Kings Canyon Backpacking Day3 no.2

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

In the afternoon, he didn't refuse my offer to carry his backpack. It was scary to see how quickly the symptoms went bad. We wanted to climb the Cirque Pass and go down to 8,000 feet, but it seemed that it was not possible for Mr.N to walk more. Around 5 p.m., I pitched a tent and I advised Mr.N to lay down, because he was suffering to breath. He was coughing and spitting white foamy stuff from his lungs continuously. Nobody was camping nearby and I had no idea what to do. I went to see the lake in the evening. It was so beautiful. The beauty made me want to sigh, however, I became calm because I knew that being upset or sad wouldn't solve anything.

I was listening to his cough all night. I thought, "This is quite bad. I wish I could take over the suffering. If AMS hit a person randomly, I wish it was me not him....and his family will hate me." although I am realistic and not the kind that believes non-scientific things like taking over suffer.

Then the morning came. When he sat down on the ground, the coughing mostly stopped, but his eyes were not focused on anything. I made a cup of coffee. I felt better because he was able to have it.

At some point, I didn't see anybody but I think that I heard human's voice in the very distance. I went to the outlet of lake.

午後になると、MrNにMrNのバックパックを持つことを提案するとすんなりと受け入れた。午前中は自分で持てると言っていたが午後にはここまで弱ってしまったのだ。。。少しでも低地に行くためには一つ山を越えなければならない。なのでこの日に山を越えて高度を下げたかったのだがそれはどう考えても無理なのは明らかだった。

午後５時。テントを立ててMrNに横になるように勧めた。息をするのも大変になってしまった。咳がコンスタントに出て白い泡のようなものを５分に一度くらい吐き出している。肺に水が入ってそれを咳で吐き出しているのだった。周りには誰もいない。どうすればいいのか。。。。このままMrNは死んでしまうのか。そんなことが頭をよぎった。しかしここでパニックになっても何の意味もない。とにかく冷静を保つように努めた。

夜。一晩中MrNの咳と泡を吐き出すのを聞いていた。相当ひどい。この症状、私が変わってあげられたらいいのに。MrNの家族の顔が思い浮かんできた。といっても体が入れ替わるとかそんなことは現実には起こらない。

何とか朝がやってきた。MrNも横になっていたが起き上がりテントの外に出て座った。コーヒーは飲めるとのこと。コーヒーはMrNの大好物だ。これは少しいいニュースだ。今後どうするかを考えていると、遠くに人間の声がするような気がしたので、ハイカーが来るかどうか湖の方へ行って周りを少し歩いてみることにした。

続く。。。

Kings Canyon Backpacking Day3 no.1

In the early morning on the third day, Mr.N was doing a funny noise (bubbling sound?) when he breathed while lying down. The noise scared me. However, when he got up, the noise was gone. Retrospectively, this was the first sign we should have taken more seriously. If it had been a high altitude sickness, he should not have had appetite but he ate breakfast as usual. I thought that it might be a cold, because once I had a cold that drove coughing only when I was lying down. He said that he was okay, but I should have insisted to go back to the track. Besides this, the lake was very pretty under the morning sun. It reminded me of a piece of Bruckner. I did laundry in the lake. The water was super cold, but comfortable. The air was crisp and cool.

After breakfast, we decided to proceed the trip. First we walked on the "inconspicuous saddles". The lake we camped became smaller and smaller as we ascended, meaning the view was magnificent. I offered to carry a tent, which we shared, however, Mr.N refused. We walked slowly.

Then, a little before noon, he asked me to carry the tent. I was happy to carry it and some other his stuff, but this gave me some anxiety because he had never asked me that kind of things, even when his backpack was much heavier than mine. I reached the Potluck Pass (~11,000 feet) first and left my backpack at the top and came down to him and tried to carry his backpack, but he refused. I had never seen him struggling or slower than me on a trail. I was hoping that we could finish the next pass and reach to the LeConte Canyon at 8,000 feet so that his symptoms would be better. 

３日目。

朝目が覚めて、MrNの息の音がおかしいことに気づいた。横たわって寝ている時に息をすると妙な音がする。ストローで水の中に泡を立てているような音だ。うーむ。風邪か？

しかし起き上がるとその音は消えた。

後で思い返すと、これが最初のサインだったのだ。この時にこのサインをもっと真剣に考慮すべきだった。

もしもこれが高度障害だったらば食欲もないはずだが、MrNはきちんと朝食も食べたので、我々はちょっとした風邪かということでとりあえず少し歩き始めることにした。後で思い返すとこの時が引き返すチャンスだったのだ。

そして少しずつオフトレイルの山を登り始める。キャンプしていた湖がどんどん小さくなって行く。綺麗な景色なのだが、MrNの容態が心配だった。共用のテントを持とうかと提案したがMrNは大丈夫だと言った。しかしその後昼過ぎになってMrNからテントを持ってもらえないかと言って来た。もちろん持ったが、これはまずいかもと思い始めた。

そしてなんとかポットラックパス、３５００メートルに到着。ここから早く下って２５００メートルまで降りたいなと考えていた。そしたらMrNの症状が良くなると思ったからだ。 

続く。。。

Kings Canyon Backpacking Day2

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

While we were backpacking, we saw many day hikers. Most of them had fishing poles. It seemed that the area was popular for fishing. It reminded me of tenpula of sand borer my friend fished in the ocean back in my graduate school days.

I had a little hard time breathing because I live at sea level and the trailhead was at 10,000 feet high. Then it was uphill from the beginning. I decided to walk slow although I knew Mr.N had to wait for me. The plan for the first day was only 4 miles, so we arrived at the campsite around 5 p.m. or so. The Bishop lakes were beautiful under the high mountains. To prepare for the next day, we went to bed early.

On the second day we climbed the Bishop Pass. It was steep and I was out of breath. Luckily we were still on trail. Then we descended to a point where we left the trail. The first pass we climb off trail, it didn't look so bad. Actually I thought that it would not be hard at all. However, once I started ascending, it was very tough. Also Mr.N was faster than me and he went ahead in the invisible distance. In retrospect, I think that he might hike too fast. He was waiting for me at the top and finally I caught up with him there. The view was magnificent but we had to start descending. We accidentally took a harder route (as always). Off trail is always hard, but harder for n00bs like me because I don't have a good sense to find an easier route. We had planned to climb more on the day but we decided to camp near the lake. The lake was attractively blue and clear. Watching sunset and rising star was very nice. 

 １日目。

バックパッキング中、たくさんのデイハイカーに会った。デイハイカーの多くは釣竿を持っていて釣りをしに来ているようだった。川や湖で釣った魚、美味しいんだよなーと思いつつハイク。

大学院の頃の同期の友人が毎年釣りに行って大量のキスをラボに持って来て天ぷらパーティーをしたのを思い出した。キスの天ぷら美味しいよなぁなどと思いつつ釣りしている人のところを通り過ぎる。

とはいえやや息が辛い。海抜０メートル在住で突然３０００メートルのところをハイキングしだすと普通のトレイルでも息があがる。しかも初めからわりと急な上りだ。最初の日のプランは４マイルだけだし、息をあげてまで速く歩く必要もないのでゆっくり歩くことにした。（MrNはバックパッキングということでワクワクしているのがズンズン先を歩いて行った）。

最初の日のキャンプはビショップ湖で。湖の向こうにはビショップパスがひかえている。山＋湖は常に美しい景色を織りなす。夕暮れの湖で夕飯を食べ、次の日に備えて早めに寝袋へもぐりこんだ。

 ２日目。

ビショップパスへ登る。わー。きつい。かなり急な登りだ。息がきれる。やはりまだ２日では高地順応ができていない。ただしまだトレイルを歩いている。まだオフトレイルではないのでその点では楽だ。そしてパスの頂上へ！その後は下り。数キロ降ったところからトレイルをそれていよいよオフトレイルへと入って行く。遠くから見た感じでは行くところはそれほど難しいそうには見えないが。。。行ってみるとやはりきつい。岩によじ登ったり、全身の運動になるため疲れも出てくる。MrNは相変わらずズンズン進んで行く。。。。思い返せばMrNはスピードを出しすぎていたのだと思う。。

２日目の予定はもう一つのパスを超える予定だったが、最初のパスについたところですでに夕方だったのでそこの綺麗な湖のそばでキャンプすることにした。湖は真っ青な色で神秘的な美しさだった。その後太陽が沈んで行くと徐々に湖の色も変わっていく。それも綺麗だ。そしてその後は数え切れない星。シエラはどこをとっても美しい。やみつきになる！

Kings Canyon Backpacking Day1

Japanese version is after English. 日本語は英語の後にあります。

On 2016 August 5th, Mr.N and I headed for backpacking in the Kings Canyon National Park. The plan was a 9-day trip, mostly off-trail. I had never packed food for 9 days (I carried food for only 7 days at one time even on JMT trip and resupplied), so my backpack was heavy (~35 pounds). Unexpectedly this trip ended up one of the craziest and nerve wracking one. From today I will post a story/day approximately every other day at least 10 stories. Stay tuned!

We left the Bay Area around 5 a.m. Saturday. First we stopped by the ranger station in the town of Bishop. The ranger who gave us wilderness permits was nice, but a little weird. The permits were printed out upstairs. To pick them up, he ran the stairs very fast. I thought, "Hmm...a little weird." Anyway, we arrived at the trailhead soon. Then we sorted out stuff. I went to the restroom before hitting the trail. The restroom was just cleaned by a ranger and the door was open with a stone. When I got out of the restroom, I needed to put the stone under the door to keep it open. It didn't work well. The ranger saw me struggling and said, "Don't worry about it." He smiled at me. He was very nice. At this point, I didn't know that this ranger would be so important after the hike and that I would even ride with him.

２０１６年の８月にMrNと筆者でキングスキャニオン国立公園にバックパッキングへ行った。9日間ほぼ全てオフトレイルのプラン。

予想に反して、このバックパッキングは今まで一番クレイジーで危険、かつ恐ろしいバックパッキングとなったのだった。

本日からその恐怖のストーリーを投稿していく。

初日。

カリフォルニアのベイエリアを朝５時に出発。そしてまずはトレイルヘッド近くのレンジャーステーション（ビショップという小さな町にある）に寄った。ステーションのレンジャーからウイルダネスパーミット（バックパックするのには許可証、パーミットが必要）をもらい、バックパッキングの準備完了。

トレイルヘッドの駐車場で荷物を選別し出発の準備。筆者はトレイルを歩き始める前にトイレに行っておこうと思ってトレイルヘッドにあるトイレへと行った。ちょうどレンジャーが来ていてトイレを清掃した直後で、ドアが開いており、ドアが開いたままになるように石がドアのところにストッパーとして置いてあった。石を動かしてドアを閉めてトイレへ。そしてトイレから出た後また石を元の場所に戻そうとしたが石が動かず苦戦していると、レンジャーが来て”気にしないでいいよ”と言ってくれた。笑顔のレンジャーでとてもいい人だ。

後にこのレンジャーが重要な人物になるとは想像だにしていなかったのだった。。。

 

 

Henry Coe State Park Backpacking

日本語は英語の後にあります。

I went backpacking at Henry Coe State Park in Morgan Hill.  It was interesting.

     This park is huge.   Actually this is the largest state park in Northern California.

     We hiked fourteen miles into Mississippi Lake, which was the far edge of the park.

     We really enjoyed a variety of scenery and trails.  Some portions were open, so we were able to see undulating mountains in the distance. Some hills were green with lush trees, others were brown and bald.  Some trails were in the forest and shady.  One part was the Narrows.  As the name Narrows indicates, you need to hike in the creek.  The water can be a knee-high after the rainy season.             

     However, it was completely dried up, so we just hiked on the rocks.  It was fun.   

     I really liked this park and enjoyed it, but I got exhausted at the same time.  One reason was that all the trails we hiked had continuous ups and downs.  Total elevation gain was over five thousand feet.  Usually when I hike mountains or canyons, I can tell where  the top or bottom is.  However, the terrain was unpredictable this time, it was psychologically tiring.  

     Another reason I got tired was the weather.  Saturday was sunny but it was snowing on Sunday.  It was totally unexpected.   Because it was just hour’s drive from San Jose and only a few thousand feet of altitude, I thought it would not have been snowing.  The freezing weather kept us moving, because our bodies got cold immediately when we stopped.  It was tiring, but being cold was more uncomfortable.  

 

     I might have been overconfident about my endurance capacity.  I have realized that I need to train more for long distance and multiple day backpacking. 

とある週末、ヘンリー・コー州立公園へバックパッキングへ行った。

この公園はサンノゼの南にある大きな州立公園だ。実際、北カリフォルニアの中で一番大きな州立公園なのだ。 このバックパッキングでは１４マイル、ミシシッピ湖まで歩いた。大きな山はないが、たくさんの丘があり１４マイルで上り下りは５０００フィートほどにもなる。１５００メートル程度の上り下り。ぎゃー。甘くみていると結構辛い。この公園は緑の木々に覆われた森林の中、そして景色を遠くまで見渡せるリッジ、茶色いハゲ山の部分、ひらけた草原部分、岩が連なる部分、などバラエティに富んだトレイルに溢れる。色々な景色があるので１４マイルあっても飽きない。そしてミシシッピ湖に到着。夕方から夜にかけてどんどん寒くなっていく。サンノゼは暑いことで有名だが、少し自然の中に行くだけでだいぶ温度が違うのだ。

夜も寒さと戦いながら寝て朝起きてみると雪が降っていた。えー、サンノゼで雪が！？どおりで寒いわけだ。。。この寒さのおかげで止まるとすぐ体が冷えるので１４マイルの道のりをほぼ休憩なしで歩き無事にトレイルヘッドに到着したのだった。

 

Marble Mountain Backpacking

Lovely Place.

I had never heard of the Marble Mountain Wilderness, but it was on my friend's bucket list, so we went backpacking there one weekend. It is located north of Mt.Shasta, and it is a part of the National Forest. Saturday was beautifully sunny. We started in the woods and then ascended. When we reached the trail on the ridge, the view was amazing. Hundreds of mountains were seen as if they were waves. They range green to blue in the distance, then, behind them, there was blue sky.

We made a fire at the campsite because it was quite cold at night. However, my eyes hurt when the smoke came to me depending on the direction of the wind. To avoid the smoke, we had to change positions frequently. It made me feel cold, so I went to the tent because inside my sleeping bag was warmer. However, it was really cold anyway and I couldn't sleep almost at all. In the middle of night, it started raining. In the morning, the rain became snow. It was beautiful, but it was literally freezing cold. The altitude was only 6,000 feet, but I felt it was much colder than Young Lake at the altitude of 10,000 feet in Yosemite. I didn't know why. The good thing was that we enjoyed a sunny Saturday and a snowy Sunday. We saw completely different views in two consecutive days. I was glad that the order, sunny then snow. Otherwise, we would have had to sleep with wet clothes. 

 

We ate Thai/Vietnemese food on the way back to the Bay Area, which was tasty, and went home. I was so happy when I took off my wet socks and had a shower!

ラブリープレイス。

とある週末にマーブルマウンテンエリアにバックパッキングへ出かけた。マーブルマウンテンウィルダネスはカリフォルニア北部のマウントシャスタの北に位置するエリアだ。それまで聞いたことがなかったが、友人が行きたいと言っていて今回行ってみることにした。

土曜日は晴れ。まず森の中のトレイルを登っていく。そして登りの後はリッジを歩く。連なる数々の山が美しい（写真１枚目）。言葉通りたくさんの山がどこまでも続いている。１００はあるだろう。この景色をしばし見ながらリッジを歩く。気持ちい。青空に山が映える。青と緑のミックスだ。綺麗としか言いようがない。

そして湖のそばに到着、ここでキャンプをすることにした。夕方になると寒い！ ということで火を焚いたがそれでも寒い。夕飯、そして談笑の後、寒いのでスリーピングバックの中へ。それでも寒く夜あまり眠れなかった。標高はそれほど高くない（２０００m程度）が、寒い。案の定、朝起きてみると雪が積もっていた。テントにも雪がー。ぎゃー。次の日は霧が立ち込め曇り。霧が湖にかかる様子が美しい（写真２枚目）。

天気によって同じ場所でも景色が全く違ってくる。一部のトレイルは前日と同じだったが、霧がかかっていると随分違う。どちらも綺麗だ。同じ場所でも季節や天気によって百万通りの美しさが自然にはある。これだからハイキングやめられない＾＾

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.

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.

 

John Muir Trail Journal Summary

Japanese Version after English (日本語バージョンは英語の後にあります）。

 

I did 211 mile (340 km) John Muir Trail thru-hike in July, 2014, by myself.

JMT hike is memorable and life-time accomplishment.
Every night during JMT, I wrote journal. I will share them.

It is still one of my most amazing backpacking trips in my life. Of course it is a life-time achievement. 

<Journal>

After completing JMT: 

This summer I backpacked the whole John Muir Trail over a two week period by myself.

John Muir Trail is a 230-mile trail between the Happy Isles in Yosemite and Mt.Whitney.

This has been the most amazing and challenging backpacking adventure in my life so far.

The scenery was incredible. I appreciated the beauty of nature and love the Sierra even more.

Because it was a two-week trip, I was able to see many faces of the Eastern Sierra weather.

The Sierras were sweet at times, but other times they were frigid and unforgiving.

I am glad now I know more about Sierra's face and personality.

Before I went on this trek, I thought 230 mile solo hike was crazy and unusual.

On the other hand, I thought being crazy was good and cool in a sense.

On the trail out there, many hikers seemed to be enjoying their hike. Everyone just loves the beauty of nature.

I was just on of those. I was not unique at all on JMT.

It seemed my decision to trek the JMT was not so outlandish.

I have realized that I like to challenge myself rather than I like to be crazy.

After solo backpacking for 230 miles, I think I leveled up a little as a backpacker.

This is a great experience and a lifetime accomplishment.

I wrote I was not unique there, but doing alone as a female foreigner was still rare on JMT, and it is part of accomplishment.

Thank you very much for reading my JMT journal.

 

２０１４年７月、340 kmのJohn Muir Trail全行程を一人で完歩した。一生の思い出に残る山歩き。トレッキング中、毎晩テントで日記を書いた。それをブログでシェア。

 

＜日記＞

John Muir Trailを終えて：

この夏ジョンミュアトレイルを２週間かけて一人で歩くことに成功した。

ジョンミュアトレイルを ジョンミュアトレイルは３６０キロのトレイルでヨセミテのハッピーアイルからマウントホイットニーまでだ。

これは間違いなく今まで行ったバックパッキングの中で最高かつ一番大きなアドベンチャー。 

行く前は本当に３６０キロも歩けるのか？とか、ソロでのバックパッキングは無謀か？などと色々考えたりもした。

しかし、人がやらないことをやるというのは最高の選択でもあると思った。

一旦トレイルに行くとそんなことはあまり考えなかった。トレイルではハイカー達がただ単純に自然の美しさを楽しんでいた。本当にただそれだけ。そして私もそのうちの一人。トレイルでは皆同じ方向を向いていた。

私は人と違うことをする、というよりは自分自身にチャレンジするのが好きなのだと気付いた。３６０キロ完歩して少しバックパッカーとしてレベルアップしたと感じている。 

これをやり抜いたのは一生の誇りになるだろう。

トレイルでは皆と同じと書いたが、女性ソロハイカーで外国人としてはやはり非常に稀な存在だった。その点はやはり異色ということで達成感がある。

John Muir Trail Journal Day16

I did 211 mile (340 km) John Muir Trail thru-hike in July, 2014, by myself.

JMT hike is memorable and life-time accomplishment.
Every night during JMT, I wrote journal. I will share them.

Although I have officially finished JMT yesterday, I would say today was the most adventurous day. It was the most dramatic weather I have ever experienced.

At 5:30 a.m., the time I always got up during the JMT trip, I was woken up by the sound of thunder. Because thunderstorms don't usually last so long, I decided to wait for it to stop in my tent. In a half an hour, it actually stopped, I ate breakfast and folded up the tent. I packed up everything and I was about to hike down to the trailhead. However then, I heard the thunder again. Then in a moment the sky was full of dark grey clouds. In a minute, it started raining and even hailing. I sat under a big rock, and put my backpack under another rock to protect it from getting soaked.

Trail Camp

Famous Pancake

I was under a rock to avoid the thunderstorm, but it started hailing in addition to the thunderstorm. Furthermore, it was getting windy. I got wet even though I was under the rock. I thought I would definitely be soaked anyway, so I decided to go down.

I was under the switchback to the summit. Surprisingly, I saw about 100 hikers descending the switchback at a very fast pace. It is very dangerous at high altitude without trees. They were in a rush. It made me feel upset.

Anyway I started to descend. However, the trail was already full of water from the hailstorm. The trail was like a small stream. Actually within a few minutes, the scenery was all white like winter due to the hail. I was very cold and got frostbite, so it was hard to put my backpack on the back.

Because of this weather, the last 6 miles were most adventurous. However, it made the trip more memorable and the pancake I ate at the trailhead more tasty.
Just after the first thunderstorm stopped.

 

John Muir Trail Journal Day15

I did 211 mile (340 km) John Muir Trail thru-hike in July, 2014, by myself.

JMT hike is memorable and life-time accomplishment.
Every night during JMT, I wrote journal. I will share them.

Today was the last official day hiking on JMT.

I finally reached the summit of Mt.Whitney. I still can't believe that I walked from Yosemite. I hiked 216 miles! It was a 46,000 foot elevation gain. 

Today I left Guitar Lake at 5:30 a.m. I had plenty of time, but I remembered how hard it is to summit Mt.Whitney, so I left there earlier than I had planned.
The changing colors from night to morning from the sunrise was beautiful. The color of Guitar lake changed every minute. First it was dark blue. Then it became orange. Then it becaame blue, and then finally green. Guitar Lake was quiet as if he was cheering for me to reach the summit.

After I reached at the junction of JMT and Whitney trail, I left my heavy backpack there and summited Mt.Whitney. It was the last 1.9 miles to the summit. 2 years ago, I thought the 1.9 miles was endless. This time, I thought, "Oh it's already the top!".
Acclimatizing completely was the key.

The scenery was incredible. Seeing the undulating Sierra mountains, I was speechless. I love the Eastern Sierra. At the top, I officially completed JMT. This is a lifetime accomplishment.

Although I finshed JMT, I need to decend to the trailhead to go back to the normal world. Today I decended to the half way point. I almost ran out of food, but I saw a JMTer who had too much food, so he gave me 5 energy bars. Lucky me. I was thinking about the food I would eat in the town. They were pancakes (the famous pancake at the Whitney Portal Store), Korean BBQ, Chinese, steak, burger, french fries, pepsi.....

Then I set a camp at Trailcamp.

Guitar Lake at 5:30 am

Mount Whitney

Mount Whitney

John Muir Trail Journal Day14

I did 211 mile (340 km) John Muir Trail thru-hike in July, 2014, by myself.

JMT hike is memorable and life-time accomplishment.
Every night during JMT, I wrote journal. I will share them.

Day14 Wallace Creek to Guitar Lake

Now I am close to the goal, Mt.Whitney. I can't believe I hiked here from Yosemite.
Almost all of JMT overlaps with PCT, but not from today on. From a little north of Guitar Lake, JMT goes into Mt.Whitney and PCT goes to farther south. 

Today, I passed the the junction between JMT and PCT.

It was such an imporant junction, but there was only a small sign. The sign is even fading. I could imagine thousands of hikers had stopped at the junction to take a deep breath. However, this morning, I was standing completely alone in the junction. 

It's a perfect solitude.

I camped near the Guitar Lake.

Two years ago, I saw Guitar Lake from near the top of Mt.Whitney. It was actually a shape of guitar. 

Guitar Lake

Today it was great to see Guitar Lake from the same altitude. At the shore, I didn't really see how it was a guitar shape. However, I will be able to see it from a high altitude place tomorrow.

From Mt.Whitney, Guitar lake looked green, but today at the shore, it looked perfectly blue. The sky was very blue, so the lake was reflecting it.
Also it was very cool to see Mt.Whitney from the Guitar Lake side. I was there but I had never seen Whitney from this side. It is almost a cliff, literally vertical. I was amazed at how nature made such a harsh but cool place.

John Muir Trail Journal Day13

I did 211 mile (340 km) John Muir Trail thru-hike in July, 2014, by myself.

JMT hike is memorable and life-time accomplishment.
Every night during JMT, I wrote journal. I will share them.

 Day13

Today's highlight was Forester Pass. The second highest peak in the JMT. Because it was so high and steep to the top, this area was one of the most difficult areas to build a trail. Indeed, it was steep, but the view was gorgeous!

Both sides were so pretty. The lakes were so clear, I was able to see all the rocks on the bottom. The undulating mountins in the back were amazng, too. I couldn't count how many mountains there were. There were just so many. Mountains were to the left, right, behind, and in front of me. They were all in the distance. I enjoyed the view by myself for half an hour with Anpan (Japanese bread with sweet red beans). 

What a beauty rich trip.

Forester Pass

Forester Pass

 

Then I saw an American guy who has lived in Japan for two years. He lived in the Yamaguchi prefecture. I was glad and surprised to see a person who knew a rather small prefecture on JMT. It was totally unexpected.

After that, even more surprisingly, I saw an American lady who loves Japan. She glanced at me and said, "Japanese!" I was so surprised. She has worked for a Japanese company. I asked her how she knew that I was Japanese. She said that she was familiar with Japanese. Wow.

I didn't expect that I could see many people who like Japan. It's great.

 

John Muir Trail Journal Day12

I did 211 mile (340 km) John Muir Trail thru-hike in July, 2014, by myself.

JMT hike is memorable and life-time accomplishment.
Every night during JMT, I wrote journal. I will share them.

 

Day12

Yesterday's guy talked to me in the breakfast time. He talked about Glen Pass, which is a peak I climbed today, and Forester Pass that I will climb tomorrow.

Rae Lakes

noname lake

Glen Pass

He also talked about a guy who did JMT without resupply. I was surprised. It is tough. The guy ate a lot of cornmeal. I might try it out.

Today I climbed Glen Pass. It was sunny after a rainy day, so it was even prettier. From Glen Pass, I was able to see many lakes. Among the lakes, Rae Lakes were exclusively beautiful. Because Rae Lakes are greenish rather than blue, their existance are very clear. No wonder Rae Lakes is famous for their beauty. At the top I talked with some JMTers. They found that there was a cell phone coverage at the top. I ate anpan (Japanese bread that has sweet bean paste inside). Anpan is awesome.

Compared to the first pass in this trip, climbing a pass is getting easier. It might be because I am getting stronger or I am just completely acclimatized.

 

John Muir Trail Journal Day11

I did 211 mile (340 km) John Muir Trail thru-hike in July, 2014, by myself.

JMT hike is memorable and life-time accomplishment.
Every night during JMT, I wrote journal. I will share them.

 

Day11 Lake Majorie-Pinchot Pass-Rae Lakes

I climbed Pinchot Pass in the morning. I started hiking at 7 a.m., so there was no one on the trail until 9 a.m. It was cloudy and actually it was cold. Clouds were moving quickly, so the scenery changed minute by minute. It was very cool.
There were a lot of cool looking lakes on the way up to the pass. They don't even have names, but they sit so quietly. I was just amazed. The mountain colors were a mixrture of grey and brown. The geology was interesting.

Today, I planned to camp near Rae Lakes. Rae Lakes consists of two lakes. They are famous for their beauty. JMT is between the two lakes. They have an interesting color. They are not just blue and rather green as well. It might be because I got to the lake in the evening. I was looking for a good, flat place to pitch a tent, but I couldn't find one. I saw some but they were already occupied, so I climbed a little hill along the lake to see if there was still an available spot. I saw a tent there, so I almost gave up. Then the person sitting there told me that there was a spot near his tent. I was lucky!
I was able to get the spot. It was great. I could see the Rae Lakes below, and there was no wind because the area was surrounded by rocks and trees. He was doing Rae Lake loop backpacking. He had already done with JMT before, so we talked about JMT. It was fun. All JMTers are so friendly and it's nice to talk with them.

Pinchot Pass

Rae Lake and my tent

John Muir Trail Journal Day10

I did 211 mile (340 km) John Muir Trail thru-hike in July, 2014, by myself.

JMT hike is memorable and life-time accomplishment.
Every night during JMT, I wrote journal. I will share them.

 

Day10 Palisade Lake-Mather Pass-Lake Majorie

It was cloudy and sometimes drizzling in the early morning.
The scenery under clouds at a high altitude like above 12,000 feet was cool and harsh, rather than pretty. It was surreal. I wrote the lakes were like ladies, but today's view near Mather Pass was totally like a man. 

By today I caught up my schedule, and actually I am ahead of schedule, so I was able to set up a camp at 4 p.m. It was nice to have a laidback time. I washed all of my clothes in Lake Majorie. I wish I could do laundry and change clothes everyday but it's a backpacking trip. I had expected that my hair would be oily, tangled, and hard, but it looks okay. Maybe I look horrible or like a zombie, but at least I am not so uncomfortable without taking shower for 10 days so far.

Also I was able to have more time to write my journal. It's great.

Mather Pass

 

John Muir Trail Journal Day9

I did 211 mile (340 km) John Muir Trail thru-hike in July, 2014, by myself.

JMT hike is memorable and life-time accomplishment.
Every night during JMT, I wrote journal. I will share them.

Day9 Helen Lake to a little before Palisade Lakes

I started the day by descending from Helen Lake. 

The blue color in the morning was sexually beautiful.

It might be weird, but I thought it looked like a lady and the adjective "seductive" fits to describe the lake. 

The reason is that the lake has something to attract people and they can't stop staring at her.

I once lost the trail but I found it by looking in the distance. JMT is very well maintained, but only when one needs to cross a river or stream, there is a possibility of losing a trail. I am confident that I am better at finding a trail compared to the beginning of this trip.

Today's destination was Palisade Lake but it was farther than I had expected.
I am good at the morning climb, but it is difficult in the afternoon. My shoulder hurts because of the heavy backpack.
I hiked until 7:15 p.m. but I still couldn't see the lake, so I set up a camp. This is actually a good place because I can see the open canyon view. 

Helen Lake

Tomorrow I will climb up to Mather Pass.

 

John Muir Trail Journal Day8

I did 211 mile (340 km) John Muir Trail thru-hike in July, 2014, by myself.

JMT hike is memorable and life-time accomplishment.
Every night during JMT, I wrote journal. I will share them.

I didn't even notice until now (8:20 p.m.) that today was Saturday. The wilderness doesn't have much definition between days.

Today was tough but beautiful. I started at a junction of Piute trail just near the entrance of Kings Canyon National Park. Piute creek had a lot of water. The stream was intense. The creek was running high in the deep canyon. After hiking along Piute creek, then trail followed Evolution creek. This creek was also intense. Once I took off my shoes and socks to cross it, but the water level was at my waist. The stream was stronger than I had expected. It was scary and very adventurous. After that there was the Evolution meadow, where I ascended, ascended, and ascended.

Wanda Lake

Evolution Lake and Sapphire Lake are both beautiful, but the most beautiful lake today was Wanda Lake. It was so blue. Actually I got scared because it was too beautiful and the water was so clear. I was able to see the rocks on the bottom. The lake was very deep. I have never gotten scared because something is too pretty.
I thought about stopping there, but it was still 3 p.m. I decided to continue. I continued climbing up to Muir Pass. There is a small stone house called Muir Hut at the top. It was built by Sierra Club in 1930. I admired John Muir. Then I set up a camp at Helen Lake. Nobody was there. Camping by a lake gives you more solitude but it is very cold compared to camping near a creek at a lower altitude. 

 

John Muir Trail Journal Day7

I did 211 mile (340 km) John Muir Trail thru-hike in July, 2014, by myself.

JMT hike is memorable and life-time accomplishment.
Every night during JMT, I wrote journal. I will share them. 

It's been a week since I've started backpacking the JMT. Luckily I don't have any muscle pain. I really appreciate that I can have a body to do this.

Today's highlight was Selden Pass. From there, I was able to see Marie Lake in the distance. 

The north view was especially amazing. Marie Lakes was so quiet, peaceful and beautiful with mountains in the background.
Heart Lake was actually the shape of heart. It's cute.
Then Sallie Lakes showed up. The lakes were also so quiet and pretty.
The view is always terrific before and after a pass.

Selden Pass

Around 3:30 p.m., I stopped by Muir Trail Ranch to resupply. This place was a real ranch. They had a lot of horses. I got my food and bought a fuel canister.
There were many donation buckets where hikers can put extra/unneeded stuff.
I was able to get bandaids for my blisters.
At the ranch, I saw some JMTers and a PCT hiker. It's cool. PCT sounded more challenging. I heard that PCT hikers walk until midnight. They are so hardcore.
It was very nice to see other JMTers and even a PCT hiker. I think it was because of a sense of camaraderie.