JMT NOBO August 2025

  •   Category Weight
  • Pack System
    1.12 lb
  • Shelter System
    0.71 lb
  • Sleep System
    1.73 lb
  • Packed Clothing
    0.9 lb
  • Cook system
    0.16 lb
  • Food protection & storage
    1.64 lb
  • Hydration system
    0.22 lb
  • Electronics
    1.29 lb
  • Small Essentials
    0.35 lb
  • Worn Clothing
    0 lb
  • Consumables
    4.3 lb
  • Total 12.43
    lb
    • oz
    • lb
    • g
    • kg
  • Consumable 4.32 lb
  • Base Weight 8.11 lb

Itinerary: Northbound from Horseshoe Meadows via Cottonwood Pass, starting on August 13th. Plan to summit Mt Whitney on Day 3, leaving early enough to get there by sunrise. Resupply at Independence, Muir Trail Ranch, Vermilion Valley Resort, Red's Meadow, and Tuolumne Meadows to keep my food carries as light as possible. I plan a detour to Cloud's Rest the last day. Total trip length is projected to be around 18 days. Actual: Never went to VVR because of them cancelling the ferry for the season (Captain died from massive heart attack.) Actual itinerary: Cottonwood Pass to Mt Whitney to Onion Valley via Kearsarge Pass (5 days), Onion Valley to MTR (5 days), MTR to Red’s Meadow (3 days), Red’s Meadow to Tuolumne (2 days), Tuolumne to Cloud’s Rest to Yosemite Happy Isles (2 days). I also ended up taking an unscheduled zero at Red's because I was a day ahead of schedule and had a fixed date (8/31) to be picked up by my wife in Yosemite. I'm glad I took the detour to Cloud's Rest as a kind of climactic finish. I also enjoyed the Kearsarge Pass hike more than I expected to: it was beautiful!

Two 5-day food carries until MTR, then I plan to trade out my Bearikade Scout for the smaller Bare Boxer, which will allow me to downsize my backpack to 26L, which will lower weight and increase trail comfort. Max pack weight after MTR will be about 13.5 lbs with the gear swaps and merely two days between each subsequent resupply. Actual: I wish I had started out with the smaller backpack and bear canister. I was advised to allow for 6 days from Onion Valley to MTR and I only needed 5 days. I easily could have fit the food for days 2-5 in a Bare Boxer — the first day’s food would have been consumed before the first night. So I didn’t need to swap at all!

Acclimatization plan: driving up from the Bay Area, my wife and I will be staying two nights at Mammoth before she drops me off at Horseshoe Meadows to camp the night before my hike. I’ll also be taking Diamox. Actual: This worked well, but it still took until Day 6 to feel fully acclimatized. The Diamox had the minor side effect of blurring my near vision until I got off it at the end of Day 6.

Weather: I’m expecting dry and mostly sunny weather, with daytime highs in the 60s to 70s °F at high elevations and 80s to 90s °F in lower elevations like Yosemite Valley. Nighttime lows will often be in the 30s °F in alpine areas, with occasional dips below freezing. (My sleep system should be comfortable to 25F.) Brief afternoon thunderstorms are possible, especially in the first half of the route. I am expecting water to be plentiful, stream crossings non-threatening, and bug pressure tame. (Knock on wood.) I'll be hiking during peak fire season, so I will be monitoring those reports throughout. Actual: All pretty much correct. Low temps varied from 34F to 57F, none of which really tested my sleep system. All stream crossings were rock hops, except one: Evolution Creek, where water was only shin-high. Minimal bug pressure. Fire affected the trail indirectly due to smoke that had wafted over from a distant fire. The air seemed almost unwholesome at times during the two days before I cleared Donohue Pass, but was more of a nuisance rather than a danger.