This past July, Molly and I traveled to Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago.  We were among an estimated 200,000+ pilgrims who will walk the Way of St. James this year.  It was an amazing experience, one that was completely different from any preconceived ideas I had.
One of the many surprises was the foggy overcast mornings that we were treated to each day.  The fog made for some interesting photographic opportunities and some compelling images.

On several occasions we saw marker posts with worn out shoes abandoned near them.  I really liked the way the pink shoe contrasted with the concrete.

And then I found this abstract scene.  Any guesses where this is.  I’ll give you a hint, it’s not in Spain.

On day thirteen Molly and I had the pleasure of hiking over Muir Pass and past the splendid lakes that lie in it’s shadow to the north.  Wanda Lake, named for John Muir’s eldest daughter is home to a rare treat, frogs living at 11,500′.  As we walked past Wanda lake we were startled by the plop, plop, plop of frogs jumping into the lake as we passed by.  We stopped to admire the frogs living in this relatively inhospitable environment.  Check this post for more on the Mountain Yellow Legged Frog.

Muir Pass was in my opinion one of the easiest 12,000′ passes along the trail, the final ascent from Evolution Lake is just 1200′ and it is a very gradual slope all the way up.  While I was reminiscing about the Muir Pass summit experience I began to realize that more often than not I felt that reaching the summit of each of the eleven passes was relatively easy.  Why were they “easy”?  I think it has a lot to do with the strategy we used while hiking the trail.

Like most others who hike the JMT we had an itinerary planned long before we even set foot on the trail.  That itinerary remained unchanged for exactly one day before we modified it for our hiking strengths and weaknesses.  Pretty early on we decided to attack the big climbs in sections.  The basic strategy is to look at the passes and plan to hike up approximately half of the required elevation on one day, then camp and hike up the rest the next day when you are fresh and relatively full of energy.  But like the saying goes hike your own hike and follow a strategy that works for you!

8-8-2009
Once again I woke up with a sore throat and felt weak much of the day.  I tried sleeping without socks last night and that did not work very well, my feet froze.  We had only a 1200 foot ascent to Muir Pass but every foot was amazing.  The lakes were a gorgeous teal blue that Molly said looked unnatural.  The Climb to the pass was easy and the descent was long but not too difficult.  In my mind Silver Pass still holds the record for worst descent.  We are camped near Big Pete meadow and are taking advantage of the altitude with a warm campfire.

Finding images that compel me to capture them can sometimes be challenging.  Sometimes I try to force an image or take a picture that does not feel right, those images very rarely turn out to be something that I am proud of.  Other times images come at me in a flood and it takes all of my concentration to make sure all of the technical aspects of image capture come together.  One of the good days was August 7 when we were hiking through the Evolution Range.
I felt ill the whole day but really wanted to make it to Evolution Lake before we stopped for the day, and I am really glad we made it there.  As the golden hour came the mountains were wrapped in clouds and set aglow by the setting sun.  The scene felt natural and I was able to find several compelling compositions in the span of an  hour.  As a photographer, these are the days I live for!

8-7-2009
I don’t know what is going on but I still feel sick!  I still have a sore throat and still feel low on energy.  Sick or not we still gained 2800 feet and walked 12+ miles for the day.   We passed 130 miles in total today and I am determined to finish this hike!  I did not take many pictures today, mostly because I was focusing all of my energy on hiking.  When we arrived at Evolution Lake a spectacular sunset unfolded and I quickly rattled off a hundred frames or so.  We found a neat wind sheltered spot for our tent but in the process of pitching the tent I broke one of the guy lines.  I fixed it with a square knot and then found someone’s discarded shoe string.  That shoe string may come in handy.  Just before we came over the crest to Evolution Lake we heard the “Cheeseburger Bird” for the first time.  I was really starting to doubt the existence of this bird until I heard the unmistakable song.

When We were relaxing at VVR a weather report came in that was somewhat alarming.  The Dweeb Report (yes that is what it is called) was predicting a weather freak-show starting on the sixth.  Predictions were for three to six inches of snow down to seven thousand feet with substantially more on the passes.  A report like this presents a difficult decision for backpackers and an especially important decision for backpackers who pack as light as Molly and I do.

We are not equipped for snow travel so in the event of snow we would likely be holed up in our tent for a couple of days until it warmed up again.  Several backpackers decided to extend their stay at VVR to see how the weather played out.  I spoke with a couple attempting to hike the JMT with their two young children, they had decided to end their trip at VVR.  They had already been trapped in a hailstorm on Donahue Pass and were concerned about hypothermia in the event of a snowstorm.  Us?  Well, ever the skeptic i decided to ignore the weather report and continue Hiking.  I had bailout points marked on the map and was ready to live with the decision.

As it turned out there was no snow, no rain, just some clouds and a ten degree drop in temperature for a day.  Seldon Pass was EASY Molly and I both felt like we just flew up the pass and cruised down the other side.  In retrospect I think Seldon Pass is the easiest pass of the entire trip.

8-6-2009
Last night I had dreams about being sick and that led to me feeling ill again this morning.  We slept in so that I could recover and finally got up around 8:00.  I felt 90% but still have a scratchy throat.  Most of the day was cold and cloudy, especially the hike up to Seldon Pass.  Once late afternoon came the clouds had mostly disappeared but it was about ten degrees colder than normal.  The day’s hiking was easy and I kept thinking that Seldon Pass was the Yin to the Silver Pass Yang.  Tonight might be our last campfire as we are mostly going to be above 10,000 feet from here on.

In my last post I talked generally about the equipment that I carried on the trail.  Today I’d like to review a few standout pieces of equipment.
Selecting ultra light equipment is unfortunately not as simple as going down to REI and picking out the one that fits best, works best or looks best.  Most ultra light equipment manufacturers sell only from their website and advertise only via modern day word of mouth.  It took me a long time researching this and that to finally determine what equipment i was going to use.  In order to save you some time here are my recommendations.

Backpack- Gossamer Gear Mariposa Plus
Selecting the backpack was probably the single hardest decision.  The pack had to hold all of the other items and do it comfortably.  Additionally it had to withstand the abuse I was going to subject it to over three weeks and 230+ miles.  I read several reviews of the previous versions of this pack and it seemed with the 2009 version they had worked out all of the issues with the older versions.  As soon as the Mariposa Plus arrived I filled it up with its hiking load and was releived to find that not only would it carry all of my gear it would also carry a Wild Ideas Weekender inside!
On the trail the Mariposa plus was consistently comfortable with my typical load of ~24 lbs(including camera gear).  Molly and I each carried a bear canister.  We had one Wild Ideas Weekender and one Bear Vault BV 500.  The Bear Vault is more comfortable when carried in this pack due to its slightly smaller diameter.  If I were to d it again I would add 6 ounces and carry the Bear Vault.  I really liked the external mesh pockets, they were perfect for stuffing unused clothing layers for easy retrieval.
By the end of the hike there were a few spots in the main compartment fabric that had either suffered a puncture or abrasion damage.  The ripstop fabric was very effective at preventing the spread of damage.  The damaged sections did not impact the function of the pack in any way, however if it had rained the damage would have let water in.  Whe we returned home I emailed Gossamer Gear and told them about the damage, the replied quickly and said send it in.  Two weeks later I had the backpack back in my hands ready to use.  They had gone through the packs with a fine toothed comb and fixed every damaged location no matter how minor.  I was very impressed with their service.

Sleeping Bag- Montbell Ultra Light super Stretch #3
In my mind a sleeping bag is successful if it keeps you warm when it’s cold and lets you breathe when it’s not.  The Montbell Sleeping bag did that very well in my mind.  This bag squishes down into a package just slightly larger than a nalgene bottle and then fluffs up enough to keep you warm on a 30 degree F night.  I was cold one night during the trip.  That night Molly and I decided to sleep Just below trail crest on Mt Whitney at an elevation of 13,550 ft.  That night the temperatures got into the low 20′s or perhaps the teens, temperatures far below what the bag was designed for.  While I was cold I did not die and was able to sleep reasonably well.

Clothing-Merino Wool
I tried merino wool for the first time this trip and I am hooked for life.  There are several manufacturers of this stuff (I guess I mean processors as sheep are probably considered the manufacturers), but we got ours from Icebreaker.  There are many amazing things about merino wool but my favorite two are; a lack of odor and warmth even when wet.
We washed our clothes every three or four days but this did not prevent my Railriders Nylon shirt from becoming soo nasty that I refused to wear it on the last day.  The Icebreaker shirt in contrast never held an odor and never made me want to vomit.  If I were to do it again I would wear a very light weight Merino Wool shirt instead of the Railriders Eco Mesh shirt.

8-2-09
Heavy Day.
Today was scheduled to be an easy day and for the most part it was.  We slept in and did not get on the trail until 10:00 or so.  We had a light breakfast in anticipation of the big lunch ahead at Reds Meadow  We arrived at Reds Meadow right at noon and immediately checked on our resupply package.  Along with our package was a note from Dad and the $20 I had lent him for the bus after he lost his wallet.  He had found his wallet right where Mom said it was.  Lunch was good but maybe a little bit too much food.  I had a bacon cheeseburger and a chocolate malt it was yummy!  While at Reds Meadow we met a guy named “Boots” who was hiking portions of the JMT/PCT and taking pictures of everyone he met along the way.  He took pictures of me fixing up Molly’s blisters which were pretty bad today.  The Hike to our camp at Deer Creek was easy but my pack weighs more now than it has so far.  I look forward to eating some food and lightening the load a bit.  Deer Creek has tons of mosquitoes and this led us to have our first campfire.  The campfire was surprisingly  pleasant!  Tomorrow will likely be longer than scheduled.

I have been hiking for as long as I can remember, for most of those years I have been carrying what I would consider to be a heavy backpack.  Two Years ago when I hiked from Agnew Meadows to Toulumne Meadows was the last time I will ever hike with a heavy pack.  I have made the transition to Ultra Light Packing and have no regrets.  Packing light makes hiking fun, rewarding and sometimes easy.  Well maybe not easy but certainly much easier than it would be with a heavy pack.

While on the trail we frequently passed people who would look at our packs and ask us how we were able to carry such a small load.  I would generally answer by saying,”by only carrying what we absolutely needed.”  It took a long time to decide what I could go without, but the idea that the hike would be easier without superfluous items made the weight cutting easy.  Some days I would miss one luxury item or another but then there were days like 8-1-09 when I was glad to be carrying as little as possible.

On 8-1-09 Molly and I were feeling more tired than the days effort warranted and we ended up hiking about 2.5 miles further than we were planning.  I was so exhausted this day that besides a few snaps here and there I did not take any pictures.  Overall it was a pretty difficult day.  Had we been carrying heavy packs we either would not have gone nearly as far or we would have been utterly exhausted by the end of the day.   Going light made this day a lot easier than it would have otherwise been.

If you are backpacking with more than 35lbs I urge you to check out Backpacking Light.  It is a subscription site but well worth the price.  They have a wealth of knowledge contained on their pages, knowledge that was instrumental in helping me have a successful first ultra light trip.

Our Packing list can be downloaded Here.  You will need Excel to read it.

8-1-09
Exhausted once more!
Today our goal was to make it to lower trinity lake…
We awoke to an amazing sunrise with a glass like Thousand Island Lake reflecting Banner Peak..  After enjoying the sunrise and capturing a few images I started preparing breakfast while Molly packed our gear.  We didn’t get started hiking until 8:30 because we were cooking for four and playing host to Mom & Dad.  Dad lost his wallet (yes Dad brought his WALLET on the trail) and that slowed us down too.  After summiting the ridge  above Garnet Lake there was an amazing view of the Sierra to the south.  Farther on down the hill we talked to a father and son who were very interested in our small and light packs.  The most unexpected part of the day was the super steep climb out of the Shadow Lake area.  We finally made it up to Rosalie Lake where I took a quick plunge to clean up a bit.  We rested for a bit  and then set out for Trinity Lake.  We made it to Trinity Lake without event but there was no clean water there.  We had to continue on another 2.5 miles to Johnston Meadow before we could make camp.  We were both exhausted and I feel like I am more tired than I should be.