Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 13:31:19 -0700 From: lacavacl@ccmail.orst.edu (Clem LaCava) Subject: John Muir Trail Report #2 Hello friends and Adventure runners! Part Two: TRAINING: Larry Halford, Curt Ringstad and I had registered for Wasatch back in January. The John Muir Fastpack would be hiked/run one month before Wasatch. Larry and I are hoping that the JMT experience would help prepare us for Wasatch and help us complete our first 100 mile race. Curt has finished, I think 3-4 100 milers. Max Welker, who joined our JMT group in late June, usually runs a 100 miler in the summer and was registered for the Eagle in late August. Max had run the Winterhawk 50 miler with us in early June and ran the White River 50 miler the weekend before the JMT. Larry and I have been training together since last winter. We were running about 200 miles a month leading up to Cool Canyon Crawl. In April, Larry went on a three week camping/backpacking trip to Utah, and I was a little busy organizing the McDonald Forest 50KM, but during May and June, Larry and I ran over 275 miles per month, with over 50,000 feet of elevation gain each month. Once a week throughout May and June, Larry and I would run for an hour and half with our packs on in the McDonald Forest. Curt was training with his pack occasionally over in Central Oregon. On the last weekend in June, Larry, Curt and I met at Wyeth Campground in the Columbia Gorge east of Portland for a 2 day fastpack training run with all of our equipment for the trip. On Saturday, June 28th, we ran for approx. 9 hours, 27 miles and 11,000 feet of gain. We set up camp after 6PM. It rained most of the evening. Larry discovered he needed a new bivy sack, but all the other equipment worked out well. The next day we ran another approx. 27-28 miles, and 7,000 feet of gain. We enjoyed this training run, fastpack! After this 2-day training run we decided, that the Bruce Hoff plan of 8 days and approx. 30 miles per day, 2 1/2 miles per hour for the JMT would be the plan. Larry and Curt were able to run another long training run (30 miles, 10,000 feet of gain) in the Gorge in mid-July without the packs, but I had come down with Campylobacteria and was out for a few days and missed that run. But, I recovered and was ready for the JMT. PLANNING: During the late winter and early spring, we discussed several times, the number of days, the food drops, etc. for the JMT trip. It varied from nine to eight days. After the Columbia Gorge 2 day fastpack in late June the eight day, Bruce Hoff experience was our plan. At that time there were three of us on board and we decided to go with one stove and one water filter. When Max Welker joined up in late June, we decided on another water filter. I would carry the stove, Curt the fuel, Max and Larry would each carry a filter. We always figured we would stay together. My family would be there to support us at the start, at Tuolumne Meadows and then again the next day at Red's Meadows. We would leave Yosemite Valley wearing just a waist pack. After reaching Tuolumne Meadows (23 Miles), we would change into the running shorts and shirt, that we would wear to the finish, and pick up our backpacks. We planned to cover approx. 30 miles per day, stopping to eat in the early evening, stopping once a day to refreshen up in a stream or lake and then set up camp before dark. Good Plan! We would carry no more than two days supply of food. We would leave Tuolumne Meadows with about a day and half supply. Jan and Paul would meet us at Red's Meadow with another two day supply of food in the late afternoon of the second day. Larry and I and Curt and Max mailed a five gallon bucket with two days supply of food and supplies to Muir Ranch, which we would pick up before noon on the fourth day. Muir Ranch charges $45 for each five gallon bucket of food to be stored at their ranch. Jan Gnass would bring us each a two day supply of food in the late afternoon of the sixth day over Kearsarge Pass. This whole trip personally fit in with my families plans for vacation and work. My wife, Jan and son, Paul after leaving Tuolumne Meadows would drive over to Rock Creek in the Little Lakes Valley, south of Mammoth to join my in-laws up at the cabin. My daughter was already working at Rock Creek Lakes Resort for Sue and Jim King and my son Paul was going down to work for them until late September until the University of Oregon would start classes. Larry's inspiration to fastpack the JMT was a great idea for me! EQUIPMENT: Clem: I was wearing, running shorts, socks, Marmot long-sleeve, white, capilene shirt, Adidas Trail Response running shoes and sun visor. We each carried two hand held bottles of water. Lowe Alpine Contour Mountain 50 Backpack 45 oz. The Lowe pack felt good on my back, but was not engineered as well as the Ultimate Direction packs. The left side of the waist belt began to tear and we repaired it with safety pins and ducktape. Larry and Curt used Ultimate Direction Voyager Backpacks and carried a bladder for water. Max had a Kelty backpack with a bladder for water. REI Down Time Sleeping Bag 42 oz. Outdoor Research Deluxe Bivy Sack 25 oz. Therm-A-Rest Ultra Lite 3/4 mat 15 oz. REI Nylon Windbreaker with hood 10 oz. Larry, Curt and Max carried a Poncho. Polypropylene shirt, tights, cap and gloves 12 oz. 2 bandanas (Used for everything!) 2 oz Wind Briefs 1 oz Pair of Therlo Socks 2 oz Jacket, Capilene Expedition weight 10 oz White Cool Canyon Cap 1 oz Running Tights 6 oz. Extra stuff sacks 3 oz Cook Pot & Lid 12 oz. Nalgene 32 oz bottle 3 oz. ( Before camping or cooking at night we would filter extra water. I used the Nalgene bottle, Curt, Larry and Max would fill their bladders.) Victorinox knife 2 oz. Flashlight & batteries 4 oz. Misc. items (First Aid Kit, ankle brace, rope, 32 oz whistle, lighter, foot powder, spoon, sunblock mosquito repellent, chap stick, advil, etc.) Cook Stove - MSR Whisper Light 14 oz. I placed a plastic garbage in my pack as a liner and placed all gear and food in the bag. I also carried another plastic bag to place over my pack in case of rain or a storm, since I did not have a poncho. FOOD At the beginning and after each resupply 128 oz. we probably were carrying at least 8 lbs of food. ------ Approx. 23 lbs. ======= PACK WEIGHT: Hal Winton in his report states, "twenty-five pounds is too much of a burden for trail running" and Bruce Hoff states, "A heavy pack "clips a runners wings" and virtually everyone who's done this trip returns wishing they'd gone lighter." I agree! John Liebeskind, a friend from Corvallis who also completed a fast pack of the JMT, was always reminding us in the months leading up to the trek. "Try and reduce the weight!" John, a few days before we left gave me his 2 oz. mat 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 feet square to use, but I stayed with my Ultralight 15 oz mat. John used a sleeping bag liner ( 1 1/2 lbs.) on his fastpack, reducing his weight maybe another pound. The Outdoor Research bivy sacks were warm. I did not get into my sleeping bag at night, I just used it like a blanket in the bivy. I didn't use John's mat, because I thought by reducing the comfort factor, I would sleep less well. In retrospect, I didn't sleep any better with all the comforts I had. It's a tough call on the food. I think all four of us had too many power bars, cliff bars, GU, etc. Probably, could have cut back a little. Above, I estimated that we carried approximately 2 days supply of food at all times, weighing about 8 pounds. After resupplys, the weight would be more, because we still had food left from the previous two day supply. We tended to just stock up in case of an emergency. Before you make any decision on how much to carry and what equipment to use, be sure to experiment. John Liebeskind was comfortable with his mat and sleeping bag liner, and no stove for hot meals, because he has a lots of experience with that gear. We decided for safety reasons, that the gear we had was needed. I would suggest looking into a custom made pack. It maybe possible to obtain a pack that weighs less than a pound. WATER: Our group had two water filters. The Sweet Water Guardian filters worked well. Only one time did we fill the water bottles without filtering. Filtering water every hour and half to two hours took about 20 minutes. Maybe, I'm a little more reckless and of course I didn't finish the JMT, but when I looked at those beautiful mountain streams, I could not imagine, the stream water being any more unsafe than the water in Corvallis, Oregon coming out of the faucet. Looking at that scenary, all I could think of was Akabill's quote, "Life is Good!". This water just had to be good! Hal Winton and friends and Ray Jardine in his book about hiking the PCT, stated that they didn't always filter the water. At times, some of us would get ahead and arrive at a stream and start filtering. Then, ten to fifteen minutes later, the other member or members of the group would show up and they would start filtering. Sometimes these stops got longer than 20 minutes. We spent a lot of time filtering water. Part Three later! Clem LaCava lacavacl@ccmail.orst.edu