big Agnes Copper Spur 3-person tent - wow! Much bigger and 2 pounds ligher than what we used last year)...

anyway - saw this list of Sierra High Route ultralight gear and it may be a good base to compare your gear to to get started

http://www.andrewskurka.com/SHR08/gearlist.php

I'm by no means an "ultralighter"- those guys would laugh at my 18 pound base weight. I did enjoy my hike a lot more than when I carried a heavier load, and now that I've trimmed a couple more pounds I really look forward to this summer.

I had a brand new Jetboil stove and only used 250 grams of fuel for the whole trip- generally boiling about 6-7 cups of water per day plus steam-baking a muffin for 15 minutes. The thing is darned efficient. I normally stopped for breakfast and a cup of choffee mid-morning, then stopped for dinner mid-afternoon, then had hot sweet tea once I reached camp.

I started from Yosemite Valley with just two days' food. To me the first two days are always the hardest part of a trip and it was great to have my pack so light. Then I picked up my supplies for the next 6 days at the Tuolumne Post Office. Doing it again I would also do a partial resupply at the Reds Meadow store.

my main weight saver is that I rarely hike alone. 4 of my JMT hikes were in groups of three people, sharing tent, sharing cooking gear, sharing bear canisters, one camera, etc. This really brings down the base weight. For example, my new tent is 4.5 pounds, but that's really only 1.5 pounds per person. The stove, the pot, the pot lid, the lighter, the first aid kit, compass, altimter, maps, a knife, etc - all that only goes once into those three backpacks.

The following is from an email exchange two years ago. I didn't pursure this option. One might try to get ahold of Dee Berner and see what the deal is these days.
>>>>>>>>>
Danica Berner <bernerspack@yahoo.com> hide details 3/31/07
to
date Mar 31, 2007 8:23 PM
subject Re: JMT resupply over Kearsarge Pass
signed-by yahoo.com
mailed-by yahoo.com

Mr. Glassner,

Realizing economics, we do have another option which allows some
of the hikers a convenience of resupply. One can hike out to
our station in Onion Valley and pickup their stored provisions.
We charge $50.00 per party. It can be sent to Pine Creek Pack
Station by UPS or FedEx and we take it down to Onion Valley when
we go. We also own the pack station at Pine Creek. If we
receive the resupply by US Postal Service, we charge $25.00 to
retrieve it from Independence or Bishop post offices. We offer
hot showers and overnight camping nearby each station. So, I've
attached our resupply information for your convenience.

Cheers!

Ms. Dee Berner

I will have to follow up on this. thanks!