It’s JMT Time! My 20 Day Hiking Plan.

The time has finally come. Next week I will be on the trail, hiking the almost 200 miles from Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park to the peak of Mount Whitney.

Many of my friends and family are asking what my itinerary will be, what I'm eating and what I'm bringing on this second try of the John Muir Trail.

As I learned last year, you never know how your trip will go once you get out there, but as of a few days prior to heading out, here is my general plan.

*Also at the end of the post I will include a doc I created to plan my food, weight and hiking schedule. Feel free to grab a copy and use it for your own trip!*

My Hike:

I plan to drive Monday from San Francisco to Yosemite. There I will stay a night or two until I pick up my permit to embark. Mostly likely I will receive a permit to begin on the 29th.

I will hike 4 days and 35 miles before resupplying with the food I sent ahead to Red's Meadow near Mammoth Lakes (green highlight).

Then I will hike another 48 miles over 5 days before I reach my second and final resupply at Muir Trail Ranch (second green highlight). There I will pick up 10 days of food (at about 2 pounds per day) and head off for the final ~100 miles to Whitney.

Alena is contemplating coming to come support me and meet me at Devil's Post Pile for the weekend to join me for a short 2 night backpacking trip in that area. So my schedule might be delayed for 2 days after Red's Meadow if that happens, but for now this is my hiking plan.

My Food:

Each day I plan to eat about 3,000 calories.

Breakfast ~ 500 calories - either 2 packets of instant oatmeal and a few Jack Links breakfast sausages or a Mountain House freeze dried breakfast (either the Breakfast Hash or the Biscuits and Gravy).

Morning Snack ~ 380 calories - Poptart

Mid-Morning Snack ~ 210 calories - LaraBar

Lunch ~ 550 calories - Tortilla with cheese, summer sausage and spicy mustard (Beaver Brand is my favorite!)

Afternoon Snack ~ 250 calories - Cliff Bar

Mixed Nuts Throughout the Day (1/2 cup) ~ 400 calories

Dinner ~ 400 calories - Mountain House Dinners (Beef Stroganoff is my favorite, very creamy)or Backpacker's Pantry Fettuccini Alfredo with Chicken (2 servings)

Dessert~ 400 calories - 1/2 cup M&Ms

Total ~ 3,000 calories per day - about 2 pounds

I am also bringing a few extra candy bars and some hot cocoa to add fun treats and more calories. I keep reading that someone my size (6'1 - 175lbs) can expect to burn around 5,000 calories a day. I was not enough of a packing ninja to get that many calories in my bear canister nor did I want to carry 3 pounds of food per day. So 3,000ish calories per day it is and I will see how it goes.

That is my general plan for my 2018 JMT trip. Here is a link below to the doc that I created to track everything. Please feel free to make a copy and use it for your own JMT planning or really for planning any backpacking trip!

JMT Planning Excel Document - Google Doc