Hiking Partner for JMT

imported
#1

Hello.
My name is Tom, I’m 22, a recent college grad from Seattle, and I’ve decided that I want to hike the John Muir trail over the summer.
None of my friends have the same aspirations as myself, so I’m looking elsewhere to find a potential hiking partner.

I do not have much long distance hiking experience, so I would like to travel with someone who is more experienced. My current longest trip is about 40 miles in 4 days. I will be training in 2014 in preparation for the hike. I’m an active person and I don’t think I’ll have any trouble going at an average pace, still I am hiking for leisure more so than sport, I’d much rather take my time and enjoy it rather than rushing it.

I have been planning on leaving from Yosemite around the beginning of July but I am flexible on that. If you are at all interested, send me a message, tell me a little about yourself, and we can decide if it would be a good fit.

Thanks!

Goalie Tom

#2

Hello Tom,

I am also looking for a JMT partner, but I was planning on late July or early August. I hear the bugs and snow are less prevalent. I hike because I love to hike and I really enjoy the outdoors. My longest trek is about a week, but I still hike regularly in my free time. Do you have any ideas/plans for the JMT?

Julia A

Julia

#3

hey my names Anthony 26yo from Australia i recently done about about 300km of the jmt in 2013 but had to leave trail early because of injury.

i have my trip booked for this yeah from 15th June to 7th July.

may be early for some but your welcome to join if you wish,

cheers …Anthony

anthony

#4

Hi,
My name is Robyn. I’m a 30yo from San Diego, CA. I am planning on doing the JMT after I take the CA bar exam at the end of July. This will be considerably longer than my previous trips, but I am 100% committed to planning and completing it this summer as my graduation gift to myself. I train year round and keep in pretty top shape by boxing, running, and pack training. My outdoor experience all comes from the past 3 years, so I have a lot to learn, but I have enough of the basics to not be a liability, lots of energy, and an upbeat attitude on the trail.

Robyn

#5

Hey there! I’m a 27yo female who is also interested in doing the JMT. I’ve grown up hiking and backpack quite often. Outdoor skills are good and I’m an athlete so the endurance is there. I don’t need to go super fast though. 10ish miles/ day is good. Let me know if anyone wants to roll and we’ll get planing!

Sadie Rogers

#6

I did this trip a couple of years ago, and am planning to do it again Summer 2014.

A few comments:
If you can hike 10 miles/day w/30lb pack @ 10K’, you are already “there,” in terms of fitness. If you will do a little cardio (jogging) beforehand, you’ll be MUCH happier with the level of effort you can put out. I was.

Mammoth Lakes is a very nice tourist town featuring free busses. Get off the trail at Devils Postpile Natl. Monument and take advantage of Mammoth’s hospitality. Hot baths, grocery store, and a well earned beer.

Resupply @ Muir Trail Ranch is a VERY good idea. The 60$ they charge to transport and guard your resupply bucket is cheap! No, really. Further, desperate hikers or cheapskates w/ iron stomaches can root around in the discarded hiker food-package pile for free. Don’t forget this, since if an enterprising bear devastates your food, you absolutely could continue the trip w/ weird odds and ends of food parcels.

I thought that August was the nicest month, in terms of bugs and weather.

I used a modern butane stove and was very happy with it(SnowPeak Gigapower).

This high altitude trail is very rocky in many places. Will your boots walk on sharp granite shards for miles OK?

The sun is relentless. Use long sleeves & hats and fresh SPF 50.

I didn’t bother filtering drinking water, and was fine. Outside of cattle country, filters may be overrated for this trip. I actually saw lots of repeat JMT veterans NOT filtering, who also reported good results!

This is not a good trip to drag lots of heavy luxuries on. There’s too many high passes to climb and descend, in thin air. An extremely nice digital camera is not a luxury, this would be a necessity. When you see these once in a lifetime vistas, you’ll suddenly understand. “Pics, or it didn’t happen…”

If you are rash enough to overnight on top of Mt. Whitney (lightning!), get up WAY before dawn and watch the high altitude sunrise. Very strange, but at this point, you earned it. So have it.:eek:

Whitney Portal Store has the Cheeseburgers, Beer and JMT Tee shirts you need. They may still offer hot showers.

Dave in California

#7

All of you looking for hiking partners- do you have permits? I was planning on June 16-July7 (ish) but don’t have a permit.

Alison

#8

Alison, i can’t speak to whether they have permits, but if you can’t get one in advance don’t give up. It’s a very very good bet that you can get one as a single walk-up at the permit office. Get there a day ahead of time early in the morning before they open, and it’s nearly a guarantee.

markv

#9

hi there fellow hikers!
(excuse me for my poor english cause its not my native language )
my name is Afek and I’m 22 years old. I live in israel and i just finished with my army period (3 years). i am planning to start the trail in early july alone.
the fact that many hikers will be there cheers me up!
although im quite experienced i do have some questions and ill be happy getting some answers:

  1. permit-because i dont know exactly the date ill start will it work to get a permit when ill come?
  2. resupply- my time is flexible and sending packages is quite difficult because im far away and all sorts of other problems (language- its one thing to talk or write to someone but plannig the packages is difficult). so i think ill manage somehow to get to towns or stuff like that. is it possible?
  3. i guess that from the airport ill visit rei or someting alike and then start the trail is it complicated (transportation)?

looking forward to meet nice people on the trail (:

afek

#10

My son (11) and I (48) are planning to hike a portion of the Muir trail this summer starting on July 1 (entering July 2) and ending around July 22. I plan to start in Golden Trout rather than at Whitney and hike North ending at Mono Hotsprings near Fresno. We plan to hike 6 to 10 miles a day at a leisurely pace. I am a very experienced backpacker. I have a permit for 4 but the other people dropped out last min due to a broken bone. Would anyone like to join us? I’d love for someone to help set up a car shuttle and totally open to someone continuing on for the rest of the trail after, but I have obligations to return. -Ethan

Ethan

#11

I was watching Mile Mile and A Half on Netflix about a group of artists that hiked the JMT. It took them 25 days with very heavy packs containing a lot of camera gear. My primary experience hiking is on the Appalachian Trail. I am just curious how many days the average hiker takes to hike the whole JMT. I know that is kind of a hard figure to calculate, but if I averaged 10-15 mile days on the AT, roughly how many days would you anticipate it to take me to do the JMT. This is a long way off for me, but any information can help me calculate. Thanks.

Turk

#12

I’d guess it would take you just about 3 weeks. I think that’s average. You might be able to move faster with your AT experience, but you’ll probably feel like exploring more and going slower, so it will even out.

markv

#13

I too am looking for someone to go with as all of my friends don’t want to go. 23 y/o, ive done a lot of hiking and traveling. mostly in Hawaii and ny. I live in NY so we would need to plan what day so I can buy tickets. I was looking to go sometime in August. Please contact me! Lets set this up even if we all end up meeting up and going together! kc.allen@aol.com

caseya