Hawai'i Kauai Island Trip Day1

During Thanksgiving week 2016, I went to Hawaii. This was my first time visiting there.

Hawaii is the closest America state to Japan, and one of the most popular destinations for international trips.

When I was at elementary school, I remember some rich kids bragging that they went there. I was jealous but I tried not to think about it. I told myself that Japan is surrounded by ocean, so there is no need to go there. It was hopeless for a kid to go there alone, especially considering the amount of money and legal paperwork required. Also my parents don't travel: I have only been on two overnight trips with them my entire life. It seemed as though my brain has refused to think about Hawaii, ever since I was little.

However, when Mr.N mentioned Hawaii last summer I thought that it might be a good time to go, because I live in the U.S. and I don't need my passport. So basically last week I fulfilled a childhood dream. 

Early Saturday morning, we headed for the San Jose airport. We booked a parking spot on somebody's driveway through "Way.com", however, there was no spot. So we needed to park on the street. The service was not organized and lame.

While we were waiting for boarding at a gate, Mr.S2 told me that the Kalalau trail we would hike was one of the ten most dangerous hikes in the U.S. Mr.S2 said, "That was the first one when I googled the Kalalau trail." I replied, "What! I didn't know that. Mr.N didn't tell me."

The flight was scheduled to take off at 9:10 a.m., but a mechanical problem occurred after boarding. Around 10:30 a.m, the airplane had to reboot completely. It was my first time sitting on a plane with no sound.

After 2 hours of sitting on a plane, finally we took off. During the 5 hours flight, I read some magazines, had some complimentary drinks (coffee with milk and sugar), and ate small breakfast (I thought that it was not enough, but Mr.S2 said that it was filling). Mr. R was sitting a few rows ahead of me and I witnessed that he ordered whiskey, which is his favorite drink. Our flight landed in Honolulu. Because of the delay of the first flight, we missed the connecting flight to Kauai. The receptionists at the Hawaiian Airline desk were unbelievably inefficient. Three people were at the desk when we were trying to change our connecting flight, but only one person was actually working; the other two people were just looking at the person who was working. Also, I saw many Japanese people who had their passports in their hands. I felt a little weird seeing so many Japanese people in Hawaii.

First night campsite

 After the sunset we finally arrived in Kauai. I really liked the humidity, which I had forgotten for a while, but it was not as warm as I had hoped.

Then we went to Walmart to get a stove and fuel for camping. At the store, we met Mr.S1 and Ms.R who had flown a day before. Mr.S1 was already wearing shorts; completely adjusted to Hawaii. On the way to the campground, I was a little disappointed, because the stores along the streets were stereotypically Americans instead Hawaiians, such as MacDonald, Tacobell, Starbucks, or Safeway. I knew that Hawaii is a part of America, but it was too American. However, this disappointment was immediately gone when I saw a cat when we reached the campground. That was my first Hawaiian animal there, a tame cat. All campgrounds in Hawaii have cats. I was so happy to camp near the cats. 

2006年のサンクスギビングホリデー（アメリカの感謝祭）にハワイへ行った。これが私の初のハワイ訪問である。

ハワイは日本から最も近いアメリカということもあり、日本人にとってハワイは一番人気のある国際旅行と言えるだろう。日本人は本当にハワイが好きだ。 

小学生の時、夏休み明けのクラスで夏休み中にどこへ行ったか・何をしたかなどを発表する時間があった。クラスで一人か二人ハワイへ行ったとの報告がいつもあり、密かに私はいいなぁ＋悔しい！と思っていた。しかし私がハワイに行ける確率はゼロだった。私の両親は旅行に興味がなかったからだ。なので、こう考えることにした。日本はもともと島なわけだし敢えて他の島に行く必要などない。海はすぐ近くにある。

MrNがハワイ旅行を提案するまでそういう経緯は忘れていたものの、現在はアメリカに住んでいるしハワイに行くのは国内旅行で手続きもなし、今が行くチャンスだ！と考えた。画して子供の頃の夢を叶えたのだ。

そして出発日。空港の近くの駐車スポットをWay.comのサイトで予約していたのに空きスポットがない。仕方なくストリートに駐車。あとでクレームをつけなければ。。。

で、サンノゼの空港でハワイアンエアラインの飛行機を待つことに。

するとMr.S2が我々のいくカララウトレイルはアメリカで一番危険なトレイルということをグーグルで発見。MrNはその情報を（意図的に？）告げず旅行を企画していた。やるなMrN。

そして飛行機に搭乗。飛行機は９時１０分発のはずだったが１０時半になってもまだ１ミリも動いていない。どうやらメカニカルのトラブルらしい。何の音もしない飛行機の中にいるのは初めてだった。ようやく１１時過ぎになって出発。そして中継地ホノルルに到着。もちろん次の飛行機は逃したためカウンターへ。周りを見渡すとたくさんの日本人が。。。パスポートを持っているのですぐわかる。わー。やはり日本人のハワイ熱はまだ続いている！ 

カウンターで次の飛行機の手続きをしてもらうが、かなり手際が悪い。３人の受付人がカウンターにいるのに一人だけ働いていて２人はその一人をただ単に見ているだけ。おいおい。。。これがハワイのペース？

そしてようやくカウアイ島に着く。やはり湿気が高い。日本みたいだ。

そしてまずはウォルマートに行ってキャンプ用の燃料やストーブを購入。そして１日先についていたMrS２とMsRと合流し夕飯を食べた。もっとハワイアンフード店があるかと思ったが空港の近くはマクドナルドやタコベルなどばかりでがっかりした。。。。が、キャンプ場に行って一気に興奮した。なぜならたくさんの猫がいたからだ。猫好きにとってハワイのキャンプ場はパラダイス！こうして１日目が終了。

 

Carrizo Plain Camping Day2

Flowers! A lot of them

Next morning, we slept until 9 a.m. My excuse was that we lost one hour because of day light saving. After brunch, we climbed to the look out point and saw the salt lake and huge plains. It was so green. It was green as far as the horizon. Some portions had blue, yellow, and orange wild flowers. They were pretty. 

Carrizo Plain is famous for the destination to see colorful wild flowers. Wild flower blossom is short term and kind of hard to pick the peak weekend. This time some of the hills were really yellow. It was lucky to see those colors.

 

Pretty green

Soda Lake

On the way back, we decided to stop by a Mexican restaurant. Mr.N and I had been there twice and we really liked it, so he suggested it to the group. When Mr.N and I arrived at the restaurant, the guys (Mr.A, Mr.S1, Mr.S2, and Mr.R) were already there but they were outside. Mr.N said, "Are they shy and can't go inside?" I said, "They are not that shy." It turned out that the restaurant didn't have vegetarian options. Some of the guys were vegetarian/vegans. Then we went to an Indian restaurant. The food was delicious. Then we safely came back to the Bay Area. It was another nice weekend. 

カリゾープレイン。日本ではほとんど知られていないと思うが、すごく綺麗な所だ。カリゾープレインは国立公園ではなく、ナショナルモニュメント。日本語にすると国立記念碑。公園ではないが、トレイルもありハイキングもできる。中身的には国立公園と変わらないが、どの機関が認定するか、どこの機関が管轄するかなどによって公園になるか記念碑になるかが決まる。一般の人は国立公園に目が行きがちなのでカリゾープレインは主に近場の人が行くことが多い。

カリゾープレインは大まかにいうとサンフランシスコとロサンジェルスの間にある。中間地点よりはだいぶロサンジェルスに近い。カリフォルニアの人たちの間では春にカラフルな花がたくさん見れるということで、ハイキングする人なら知っている。他の州の人にはほとんど知られていないと思われる。

キャンプ２日目、我々は９時まで寝ていた。前日のハイクが長かったし、夏時間になったので１時間、時間がずれたということもある（言い訳）。朝食をとった後、丘に登り広大な景色を堪能した。ちょうど花のピークでとてもカラフルな花をみることができた。ラッキー。写真１枚目にあるように丘全体が花で埋まっているのが見える。美しい。

花がない部分は壮大な緑がどこまでも続く。地平線まで綺麗な緑が。ずっと見ていても飽きない。

その後にSoda Lakeをチェック。雨の時期の後に湖が出現する。以前に一度カリゾープレインに来た時は水は一滴もなく塩が剥き出しになっていたが、この旅では水があった！完全に違った景色を見れたのがすごい。感謝。

その後帰り道にキャンプの締めくくりとしてメキシカンレストランへ寄ったが、なんとベジタリアンのメニューがない（きっと本場のメキシカンのレストランなのであろう）。MrS１・S２は食べれるものがないということで（私は何でも食べれるのだが）、インド料理のレストランへ。インディアンレストランではもちろんベジタリアンとビーガンのメニューがたくさんあるので彼らは非常に満足していた。私も満足！美味しかった。

カリゾープレインは本当に景色はどこも素晴らしく、何回でも来たい場所だ。

Carrizo Plain Camping Day1

Mr.S1, Mr.S2, Mr.R, Mr.A, Mr.N and I went camping in Carrizo Plain National Monument on a weekend in 2017. I had been there a year ago, but I was interested in the view after all the rain. First, we stopped at Soda lake. Last year the lake didn't have water at all because of drought, and I even walked on the lake. This year there was an actual lake. I was surprised. It was quite different and pretty.

Then we secured a campsite. The site had great views; one side was green mountains, the other was the vast plains. Then we started hiking around 1 p.m. The plan was to climb the Caliente Peak. It was 7 miles one way, and 14 miles in total. The trail was on the ridge, so the view was always nice. The mountains over the vast plains and soda lake were pretty. 

 

At the top

 

Because our destination was the highest poinat on the ridge, the goal was visible. It was supposed to be 7 miles from the trailhead, but the peak looked far away. We had estimated that we would reach the summit around 4 p.m., but we arrived at the top around 5:45 p.m. The sunset was 6 p.m., so we needed to hike at night. Luckily, the moon was full. So it was not completely dark, but I used a Mr.N’s headlamp. It seemed that it was around 8.5 miles from the trailhead to the peak. Because the area was managed by BLM (Bureau of land management), the mileage seemed to be wrong.

Sunset near the top

 

Mr.S1, Mr.S2, Mr.R, Mr.A started descending and Mr.N and I left the summit last. 30 minutes after Mr.N and I left the summit, we caught up to Mr.S2 and Mr.A. They were sitting on the rocks. Mr.S2 said, "I was telling Mr.A how bad my knees are." He had knee issues and he was having a hard time descending. It was already dark and we had to walk at least 7 more miles. Good thing was that Mr.N had Delorme inReach (a satellite device that can call rescue).

Sunset then moon came out

Moon

Interesting rock I saw on the way to summit

Mr.S2 had knee problems and he was slow, but he could still walk, so we hiked slowly. Actually, the mountain ranges reflecting the full moon light were very pretty. Another thing I liked about the trail was the smell. The combination of dirt, weeds, and trees made me feel good. Usually downhills are really bad for knees. That’s why Mr.S2 had a hard time descending, but once we reached the flat part, his speed got back to normal. I was relieved that we didn't need to carry him, but then we realized that we couldn’t see Mr.A behind.

We stopped to wait for Mr.A. It was my first time hiking with Mr.A, so I didn't know how much Mr.A had hiked before. Our hike was supposed to be 14 miles, but obviously it was more than 16 miles. It might be overkill for Mr.A. We were worried.

While three of us were waiting for Mr.A, we heard Mr.R who was ahead called us. Then Mr.R and Mr.S1 came back. They went to see if Mr.A was doing good. 20 minutes later, Mr.A showed up. We were glad he was okay. At 10:30 p.m., we finally got back to the trailhead. All of us were very tired and went straight to sleep. It was a very long day.

Cliff Walk in Rhode Island

Rhode Island. I didn't know that there is a state called Rhode Island until I moved to New England (Forgive me, I am not American). Rhode Island is one of the states in New England and it is the smallest state in the U.S. Rhode Island's nickname is "Ocean State" I notice it when I saw car plates of Rhode Island. Indeed, Rhode Island has 400 miles (644 km) of coastline. It is a lot considering the size of state. I thought that it would be nice to see some coastlines, if Rhode Island has such a long coastline. I choose Cliff Walk, one of most popular coastline walks in Rhode Island.

The coastline at Cliff Walk is iconic rocky as a New England coastline. On a sunny day, the ocean is shiny blue. It was pleasant to walk along the ocean. I was born on a small island and I am from a country of islands. It means that I love ocean. By the time walking 2 miles, there are not many people. People don't 

walk much here. After that, the walk was very peaceful. 

On the way back (Cliff Walk is out and back walk), I decided to walk in the town instead of walking back the same way. The town here, Newport, there are many mansions. Each mansion is really big. A lot of mansions has museum and open to public. Of course there is fee to enter. I remember the Japanese idiom, rich people are stingy. Ocean is nice in the town, but I am not sure if I want to live here (well I can't afford anyway), because it is cold in winter. If I could have mansion, I would choose California beach. Maybe Wall Street rich people have second or third house here, since it is close.

Anyway, it is nice to see ocean and interesting town in one day. 

ロードアイランド州。実はニューイングランドに引っ越しすまでこの州のことは全く知らなかった。（アメリカ人ではないのでお許しを）。というか全く知らないどころか聞いたこともなかった。日本人で知っている人も相当少ないのでは。。

ロードアイランド州はアメリカ北東部に位置するニューイングランドの中の一つの集だ。ニックネームは”海の州”。州のニックネームは車のナンバープレートに書いてある。ロードアイランドに登録してあるナンバープレートはロードアイランド、オーシャンステートという単語がプレートに書いてある。ナンバープレートから州のニックネームを知るのが私のパターン。（ちなみにカリフォルニアのナンバープレートにはニックネームが載っていない。カリフォルニアは色々ありすぎて一言では言い切れないし、書かなくてもすごいことだらけ、という自信満々の現れとどこかで聞いたことがある。）

ともかくロードアイランド州のニックネームは海の州、で実際６４４キロの海岸があるのだ。驚くべきはロードアイランドはアメリカで一番小さい州なのでこの距離の海岸線があるのはすごい。

そこまで”海の州”をアピールしているのなら一度ロードアイランドの海岸沿いを歩いてみるかと思いクリフウォークと呼ばれるトレイルへ行った。

クリフウォークの海岸は、ザ、ニューイングランドコーストという感じで岩の海岸だ。砂浜の海岸はニューイングランドにはほとんどない。この日はよく晴れた青空が広がり、青を反射して海は真っ青。とても綺麗だ。１枚目の写真が特徴をよく表している。海を見るとやはり島国出身の血が騒ぐ。日本で見ていた海は太平洋と日本海、カリフォルニアでは太平洋なので、大西洋にはあまり馴染みがないが、違った美しさがある。（まあ海は結局全て繋がっているが）。２マイルも歩くと”普通”のハイカーはいなくなりとても静かで楽しいハイクを楽しむことができた。

戻りは同じトレイルではなく、街の中を歩いて元の場所に戻ることにした。このニューポートという小さな街がお金持ちが住む街で、豪邸が建ち並んでいる。ニューヨーク市からもそこそこ近いのでウォール・ストリートのお金持ち達が別荘として海岸の近くに持っているらしい。海岸は綺麗だが冬は寒いのであまりいい別荘地には私には見れなかったが。。。そういった豪邸のいくつかは美術品をたくさん持っておりそれらを美術館として公開している。そしてもちろん有料。私は美術を理解できないので、行かなかった。

この日はロードアイランド州を肌で感じるハイキングが出来て良かった。

North Pack Monadnock Mountain

End of March. It is spring on the calendar, however, it is still winter in the mountain in New England. Today Mr.N and I went hiking in the North Pack Monadnock area. 

First, we stopped by a coffee shop. Our favorite coffee place in Massachusetts, Haute Coffee in a town of Concord. Haute is an English word originated from French. Because French word doesn't pronounce h at the beginning, it is said "ohto"Anyway I love this place's pour over coffee and scone. Often people bring dogs and leave dogs at the entrance. At the entrance there are two water bowls for dogs. Today there was a saint bernard at the entrance! I got soooooooo excited. He was so cute. He was friendly. I pet him and he looked happy. He did a lot of hand shakes for me. Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. So cute! Saint Bernard is a breed of large dogs originated in Italian and Swiss Alps. When I did Tour du Mont Blanc, I hiked through the area of Saint Bernard origin. Also there was a trail race called Saint Bernard. It is a rescue dog in the snowy Alps. It reminded me of the great memory of Tour du Mont Blanc. (The journals were posted in this blog from day1 to day10 starting at https://himebackpacker.blogspot.com/2019/01/tour-du-mont-blanc-day1.html).

At the trailhead

Then we arrived at the trailhead. Today we climbed via Ted's trail and hiked down via Carolyn's trail. The trailhead indicates two trails' names.

I don't know who the Ted and Crolyn are, but maybe a couple? It is just my imagination. Maybe they competed from each side of mountain to reach the top. I would root for Carolyn!

 

 

Anyway, the snow near the trailhead was relatively hard and only microspikes were enough. After 10 minutes of walk, there was a junction: we turned left to the Ted's trail. Ted's trail is along the creek. The snow is finally getting melted. It is nice to walk along the trail. 

At lower elevation, fresh snow is on the top, however, I felt the ice under the soft snow. Because it sometimes gets above and below freezing temperature (0C). Indeed, I saw several big ice. On the other hand, some portions at lower elevation are completely out of snow. This month, I feel every week is getting warmer in the mountain and little by little snow is shrinking. However, that is only at lower elevation now. As we climbed the mountain, snow got much softer without ice, the temperature got lower, and wind got stronger. Although it was cold, the scenery was much nicer. 

The evergreens have snow on the leaves and brunches. Nobody was on the trail. Snow forest was extremely quiet other than winds' sound. It was very pretty, so I took many pictures.

At the top there was some open vista, but it was too cold to sit down and relax. Mr.N was much more tolerant to cold, and he wanted to sit down, but I said I couldn't. I took out sandwich and ate while walking. Now it was downhill. When snow is soft, downhill is not difficult like icy trail. I could manage hiking plus eating. 

The first portion of Carolyn trail has some slope vista. The slope is full of snow covered tress. It was very pretty.  

Carolyn trail is not along the creek. I thought that the Ted's trail is more scenic. Creek scenery might be differently pretty in spring due to green trees and more water. 

On the way down, first time on the trail we saw a hiker. I looked at the hiker's face and I thought the hiker is a female. Later Mr.N thought that the hiker is a male. Secretly I think that I am right. 

I didn't have a high expectation (actually I have never had a high expectation for New England' hikes), but this one was actually unexpectedly pretty. Especially snow covered trees are beautiful and I liked it. 

３月末。暦の上では春だが、ニューイングランドではまだまだ冬。今日はNと

North Pack Monadnockにハイキングへ出かけた。

まずはマサチューセッツで一番のお気に入りのコーヒー店へ。オートコーヒーというカフェ。 ここのpour overコーヒーとスコーンは絶品なのだ。入り口には犬が！セイントバーナード ！すごくフレンドリー！なでなでするとお手を何回もしてくれた。かわいい！！！！ものすごくかわいい。セイントバーナードはイタリア・スイスアルプスのブリードで救助犬としても山で活躍する寒さに強い大型犬だ。そして賢い。セイントバーナードのワンコは去年行ったツアーデモンブランのハイキングを思い起こさせた。その時のブログは１日ごとにここに記録：

https://himebackpacker.blogspot.com/2019/01/tour-du-mont-blanc-day1.html

 

そしてトレイルヘッドへ。今日のトレイルは テッドトレイルとカロリントレイル。上りはテッド、下りはカロリンでループ　（一番上の写真）。テッドとカロリンは名前だが、誰かは知らない。

もしかしてカップルで山の頂上に登るのを競争したとか？だから二つのルートがある？ただの想像だが。。。

とにかく、歩き始める。テッドトレイルは川沿いに続く綺麗なトレイル。ようやく雪が溶け始めて来たため、クリークでは水が流れていた。トレイルの表面はソフトな雪だったがその下は硬いのが歩いているとよくわかる。ニューハンプシャーの冬の温度は非常に寒くなったりちょっとだけ０Cよりも高くなったりの繰り返しなので、雪が溶けてはまた凍るの繰り返し。そのため至る所に大きな氷の塊が見られた（写真３番目）。

ただ標高が高くなると雪はどんどんソフトになり氷はない。なぜなら山の頂上付近になると０C以上には冬はなかなかならないからだ。そして木々が雪に覆われたまま。その景色はとても美しいものだった（写真４番目と一番下）。 

帰りはカロリントレイルで。カロリントレイルからは斜面が見えて雪化粧をした木々の並びを見ることができた。目をみはる素晴らしい景色だと思う。

正直ここのトレイルにそんなに期待していなかったが、、、想像以上に綺麗だった！ほとんど人もいなく（我々の他には１人しかハイクしていなかった）、静かで良いハイクだった。

Arastradero Preserve Day Hiking

<Japanese after English version: 日本語は英語の後にあります>

Arastradero Preserve is a nice local park in Palo Alto in California. In spring it gets green with wild flowers. It is so lovely. I have hiked here for more than 10 times and roadbiked more than 20 times. 

Arastradero is a Spanish word, so it is pronounced in a Spanish way. Palo Alto is also a Spanish word. It is California and especially this area has more Spanish place names than English names. 

A few year later, when I heard people pronouncing Arastradero in an English way, I felt it funny. At the same time, those would be moments for me to feel I am the real local person in the area. 

This park is special to me, because of not only its beauty, but also because it is my first hike in the U.S. was here. I came to the U.S. by myself and had no friends at all. So this was a good place to come on weekends by myself. I immediately loved this park and repeatedly come here. Besides, there is a good roadbiking road to this park, so I could come to this park by bike. It was good for a person without car. 

This area has many other parks and roads are hilly. So it is very popular for roadbikers. Later I joined a road biking club and biked 20 miles in this area every Wednesday evening after work. Many bikers actually stop at Arastradero, because there are restrooms and water can be refilled here. Also bikers can rest a little and appreciate the pretty green hills here. 

アラストラデロ・プリザーブという公園はカリフォルニア州のパロアルト市にあります。春には緑の丘と花で溢れてものすごく綺麗な場所。

Arastraderoはアラストラデロと発音します。スペイン語読みです。さすがはカリフォルニア、この辺の地名はスペイン語の方が多いくらいです。数年後に他の地域から来た人がこのサインを見てアースターデロなどと発音しているのを聞くと、自然にアラストラデロと読める私はここのローカルな人間なんだなぁと実感したものです。パロアルト市のパロアルトも、同じくスペイン語です。

この公園には個人的に特別な思い入れがあります。綺麗ということもありますが、やはりこの公園は私が一番最初にアメリカでハイキングした場所だからです！単身でアメリカに来たため友達や知り合いもおらず、ロードバイクでここに週末よく来ました。走ったりハイクしたり、綺麗で飽きません。さらに、この公園周辺の道はアップダウンがありさらに景色が最高なのでロードバイクのコースとしても大人気です。後にロードバイククラブに所属して毎週水曜日の夕方に３５キロロードバイクを一時期していました。たくさんのロードバイカーがここで小休止します（トイレもあるし、水もここで補給できる）。

アラストラデロ、本当に綺麗で思い出の場所です。

San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge Hike

 

Japanese journal after English version

I love San Francisco Bay Area. One of the most iconic places in the area is Golden Gate Bridge. Golden Gate Bridge (GGB) is a bridge that connects San Francisco city and the East Bay. It has a famous red color. San Francisco, as known as a fog city, GGB is often in the fog. Sometimes it is completely covered with fog, sometimes beautifully stands on the carpet of fog. As such many foggy days, it is extremely happy to see the entire GGB under sun with blue ocean.

On a sunny day, crossing over GGB by walking, hike the hills and looking at GGB from higher point is really pleasant San Franciscoish hike. Once I did that by hiking 16 miles a day.

GGB over the hill

I started hiking near the GGB of San Francisco side. Then crossed the bridge northbound. There are several ways to cross GGB; walking, running, biking, and driving. I have done all the methods, and liked all. 

 

When you run the bridge, you can notice that each side of GGB is much lower than the center of bridge. Even a slight uphill is hard when you run. GGB sidewalks are open each side to different methods. One side of the sidewalks is for walkers and runners and the other for bikers so that there is no chaos. However, once in a while, you can run on the car lanes. Yes, on the day of San Francisco Marathon day! I ran on the car lanes and it was awesome!

When you walk on GGB on a sunny day, you can see nice blue ocean and San Francisco city. The structure of bridge looks much bigger when you see it on pictures or even driving. 

On the 16-mile hike day, after crossing bridge, I climbed up and down on the rolling hills in the Marin Headlands, which is a big park in the area. Hills are very pretty with green. There are many view points with mountains, hills, and beaches. One of the most photogenic point is a view with GGB, San Francisco city with ocean.

Every time I see GGB over the ocean, I feel that I am very fortunate to see the spectacular scenery. I feel I am at one point of earth that gives me refreshing power. 

サンフランシスコベイアリア、大好きです。(サンフランシスコベイアリアは、サンフランシスコ湾を取り囲む一連の地域、サンフランシスコ市、南方面はシリコンバレー、ギルロイ、北はワインで有名なナパ、東はオークランドなどを含みます）。

ベイエリアには数え切れないほど有名な場所やハイキングの場所はありますが、やはりゴールデンゲートブリッジは外せません。あの赤が有名です。サンフランシスコのニックネームは霧の街ですから、晴れた日に全体の橋を見る、というのは意外と稀です。旅行者も綺麗な全体の橋を見れることはあまりないでしょう。だからこそ晴れた日に橋を見るのはとても嬉しいのです。

一度、晴れた日にゴールデンゲートブリッジを渡り、丘の上から橋を見るという28Kmのハイキングをしました。まずサンフランシスコ側の橋の近くからスタート。橋を歩いて渡ります。

ゴールデンゲートブリッジは色々な方法で渡ることができます。もちろん車で、そして歩きで、ランニングで、そして自転車で。片方の歩道は歩行者とランナーに、そしてもう片方は自転車に解放されてます。これだと通行がスムーズです。今まで全ての方法で渡りましたが、やはり思い出深いのは走って渡った時。サンフランシスコマラソンの日は車を止めてレースが行われるので、車道を走ることができるのです。これはかなりエキサイティング！楽しかったです。 

晴れた日に歩いて渡ると、途中で立ち止まって海を見たり橋を間近で見れるのでそれもまたいいものです。28Kmハイクの日は橋を渡った後、橋の向こうに連なる山々のトレイルを歩きます。丘は緑でとても綺麗。時折見える海も最高です。そして、ひとつ羨望の良い丘に来るとゴールデンゲートブリッジ、海、その向こうのサンフランシスコが現れます。

この景色は言葉で言えないほど迫力があり、この景色を見るたび、恵まれた場所にいるんだな！と思うのです。

 

 

XC skiing in Pillsbury State Park

We went cross-country skiing in Pillsbury State Park. Pillsbury state park is New Hampshire state park. In winter, trails are open for cross-country skiing, snowshoe hiking, and snow mobiling. 

Actually back in summer, we went camping there and kayaked in the lakes. 

This time it was completely different scenery and did different activities. It was interesting how different it is now.

We skied 5 miles. 2.5 miles each out and back. It was nice. I felt my skiing skill is improved and I was able to ski faster than last time! The trail was not very steep: only +/- 300 feet elevation change in 5 miles. Even though it was not groomed, I didn't fall at all. The most fun part was that I skied ON lake where I kayaked on 6 months ago. When I skied on the lake, I felt hard ice below snow. Maybe fish are still under the ice. I read on the internet actually under ice in the lake is the "warmest place" in winter in the wilderness.

There was no skiers except for us. Instead we saw 10 snowmobilers. It seems snowmobiling is a big thing in New Hampshire. I know that motorcycle is  popular in NH, so it is understandable and I thought that it was kind of funny. The reason is that those things fit well with their motto, live free or die. It was like, live free and snowmobile. 

 

They snowmobile mostly in a group. Two to four snowmobiles stay together. They were polite and they slowed down for us skiers, so it was not dangerous at all. 

 

 

On the trail one guy stopped his snowmobile and he was drinking gatorade. 

He greeted us and asked, "How long did you go?"

Mr.N answered, "2.5 miles each, 5 miles total."

The guy said, "It's good workout, compared to me. Hahaha."

Mr.N asked, "How about you?"

He answered, "I have no idea!"

He just snowmobiling randomly. He explained that snowmobiling is not as cold as it looks like, because there are bumps and turns and need to use upper body. 

When we came back to the trailhead, a pick truck with a trailer came. Two guys came with snowmobiles loaded in the trailer. Wow. One of them was YAMAHA. Japanese brand made me happy. 

They took long to get ready. They didn't finish getting ready until we finished our sandwich in the car. Snowmobiles were still in the trailer when we left. Even with such preparation, NH guys are so into snowmobiling. 

Anyway it was a nice XC skiing. 

Mr.N noticed that I got faster and said, "I need to pick more difficult one for you"

Pillsbury州立公園にクロスカントリースキーに行った。冬の間もトレイルはクロスカントリースキー、スノーシュー、スノーモビール用に開かれている。

去年の夏にこの公園には一度来たことがある。その時はキャンプをし、湖でカヤックを楽しんだ。今回は同じ公園だが全く違う景色とアクティビティだ。

今回は７・５キロほどクロスカントリースキーした。高低差はほとんどなし。クロスカントリースキー、ようやく少しずつ上達して来たように感じる。やったー＾＾

一番楽しかったのは凍った湖の上をスキーしたこと。ここの湖で夏にはカヤックしてたのに今はスキーで湖の上にいる。ぎゃー。

我々以外にクロスカントリーしている人は一人もいなかった。スノーモビールは１０台くらい見た。トレイルはシェアしなければならないので時々彼らを避けなければならなかったが、皆すごく減速しれくれたので安全だった。ニューハンプシャー州はバイクやスノーモビールが人気だ。バイクはヘルメット着用が法律で定められていないので、ノーヘルの人がたくさん走っている。自由な州、ニューハンプシャー。

なにせ、州のモットーが　”自由か、それとも死ぬか”　なのだ！自由がないのなら死んだ方がマシ。というアメリカ建国当時のモットー。しかし今では自由だからと行ってノーヘル→死、といった具合になっているのも事実。

７キロほどスキーしたところでスノーモビールの人が一休みしていた。

スノーモビールの人：どのくらいスキーした？

N：５マイルくらいだよ

スノーモビールの人：スノーモビールに比べるといい運動だね！はは(￣∇￣)

N：どのくらいスノーモビールで走るつもり？

スノーモビールの人：まだ決めてない

私（えー？）

 

その後トレイルヘッドに着くとさらに二人がトラックで到着、スノーモビールを下ろしているところだった。！！！ヤマハだ！ヤマハってスノーモビールも作ってるのかー。ニューハンプシャーの奥深くでも日本の製品が活躍しているのを見て嬉しくなった＾＾

 

 

 

 

 

Hubbard Park in Montpelier, Vermont

I went to Montpelier, Vermont this weekend.

The main purpose was to visit my friend Ms.N. Ms.N was my English writing teacher when I was fresh off the boat in California. At that time she was teaching English writing at the international center. I started having one to one tutoring lessons once a week at her house for 3 or 4 years. Now she retired and lives in Montpelier. It was first time seeing her in a couple of years. It is always nice to see a long-time friend.

Sunday morning, Ms.N had a singing practice, so I had a short walk in Hubbarrd Park. This park is small, but it is convenient place to take a short walk, because it is just next to the Montpelier downtown. All park is covered with snow.

 

 The trail looked like for cross country skiing, but I didn't bring skies. So I wore microspikes on the winter hiking boots and walked. It was 8F (-13.3C). It was cold and crispy morning. I walked fast, because it was too cold. As I walk, my body got warmed up. At the half way I was sweaty and pleasant. Sunshine reflecting on the snow is pretty.

 

 

 One thing fascinating about this park is that you can see many excited dogs. Due to location, many local people come here for short walks with dogs. Dogs don't care how cold it is. They love to be outside. It is fun looking big dogs to tiny dogs. Some dogs came to me to be pet. They are cute. 

Essential thing on a cold day is coffee and pastries. I went to a good bakery in Montpelier, luckily near the park, and had a rest. 

For those of you Japanese, you might have no idea where Vermont is. However, I am sure you know the word Vermont, due to very popular Japanese curry brand is "Vermont Curry". "Vermont Curry" is named so because it contains apples and honey from Vermont. 

Vermont is a small state in the north eastern part of United States. Montpelier is capital of Vermont.

週末にバーモント州のモントペリアーに出かけた。

メインの目的はN先生を訪れること。N先生には私がアメリカ、カリフォルニアに来たばかりの頃に英語のライティングを習っていた。３−４年間、週1回N先生の家に行き１時間ライティングを習っていたのだ。その後N先生はバーモント州に引っ越しされた。カリフォルニアから一度訪れて以降は全く会っていなかったのだが、今回私がマサチューセッツ州に引っ越したので３時間のドライブで行ける距離とうことで訪問が実現した。長年知り合いの人を訪問し久々に再開するというのはやはりいいものだ。

N先生は日曜の午前中はコーラスの練習があるので、その間に私はちょっとしたハイキングをした。Huddard Parkという公園がモントペリアー市の中心街のすぐそばにあり少しトレイルがある。クロスカントリースキー用のトレイルなのだが、スキーは持ってきていなかったので、ウィンターブーツにマイクロスパイクをつけて歩いた。−１４Cと寒かったが早足で歩いていると体も温まり気持ち良かった。特に太陽が雪に反射して、静かで綺麗な景色を楽しむことができた。

さらにこの公園にはたくさんの地元の人が犬を散歩しに来ており、色々なかわいい犬を見ることができるのが楽しい。

その後コーヒーとクロワッサンで〆。

（補足）日本人とってバーモントというとカレーしか思い浮かばない（少なくとも私はそうだった）かもしれない。バーモント週は北東部にある小さな州でモントペリアーはバーモント州の首都。

Merced Lake in Yosemite Backpacking

I went backpacking to the Yosemite National Park one weekend in 2015. We left the Bay Area at 4:30 a.m. 4 of us planned to meet at Dublin/Pleasanton BART station at 5:20 a.m., but Mr.S and I went to Pleasanton station. Because we were not familiar with BART stations in the East Bay, there was a misunderstanding. 

*BART: Bay Area Rapid Transit

Train system in SF area, San Francisco Airport, East Bay (north to Richmond, south to Fremont). The name includes "rapid", but actually it is not rapid. It doesn't run in the South Bay and Peninsula.

 BART station in the early Saturday morning was interesting. Some people dropped people who obviously would go to the airport. Some weird people dropped garbage from their car at the parking lot. I thought, “Seriously?” Then we finally all met at 5:40 a.m. Apparently it was not efficient, but actually I like this kind of a little stupid things. On the way to Groveland, another caffeine addicted friend Mr.N needed to have a cup of coffee (of course), so we stopped by a cute cafe. I got coffee, too, it was good. Mr.R and Mr.S got “Yosemite lunch box”. I didn’t get why it was Yosemite. At the park entrance, usually we have to get wilderness permits from a park ranger, but we just self-registered by writing because it is off-season now. This was the best, because no need to wait for the pickup.  

 

We started hiking at the Happy Isles. The Happy Isles area always has tons of tourists, so I don’t think it is wilderness. The first mile is even paved. It was not very peaceful to hike in the crowd, but they only hike the first few miles, so it was okay. After we passed the crowded area, suddenly everything got very quiet. Especially after the backpacker's campsite (Little Yosemite Valley), we met only 1 person at the Merced Lake. The recent wildfire made the scenery look lonely and exotic. Fall color meadows and hundreds of trees with granite mountains in the background made me feel peaceful. I have again realized that I am a nature lover. After the meadow, the trail was along the Merced river. Even in the drought, it had plenty of water. It is always nice to see cascades in the mountains. The drainage makes the whole scenery. It was tremendous. After seeing the gorgeous view, we set up camp and had a great night around a campfire.

Yosemite is huge. The vast majority of people go to only Yosmite Valley and take pictures. It is may be 0.001% of the entire Yosemite. Some people do day hikes in the Yosemite Valley, such as Yosemite falls, 4-mile hike. These cover maybe 0.1% of the park. Some people do day hikes in Tuolumne meadow, Clouds Rest, Hetch hetchy, mono pass etc. These might cover 1%. In addition to these day hikes, I did a lot of backpackings in Yosemite, but I probably have been in only 5% of the entire Yosemite. It is so much to explore and everywhere is beautiful. It is a dream land.

The bonus was that we saw a bobcat (in the picture) and a bear. 

The bobcat was actually not far from the trailhead. I was surprised bobcat showed up in the area where relatively more people. Bobcats are not very big: Mr.R even thought the bobcat was a house cat. 

Mr.N said, "There is a bobcat."

Mr.R said, "Oh I thought it was a house cat. It's small"

Bobcat's face is like lynx. I am a cat person, meaning I love bobcat! So grateful I saw a bobcat in Yosemite. 

For bear: we didn't actually see bears, but we knew a bear was there. We camped near the bearboxes. During night, we heard sounds for bears to try to open bear canisters. It might be because they were hungry.

Sunrise Hike in Tilden Regional Park

 <Japanese post after English version: 日本語は英語の後にあります>

 It is nice to see sunrise in mountains.

Sunrise

One day I went to Tilden Regional Park to see sunrise at the top. To reach at the top of the hill before sunrise, obviously you need to start hiking way before sunrise. That part is tough: I am a night person. Also you need to walk with a head lamp. However, I knew it would be rewarding, so I did!

Tilden Park is near Berkeley and there are many people live in this area, especially many students due to UC Berkeley. It is very popular for local people to hike in Tilden. However, nobody is usually there before sunrise. Most undergrads don't get up before sunrise, of course. I brought Jetboil and coffee instant packages to sip coffee while I would be watching sunrise.

As planned, I reached the top of hills and sat down to wait for sunrise. Jetboil's flare gave me some light. After a few sips of coffee, I noticed that sun was coming. Then after a couple of more sips, sun started rising over the undulating mountains. It was a beautiful, peaceful, and pretty sunrise. 

I like sunrise view, because every moment is different. Sky is gradually getting orange, then the moment sun comes up, it was special. The sunrise is like flare. 

Sunrise in the mountain top is usually very quiet, because normal people don't climb up so early or camp there. It is priceless (and actually it is free activity). 

Eucalyptus

On the way back, I was able to see surrounding things and noticed there are many eucalyptus. There are many eucalyptus trees in California. I love them because it gives me comfortable feelings. When I was in Japan, I thought that eucalyptus was only in Australia for koalas, but I find them in California a lot. 

When crowd was arriving the park, I left there and ate big breakfast in Berkeley downtown before crowd would come for brunch.

Sunrise in Tilden: recommended, but you need to be determined.

とある土曜日にティルデンパークに日の出を見に行った。小山の頂上に日の出前に着くためには、当然日の出よりずいぶん前に歩き始めなければならない。上り坂よりこの部分が辛い（注：私は夜型人間です）。しかし景色は素晴らしいものになるのはわかっていたので、決行した。

ティルデンパークはUCバークレーの近くにあり、ローカルの人にとても人気の公園だ。しかし日の出前には誰もいない。ジェットボイルとインスタントコーヒーを持参し歩き始める。

予定通り高台の場所に日の出前に到着。ジェットボイルの火が微かな光を灯す。コーヒーをすすっているとあたりが少し明るくなって来て日の出が近づいてくる。そしてついに日の出！（写真１枚目）。とても静かな場所で綺麗な日の出をコーヒーを飲みながら見ることができた。贅沢な時を過ごした。

帰り道は行きに見れなかったユーカリの木などが見れた。ユーカリの木はカリフォルニアに多い。ユーカリの森は気持ちいいので好きだ。

私が公園を去る頃に人々が公園に到着。公園を後にしバークレーのカフェで朝食。朝食を食べ終わる頃にブランチする人々が街にやって来ていた。

Mount Lafayeete

<Japanese version is under English 日本語バージョンは英語の後にあります。>

We went hiking in Mount Lafayeete this weekend. It was a sunny nice day.

This is my most hardcore winter hike in New England yet. We hiked to Mount Lafayeete last summer. This time in winter, obviously, the view was completely different. White covered top area was a harsh environment, but it is beautiful.

We hiked up to the Greenleaf hut via Greenleaf trailhead. There are two ways to hike up there. Mr.N choose Greenleaf, because it is less steep than the other. In winter it might be easier to be gentle climb up. Especially in New England where it snows and then gets above 0C. Such weather, snow melts and get frozen again. It makes the steep trail very icy and slippery. We decided to climb with microspikes and not to bring snowshoes, although we brought them from home to the trailhead. 

It looked like somebody recently broke Greenleaf trail, since snowshoe footprints were new. Thanks to the person, we didn’t need to look at a map and GPS to figure out the path. Snow was soft, so I thought that snowshoes might be easier, but microspikes were doable. Besides, it was too far to go back to get them when I thought that. Also the snowshoe person switched snowshoes and microspikes depending on the conditions, according to the footprints. That meant that snowshoes only was not enough and switching one another is a lot of work.

Greenleaf Trail near the trailhead

It was tough to climb up with microspikes on the snow. Every step sunk in the snow some extent, and often slipped back down a little. Another tough thing was that there was no place to sit down to take a break. It was no place without snow. I didn’t want to sit down on the snow: it was cold even if I used something to sit down. Several times we stopped and ate chocolate and rice balls by standing. We brought M&M. Personally M&M is not tasty. I think that Japanese and Belgium chocolate are delicious, but not M&M or hershey's. Ghirardelli is acceptable among American chocolates. I was thinking about chocolate during hiking and determined to carry better chocolate next time.

Greenleaf trail near Greenleaf Hut

 

After three hours of hiking, we reached at the Greenleaf hut. It is closed in winter, but there are some benches without snow to sit down. I had several sips of hot coffee. I love to bring my Zosirushi pot for my hiking. It is extremely nice to have hot coffee during hikes, especially with view.

Top seen from Greenleaf Hut

The hut area is a little meadow without snow. So you can see now Mount Lafayeete and surrounding numerous mountains. It is really nice to enjoy views. One guy talked to us and asked how Greenleaf trail was. He was the one who broke the trail. He was really friendly and nice. We saw another several hikes hanging out at the hut area. It is always nice to see nice hikers outside. It is easier to break an ice if there is a common thing: love outdoor. 

Final Climb

Then we started the final stretch to the summit. Compared to Greenleaf trail, the snow was more packed, so it was slightly easier to walk. However, the wind was getting harder and harder. Sometimes winds blew snow up and hit my face. 

Despite the harsh weather near the top, the scenery was getting gorgeous. The rocks we saw in summer were mostly white. 

 

The view from the top was very nice (the three pictures above explain). The white mount Washington can be seen. We enjoyed the view for while peacefully, then started heading back. It is safe to go down before dark.

 

For comparison, this is the picture take from almost the same spot. Mount Washington is in the distance is particularly different. I usually don't like to repeat the same hikes many times, but if there is such big difference, it would be interesting.

 

We hiked down on the same trail. At the parking lot, we saw the guy who broke Greenleaf trail. His car was next to ours. What a coincidence. He met his friends at the top and went down via a different trail. His friends who parked their car at the nearby trailhead gave him a ride to his parking lot, because it was on the way.

So far this is my hardest winter hike in New England.  

とある晴天の土曜日、ニューハンプシャー州にあるMount Lafayeete/ラファイエッテ山に登ってきた。ここには夏に一度登ったが、今回は雪のハイクに挑戦。当然の事ながら景気は全く違って面白かった！今回のハイキングはニューイングランドでの冬ハイクの中で今の所一番ハード。でもハードなだけに景色は最高で行った甲斐があった。

今回は前回と違うトレイルから登ることにした。理由は登りがなだらかだから。雪で急な登りだと凍って危険な場合もあるのでなだらかなグリーンリーフトレイルからまずグリーンリーフハット（山小屋）を目指す。スノーシューで行くかマイクロスパイクのみで行くか、もしくは両方持って行くかで悩んだが、マイクロスパイクのみで行くことにした。入り口からパッと見たところ少なくとも一人はそのトレイルを最近通ったようなので、多少は踏み固められてるだろうと予測。誰かが最近通っていればGPSでトレイルと方角を探す時間が省ける。最近ハイクした人はスノーシューとマイクロスパイクを時々替えて登ったようだ。雪なのですぐわかる。雪がソフトなところは明らかにスノーシューの方が適していたが、マイクロスパイクでもなんとかオーケーだった。が。。やはりソフトなところは３歩登って１歩滑り落ちる感じでタフだった。しかしスノーシューとマイクロスパイク両方持って行くと重いので、マイクロスパイクだけで結局正解だった。

冬のハイキングは座る場所がないので休憩があまりできない。山小屋に着くまで何回か立ったままチョコレートなどを頬張った。うーーん。M＆M美味しくない。。。次は日本製のお菓子を持ってこよう。。。アメリカのチョコレートで美味しいのはギラデリくらいだなー。

そんなこんなでグリーンリーフハットに到着。ハットは冬季は閉まっているが木製のテラスの部分は雪もなく座って休憩することができた。ありがたい。

５−６人同様に休憩しているハイカー達がハットにいて、その中の一人がグリーンリーフトレイルでのpathを作ってくれた人だった。とてもフレンドリーなナイスガイ。

山小屋まではグリーンリーフ以外にも色々トレイルがあるが、ハットから頂上は一つしかトレイルがない。そのためかなりのハイカーが同じトレイルを通る。そのため頂上近くは雪は多いがトレイルは完全に踏み固められていた。頂上に近づくにつれ強風が吹き荒れ巻き上げられた雪が顔に当たり痛い。木がないので風がもろにくる。そして最後の登りをやっつけ頂上！

上に３枚頂上からの写真を載せた通り、雪に覆われた美しい景色。参考までに夏に撮った写真をその下にアップ。全く違うけど同じく綺麗。

駐車場に戻ってくると隣の車は山小屋であったナイスガイのものだった。彼は違うトレイルから降りてきて、同じ時間に戻ってきた。

帰りにベトナムレストランでVermicelliを食べて１日の締めくくり。

 

 

 

John Muir Trail Gear List no.2

One really important gear I didn't include the food I brought.

Food I was eating on JMT is as below.  

I did JMT in 15 days. I resupplied food at the half way at Muir Trail Ranch. Basically I had two set of exactly same food and half was carried from beginning and the other half was sent to Muir Trail Ranch in advance for resupply. 

The picture is food I sent to Muir Trail Ranch to resupply, so food for the second week 7.5 days.  To pack in the bear canister, I unpacked everything and put into ziplock bags and squeeze into the bear canister.

My meals on JMT per day:

Breakfast at 6 am: ochazuke with fish or oatmeal (every other day), and coffee

Ochazuke consists of rice, salted seaweed, dried Japanese apricot in hot water. There is a packet for one ochazuke meal. Usually 8 packs for $4. You can get at Japanese grocery stores or even on Amazon. Instant white rice can be available any grocery stores. Ochazuke is great for backpacking, because it contains so much salt. 1 packet contains 830 mg of sodium. With rice, ochazuke has 250 kcal.

9 a.m. Anpan (Japanese bread filled with sweet bean paste). Beans contains a lot of protein around 10 gram. Sugar and bread contains calories. 1 Anpan is around 250 kcal.

11 a.m. Japanese energy bar One bar is 137 kcal, protein is 4.2 grams.

1 a.m. Jerky I like turkey jerky.

3 a.m.  Cookies, chocolate, banana chips, half of tuna pack

I use half of tuna for ochazuke for breakfast and the half for afternoon snack. Protein in one tuna pack is around 17g. From sweets, I got around 300 kcal.

5 a.m. Japanese or American energy bar

Japanese bars are in the picture: labeled as "SOYJOY". I sometimes bring another Japanese bars called Calorie Mate. 

7 a.m. Ramen with dried vegetables, soup

I ate every night one pack of Myojo Chukazanmai instant ramen. This is 370 kcal. Salt is....2940 mg! 120% of daily requirement. Protein is 8 g contained. Ramen packets are in the picture (just left of LET'S DO THIS bucket).  

Miso soup contains 3 g of protein, sodium 740 mg, 35 kcal. Miso soup packets are available at Japanese grocery stores and even on Amazon. 1 packet is around $1. 

Dried vegetables are also available at Japanese grocery stores. Spinach,
Japanese mustard spinach, daikon radish are the kinds I brought to JMT (these are the green stuff in the picture, right in front of the "LET'S DO THIS" bucket).

To have "feast" at Muir Trail Ranch when I pick up this food, I put some non-dried food. On the very right in the picture, there are two orange gels (desert). and below the orange gels, there are canned fish. I had Pacific saury can and sardine can. Those Japanese fish cans have 400-500 kcal/can, 20-30 g of protein/can. So it is great to have them at the middle point of JMT, and it WAS really a feast at MTR. 

It is around 1600-1800 kcal/day. I was not sure if it was enough or not for a long distance/time backpacking, because I had never done backpacking more than 2 night/3 days. Apparently this was not enough.

Looks like a lot of food, but it is for 7.5 day/100 mile hikes with a lot of ups and downs at high altitude. 

I lost 14 pounds (7 kg) in 7 days. Definitely I didn't eat enough food. 

For next long distance hikes, I might need trail mix, peanut butter, etc...something disgusting (for me), but really high calories. 

 

John Muir Trail Gear List no.1

Backpacking gears are critical. Especially if it is a long distance hike. Gears should be functional, comfortable, and light. 

On this post, I will introduce about my gear used for JMT hike. 

I used basic and light, but not ultralight. I also chose what I had been using for overnight backpacking. It is safe to use the gears I already know. 

 

First, John Muir Trail Map Pack. I love, love, love Tom Harrison maps. Tom Harrison maps are easy to read. Every information you need is there and good size. No need to unfold to look at a map. National Geographic maps has to be unfold every time. Also National Geographic ones are printed on both sides, so it is hard to find even which side I want to look at. Tom Harrison is one side printed.  Furthermore, Tom Harrison maps are very cute!

JMT map pack consists of 13 individual maps (left picture), and $21.95. 

During JMT, completing one sheet was accomplishment. Towards the end, it was kind of sad not to have remaining hiking. 

Next, it is essential. Backpack. 

I used REI Flash 65 litters.  It is S size, so it is acutually 62 litters. It is light. 2 lbs. 14 oz = 1.3 Kg. This is a great backpacking and I really love this. This Flash65 is no longer available, but there are some other REI Flash models available. 

I put everything inside except for sleeping pad (attach the bottom) and water bottles (one per side pocket). 

For just overnight/2-3 night backpacks, I use Osprey EXOS 58 litters (55 litters for S size, $220, 2 lbs. 14 oz). This is also great light backpack. 

Next is sleeping bag. This is important, too. Mine is Big Agnes, Roxy Ann. Women's model. Down, not synthetic. Temperature rating is 15F. JMT didn't get too cold with this sleeping bag in July. I have been using this one for more than 5 years.

Along with sleeping bag, sleeping pad is nice to have to have a comfortable sleep. My pad is the most classical style, yellow foam. The strings to bundle the pad is useful to dry laundry at campsite. Most of the nights, I tied the strings on two trees and dried socks/T-shirt that are washed in the lake or river.

Then next is the tent. My tent is Big Agnes. I love Big Agnes. They have good tents and sleeping bags. Including JMT, I went so many places with this tent. A couple of years ago, the rainfly zipper was not working well, so I sold this with $5. With $5, the person who bought was so glad. I hope he is using this happily. 

Now I switched to a lighter tent: REI Co-op Quarter Dome 1 Tent. This is only 2 lbs. 10 oz. So it is much lighter.  I love REI and REI brands. It is cheaper than other brands and still high quality.

 Now most essential activity for human: eating! I am not as hardcore as stoveless hikers. I still want to have a cup of coffee in the morning and hot dinner in the evening. So I had fuel, lighter, matches, stove, and pot. I love my pot. It is Snowpeak's titanium one. Model name is Snow Peak Titanium Mini Solo Cookset. It weighs only 181 grams (6.38 ounces). Price is a little high ($75.95), but this is worth it. 

On JMT, in the morning I had a cup of coffee. For that I boiled a cup of water by using only the bottom cup portion. It is very quick to boil just 200 mL of water. While I was having coffee, I made ochazuke with upper bigger potion of pot. 

I brought a middle size fuel (~227g) and 80% finished when I reached at Muir Trail Ranch where it was half way. I bought the same size fuel at MTR and it lasted until the Whitney Portal. I brought a lighter and several packs of matches. 

Stove is a quite old thing from Coleman. I brought it from Japan. It had been used for more than 10 years.    

Now I use JetBoil for boiling water, so I don't use the old stove, but still save it for my memory.

Then rain cover for a backpack.

Model is REI Co-op Duck's Back Rain Cover - 60 Liters. My backpack is 65 liters, and 60 liter cover works well. 

Actually I was supposed to bring this but I forgot to bring this for JMT! Oops. Luckily I got a garbage back at Muir Trail Ranch and used for rain. It didn't rain much anyway, so it was okay. 

 

 Another rain gear is rain jacket and pants. I have them from Sierra Designs. This sack contains both. It is super light. This is boy's size. Kids' gears are cheap and good size for small person like me. 

 

 

 

 Water bottle is super super essential. No question.

During JMT, I had 1 litter of real water bottle (left picture) and one 500 mL of plastic bottle. Plastic bottle is light, so it is good. However, in case it might be broken, I carried one real bottle.  The entire JMT, I only carry 1.5 litter of water, because there are so many water sources along JMT.

 To sanitize water, I brought Potable Aqua Iodine Tablets. 1 bottle contains 50 tablets. 2 tablets are needed for 1 liter of water. It takes 35 minutes to be ready to drink. The water will be yellow. Some people use another tablet to quench the yellowness and iodine taste. Personally I wanted to reduce the weight as much as possible, and I don't care about iodine taste, so I just drank yellow water for the entire JMT. 

Another option is to use filter. No need to wait 35 minutes and no iodine flavor for filtering. However, I was worried for the filter clog or break during the trip, so I decided to do only with tablets. A lot of people bring filter, and tablets as backup.  

Another choice is Steripen, but it needs power from batteries. I didn't bring any solar chargers. I didn't carry extra batteries, so iodine tablets are the lightest option. Actually for recent backpacking trips, I use Steripen. Most gears has USB chargers, including Steripen, so I can bring Steripen and a USB charger for many small gears.

 

 

For multiple purposes, I brought a Multi Towel Lite Small - 14" x 10, REI. I used this for cleaning my body. Every evening I boiled a small amount of water and put hot water in this towel. Then wiped my face then body. It gave sort of taking nice bath. I am the person who takes hot shower before going to bed. In Japan, taking hot bath before going to bed is common. So wiping body with hot water gave me very comfortable summary of the day.

Not only that purpose, after drizzling I could quickly wipe some water on the backpack. This towel is very useful for backpacking. 

In California there is strong sunlight, especially in Sierra. Sunscreen is a must item. 

For backpacking, head lamp is an essential item. The surprising fact for my JMT is that I didn't use a headlamp at all.

First two weeks of July, daytime is long. I usually got at at 5:30 a.m. when sun was rising. I started walking at 7 a.m. I set up camp between 5 - 7 p.m. It was light until 8:45 p.m. By that time I finished dinner and everything. It was great. I didn't need to worry about batteries for the lamp.

 

Speaking of July, it is a peak of mosquitoes. Indeed, some lower elevation near river, there were tremendous amount of mosquitoes. When I camped near the river at the bottom of Tally Hole, there were so many of them. I wore always mosquitoes net. Besides I put DEET everywhere! Mosquito net is from Sea to Summit, $9.95.

DEET is Sawyer Jungle Juice 100 Insect Repellent - 98 Percent DEET - 2.5 fl. oz, $8. Make sure DEET is not in the bear canister! It will melt bear canisters. It is important to put DEET inside the ziplock bag and no any other items together!

Now the item only legally required on JMT is a bear canister.  The famous BearVault BV500 Food Container, $79.95.  I put 7 days of food into it. Detail food I brought will be in the next blog article. 

Allowed to bring 7 days of food only can be fit in the canister.....I was worried if I would be hungry. It was okay for the first 7 days, because usually I have less appetite when I go to high altitude. However, once I got used to the altitude, my appetite came back. The second week was always, literally all the time, hungry.  

Not legally required, but first aid kit is essential. I brought bandaid, ibuprofen, hydrocortisone, ethanol. I should have brought kit for blisters. Luckily I got extra bandaids at Muir Trail Ranch hikers' buckets. 

At hikers' buckets you can drop off stuff you don't need it. If you need something and you find it in the bucket, you can get is. I got bandaid, garbage bags, and more toilet papers. 

Lastly, SPOT Gen3 Satellite GPS Messenger. Although JMT has many hikers and usually able to find people to help you, it is always nice to have some safety devices. SPOT is a satellite GPM messenger: you can send text your location to people you already set up in your account. Also there is a SOS button. It will send help for the nearest ranger stations. The device is $149.95, and you need to subscribe service. I had basic plan ($19.99/month) for only the month I did JMT. 

Next post will be about food during JMT.