1

I presume that you know that you need to apply for a permit to hike the John Muir Trail these days? That would make it a precise date for your start. There are hundreds of people starting at each end of the John Muir Trail, so no problem finding companions along the way if you are not successful on this forum.

2

Also post in the Trekking and Mountaineering branch.

3

I forgot to mention that you will need to plan for picking up food caches en route -- either previously shipped to rangers' headquarters at Mammoth Lakes, etc., or have friends meet you at prearranged sites where the trail is near an access road. We picked up food at the Edison Lake area, near Fresno.

4

Food caches? I guess if you are packing into the outback for extended periods of time. However, I've packed into wilderness areas for up to ten days with all food on board - no caches (albeit those have been heavy packs at trip's beginning approaching 60 pounds, but you eat your way down to about 40 - 45 pounds or less as you go).

5

Food caches? I guess if you are packing into the outback for extended periods of time.

Well, from the original post I assume the OP means he's through-hiking the John Muir Trail. That's 225 miles from Yosemite Valley to Mount Whitney, and even relatively speedy hikers take two weeks to cover it. Most folks stretch it out to 3 weeks with side-trips and layover days. It is pretty standard practice to ship resupply packages to one or two business located a short distance off the main route - they'll hold it for a small fee. Some folks side-trip out to Mammoth Lakes to re-supply. Anyway, only a very, very small minority of through-hikers attempts the JMT without caches or re-supply.

Backpacker Magazine also runs an online forum where you can fish for partners.

6

We started our trek on the High Sierra Trail (75 miles) from Giant Forest, Sequoia National Park, over Mt. Whitney to Whitney Portal. We had friends bring a 2 weeks' food cache to us there, equalling very heavy packs to retrek back up to the top of Mt. Whitney and the start of the JMT. We again went out near Edison Lake to another food cache pick-up, then continued our trek north. We did not pick up food at Mammoth Lakes. We did stop at the permanent wilderness camp at Tuolumne Meadows to feast on their all-you-can-eat breakfast. It then took 2 days to conclude our trek in Yosemite Valley. It took us about 4 weeks. There was a man who did the 211 miles JMT as a run in 4 days. He did not carry anything but money to pay rangers or others for food and a few hours of sleep in their cabins or tents. There are no grocery stores along the JMT. It is all wilderness. It would be costly to hitchhike out to Lone Pine to purchase food, rather than purchasing bulk food at Costco or Sam's Club.

7

Did anyone suggest hitchiking out to Lone Pine? Lone Pine is usual conclusion of the trek, so you did your route a little differently(starting by doing the High Sierra Trail is unusual, to say the least). The official website for the John Muir Trail has a page on resupply points along the route:

http://johnmuirtrail.org/resupply.html

8

I did a google search and ended up with lots of helpful tips! Have a good hike, looks amazing. I'm only at the 5-10K level.

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