My Pack

"This is my Pack. There are many like it, but this one is mine."- Pack Creed

A hikers' pack is not one to be toyed with. The decision on which pack to purchase is a crucial one for any hiker or backpacker. In a way, your pack can reflect your hiking style. Not to say I judge people on the trail by their pack, but I find it interesting how people come across their equipment and how it suits their hiking style.

 For me, it was a tough decision, with being new to long distance backpacking I didn't know what I wanted. Did I want an ultra-light pack? A multi-day large pack? I felt overwhelmed with the options.

Then I thought, just settle on a quality brand and search for the best deal. After reading many blogs and forums, I decided on an Osprey Pack. They seemed to have great reviews and didn't lack in any features. After shopping around I decided to go with the Osprey Exos 58. 58 Liters is on the on border of "Light-backpacking" and "Ultra-Light Backpacking", so it seemed that it would work well for me. I didn't want a larger pack because I was afraid it would tempt me to pack too much because I had the space. This smaller pack would help me really think about what equipment I brought along with me. Also, I really liked it in the Grey and Orange color, I thought it looked pretty cool.

I scoured the internet looking for a good price for the pack. Osprey is a really nice brand, so buying the pack brand new from a retailer would be very expensive. I eventually ended up on www.moontrail.com and found the Osprey Exos 58 for a great price. Osprey was currently re-designing the Exos pack, so the 2012 model was not being made anymore and thus dropped the price. I pulled the trigger and haven't looked back since.

It's a great pack and I love it. On the trail it held all of my equipment with easy and never once felt overbearing. It was easy to remove items from the pack as well as find a pocket to place any item. It comes with a lot of pockets and great places to store equipment. It has a built in pouch for my water bladder as well as side pockets to hold additional water or tent poles.

The hip pockets were my favorite feature, easy access for some snacks!

My one complaint about the pack was that the hip and should straps are not well padded. After the first couple of days I had some pretty bad bruises on my lower back and shoulders. My pack at most weighed in around 35lbs, so it wasn't the weight that was causing the irritation, it was just the lack of padding. After these first few days of discomfort the pain seemed to go away.

Thin shoulder straps

As I mentioned earlier, Osprey has re-designed this pack and it now has much thicker padding on the shoulders and the hips (darnit!). But I am not a fan of the new colors. I think the Grey and Fire Orange suit me better. All in all, I love my Exos 58 and am excited to continue to use it in the future.

You can find the new Osprey Exos 58 Here. 

Day 11: LeConte Canyon to Bishop

Well the day had finally come when I had to exit the trail. I was very sad that I would not be able to summit Mt. Whitney with my new trail friends. It was tough to think about but I had come to terms with it, it was time to go.

I woke up around 5:30am and began to pack up camp. I was going to have to hitch a ride from the South Lake Trailhead so I wanted to get there as early as possible, I had never hitch-hiked before in my life and was very nervous about doing so.

I must have woken up Erica while packing up my gear, she informed me that she wouldn't be exiting the trail and would press on to Mt. Whitney. I was very happy she decided to continue on, this was her second attempt at thru-hiking the JMT, her first attempt thwarted a year earlier by a wildfire in the Sierra.

We said our goodbyes and I headed on down the trail. This was a sad goodbye, hiking with Erica and Jeff the past 10 days had been amazing. I had learned so much from them about backpacking and I was sad to be solo again on the trail. These two had really been a blessing, no way would my time on the trail had been nearly as amazing without them. Trail magic usually comes in the form of a surprise food drop, but in my case it was meeting these two great people.

The trail was very wet between the rainfall the day before and the morning due and it was still plenty dark out so I had to blaze down the trail with my headlamp on. I felt really good, no knee pain and was cruising right along.

I then reached the LeConte Canyon Ranger Station, where the Bishop Pass trail connects with the JMT. This is where I would be saying goodbye to the John Muir Trail. I noticed quite a few tents here and in the distance I saw what looked like Jeff's tent. It was much too early to try to wake him up to say goodbye, so I guess a mental "goodbye" would have to do. Not going to lie, I started to tear up a bit here, I didn't think leaving the trail would be so emotional but I guess when you're out there for 10 days you start to become attached to it. This was not an easy goodbye and would get worse as the day continued.

The trail headed east towards Bishop Pass, I had a gnarly climb ahead of but it wasn't too bad in the cool morning air. I came across a deer and her dawn while climbing toward The Dusy Basin. It's funny how we see Deer in civilization all the time but never stop to think that they exist in the wild. These Deer look shocked to see me and were intrigued by my presence. It took nearly 25 minutes of an awkward standoff before they left the trail and headed into the woods.

I stopped at a bridge that crossed over a creek for some breakfast and to gather some water. I was making good time and sun was just started to shine down into the canyon.

Not shortly after breakfast I reached the Dusy Basin. Another High Sierra basin that is littered with small lakes that butt up to high granite peaks.

Dusy Basin

The sun was beating down on me now, so I stopped to shed some layers and continue on my way. The basin seemed very dry, almost desert like with very little vegetation anywhere.

Looking back into Dusy Basin

Stopping to shed layers.

The trail wound around a few lakes and over some hills before finally gradually climbing up to Bishop Pass. The views were stunning so I decided to stop and eat lunch atop the pass. I met a trail crew member at the summit who was waiting on a coworker to join him to do some surveying of the trail. We chatted for a bit then I continued down the trail.

Looking east from the summit of Bishop Pass

Looking down towards the South Lake trailhead I could see a lot of people hiking around the many lakes, this was a good sign for hitch hiking later.

Long Lake

The trail flattened out and wound through trees and lakes and here I met a group of about 8 elderly couples. I told them of my journey and that I needed a ride down to Bishop. They said they would be happy to take me but wouldn't be leaving for a few hours. I told them I would wait at the parking lot for them. I was so relieved, my worries had vanished and I could take my sweet time hiking down the trail.

You are now leaving the John Muir Wilderness

Just before I reached the parking lot I passed a sign for the John Muir Wilderness. A feeling of deep regret struck me, I almost wanted to break down at the foot of the sign in failure. I was so sad to leave the trail and not be able to finish what I started. While standing next to the sign an older hiker came up and asked where I was hiking. I told him about my trip and how I had to leave the JMT early to make it back home. "Ahh the JMT," he said "Took me 4 tries to finish it. Do not worry, it isn't going anywhere."

His kind words filled me with hope that I would one day return to the Sierra to complete the John Muir Trail and instantly a new goal was set.

Fist hitch hiking experience.

I ended up finding a trail angel, Katherine, who let me ride in the bed of her pickup truck back into Bishop. (What a way to hitch hike right?). It was a great journey down from the mountains and I took this time to reflect on my time on the trail and how much I had changed. I was in very high spirits and
excited to see my family and friends.

Saying goodbye to the Sierra.

It was a great journey, one I would not trade for anything, but one I must go back to complete.


- Patrick

Day 10: Evolution Basin to LeConte Canyon

I wake up numerous times throughout the night. My tent was shaking violently in the wind. I thought to myself, "If I hear one crack of thunder, I am booking it to some cover". Luckily, the rain stopped and we awake to a calm, and eerie morning.

Weird morning in Evolution Basin

We didn't bother making breakfast, we would just eat in the Muir Pass Hut, so we set off on the trail. Jeff way ahead per usual, and Erica and I hanging back at a steady pace. I think Erica and I both were feeling the effects from the long day of hiking yesterday and were eager for this day to already be over. 

As great as the night hike was, we were paying for it now. 

The trail climbed up past Wanda Lake, its' waters so smooth that it almost seemed abnormal. The trail then wound through some boulder fields and past Lake McDermand before starting it's final climb up to Muir Pass.

While hiking along the trail you can see the Muir Pass Hut from a few miles away, even though it is made out of stone, the man-made object sticks out pretty well. It's almost torture though, seeing it in the far distance, knowing you're only a few miles away.

You can see the Hut just on top of the pass

Erica and I looking back down into Evolution Basin

The climb wasn't too bad to the pass and we joined Jeff and Chops in the Hut for some breakfast. I take the time to look around at the markings in the hut, it was donated by the Sierra Club in honor of John Muir. Jeff makes some hot tea for us and we hang for a little while longer.

Muir Hut in the clouds atop Muir Pass

Muir Hut

Plaque on the side of Muir Hut

Plaque inside of Muir Hut

Muir Hut looking north towards Evolution Basin

We hear the rain start to fall again, so we dawn our rain gear and set back out on the trail, wanting to get to lower elevation in case of a thunderstorm. The rain comes and goes as we descend from the pass, the scenery is very beautiful with large lakes cut out between giant granite peaks. We start to hit the treeline when the rain really picks up and the dark clouds come over the ridge.

Erica and her rain gear descending Muir Pass

Trail descending Muir Pass

It was very ominous because the storm clouds were rising over a peak called The Black Giant. Needless to say, I thought this was a bad sign. We tried to call ahead for Jeff who we could see off in the distance, but the rain was too loud for him to hear our voices. 

Sadly, this was the last time I would see Jeff,  as he sauntered off down the trail. 

My last picture of Jeff.

The rain got so bad that Erica and I booked it for some tree cover to set up our tents. We were literally sprinting over rocks and boulders to get to what looked like a safe grouping of trees. I saw another tent about 200 yards away that looked like Jeffs' tent, so after setting up my tent, I ran in the downpour to see if it was him. It wasn't, it was another hikers' tent. I returned to my tent and climbed inside.

About an hour later, the clouds dissipated and the sun shown ironically right over The Black Giant. I yelled out to Erica, that we have a good opportunity to get to lower elevation. So we packed up our makeshift camp and continued down the trail.

Erica preparing for the rain.

In the meantime, the view of Leconte Canyon from our elevation were absolutely beautiful! No pictures sadly, due to the rain. 

Not after 10 minutes back on the trail, the storm clouds are back and pouring down more rain. Erica and I decide to just keep hiking to our planned campsite in Big Pete Meadow. The wet trail was not easy to navigate, with slippery rocks and mud, one bad step could make this bad day even worse.

I love the rain!

We get to Big Pete Meadow and sadly, Jeff was not there. We were both very tired from hiking in the rain, that we decided to just set up camp. I take about a 3 hour nap, and wake up to make some dinner. Erica and I discuss our next day plans, I would be leaving the John Muir Trail over Bishop Pass and Erica was debating on exiting as well due to fatigue. 

I go to bed early tonight, but take a while to fall asleep because I am slowly realizing that my time in the wilderness is coming to an end. I was just trying to take in all of the memories and experiences I had. It had been 10 days but I had barely been keeping track, it had a been a great adventure thus far.

Day Summary:

Miles Hiked: 12  mi
Total Miles on JMT: 135.9 mi                                                         Day 11: LeConte Canyon to Bishop

Day 9: Muir Trail Ranch to Evolution Basin

Woke up early this morning with the sound of the San Joaquin River moving only a few feet away from my tent. Jeff and I told Erica we would meet her at 10am at Muir Trail Ranch. So we go to sleep in a bit, which was really nice.

We packed up camp and headed back to MTR to meet up with Erica. We hung out at MTR for a while, resupplied on some food and got some fresh water. Around 10:15am or so we set out back out on the trail.

Trail leaving MTR

We all hiked pretty spread out today, it was nice to hike in solitude for the most of the day. The trail followed along the San Joaquin River for some time before coming to a bridge over Piute Creek. This marked the trail now entering Kings Canyon National Park. I stood on the bridge for a few minutes taking in the scenery and reflecting on my journey thus far. It was pretty incredible to me how far I had traveled by foot, never in my life would I have thought I could do this!

 Bridge over Piute Creek

Now entering Kings Canyon!

I continued down the trail and for once it was pretty wooded, occasionally poking out into the granite canyon that the San Joaquin was roaring through.

Trail in the woods along the San Joaquin

San Joaquin River

I caught up to Jeff at another bridge that cross the river, we continued on for a few miles, then stopped to take a short break before we had to climb up to Evolution Valley. We ran into a pack horse train coming down the trail, it amazes me that to get any work done out here that they have to bring all equipment in on horseback, so cool!

Jeff along the bridge

Jeff again on the bridge

Pack train coming through

We began the climb up to Evolution Valley. The climb wasn't too steep, just seemed a bit long. Once you start nearing the end of the climb you can hear the roaring of Evolution Creek, that runs through the valley. From reading other hikers trail journals, I knew this would be a tricky river crossing with the creek being pretty wide. But, with it being so late in the summer, the creek wasn't very deep and was easy to cross.

Looking back while climbing into Evolution Valley

Evolution Creek

Jeff and I hiked a few more miles before stopping to eat and wait for Erica. We found a nice shaded spot and rested. Today wasn't too strenuous, or maybe I just felt better because of my hot spring soak last night.

Erica came strolling along and urged us to cut our break short and hike another mile or so and break in McClure Meadow. And boy, was she right! We hiked another mile or so (Jeff did this part in his Crocs!) and the views of the meadow were unbelievable.

Evolution creek running through McClure Meadow

My favorite place on the trail!

We hung out here for a while and ate a little bit before continuing down the trail. We planned to camp just above Colby Meadow.

Jeff and Erica taking in the sights.

Erica and Jeff relaxing

More relxing

We arrive at the camp site and it was pretty awesome. Secluded in the woods and right next to a waterfall, can't get any better than that right? We set up camp and started to make dinner, we were all very happy with our camp for the night.

Creek from our campsite.

My tent at our best "campsite" ever.

Jeff and our camp on the granite slab.

Waterfall next to our campsite.

Enjoying the waterfall!

Jeff soaking his feet

Then Chops came along. The previous night, we had discussed with Chops the possibility of doing a Night Hike on the trail, and Chops wanted to go tonight. This would mean giving up our amazing campsite.

After much pondering, we all decided to go for it. We packed up and gear and said goodbye to our campsite. The trail rose about 1200 feet into the Evolution Basin and the view were amazing. Unfortunately, I did not have a nice camera to take any photos of it, so I'll try to describe it as best we could.

The moon was so bright we didn't even need our headlamps, the trail was fully illuminated with moonlight. The granite all around the basin was so lit up you could see the most details on the rocks. I felt like I was walking on the moon.

Our goal for the night was to make it to the Muir Hut on top of Muir Pass, only a few miles along the trail, but all started to get pretty winded and tired. The temperature had really dropped as well and it was getting pretty hard to hike with tired muscles. We set up campsite somewhere near Sapphire Lake in the basin, about 200 feet from the water. The only thing was that we had zero tree cover and were pretty exposed in the basin, this concerned me a bit, and rightfully so. This evening it rained really hard and the wind was violently shaking my tent all night. I have no idea how I slept through it. I would occasionally wake up to the sound of thunder off in the distance.

Chops packed up his camp sometime around 4am and headed for Muir Hut. The sound of the rain slapping on the tent was so loud that we had to yell at each other to understand what we were saying. Erica, Jeff and I waited out the storm and woke up in the clouds, literally.

Waking up to this was a little freaky

Evolution Basin

What a wild day/night!

Day Summary:

Miles Hiked: 15.1  mi
Total Miles on JMT: 123.9 mi                                    Day 10: Evolution Basin to Leconte Canyon

Day 8: Marie Lake to Muir Trail Ranch

Today was a relatively short day compared to the others, actually it would be the shortest day yet! Just a little 8.2 jog down to Muir Trail Ranch, where we would be getting a resupply and a very deserved rest day.

The morning was cold, I made some instant oatmeal and choked it down before packing up camp. Erica and I started off on the trail about 20 minutes after Jeff took off. We were only short 1.5 miles away from the top of Selden Pass, so the climb would be quick.

The trail up to the pass was fairly easy, never getting too steep with it's smooth switchbacks. The top of the pass was pretty cold so I decided to not linger and continue down the other side. The trail descended down to Heart Lake and then cutting through Sallie Keyes Lakes. Looking Southeast from Selden pass was beautiful, with the many lakes and green trees lining the surrounding hills.

Coming down Selden Pass towards Heart Lake

We stopped shortly at Sallie Keyes Lakes to shed some layers since the morning sun was out and beating down on us. The lakes were so clear I could see many fish swimming beneath it's surface. I imagine this would be an ideal place for fisherman along the trail.

John Muir Trail along Sallie Keyes Lakes

We continued down the trail through a few meadows and wooded areas before the trail opened up to a beautiful valley. Down at the bottom, was Muir Trail Ranch. The long switch backs seemed to never end as I descended into the valley. Luckily the sun wouldn't be beating down on the east side of the valley until the afternoon, so I could hike in the shade.

View looking down into a valley. Muir Trail Ranch is down there somewhere!

On my way down to MTR.

The trail then dipped below the treeline, I decided to stop here and wait for Erica. The cut-off trail to Muir Trail Ranch was up ahead and from what I had read, it is very easy to miss. Luckily, we saw hikers coming up the cut-off trail, so it was wasn't hard to find. We hurried down the hill, and the site of the ranch was very relieving. It's amazing how much more enjoyable hiking is when you know there is a fresh resupply and hot springs ahead for you.

We entered the ranch and sat our packs down under some tents. There were a lot of people here, rummaging through the hiker bins and their resupply buckets. I got my resupply and traded some of the items for better items in the hiker bins. The hiker bins are there for "excess" supplies that hikers no longer need, they are free for all hikers to pick up. I had another 6 days worth of food in my resupply, but would only need 3 since I was exiting over Bishop Pass.

Erica entering Muir Trail Ranch

Frizzle and Erica at the resupply station.

Empty resupply buckets.

Hikers picking through the hiker bins.

Muir Trail Ranch is an awesome place, I had never been to a real "ranch" before but this was a great first experience. There were horses grazing, dogs running around, and a very friendly staff, who I later found out were actually the family who lived on the ranch. So cool! They really run a great operation there, they also offer internet access for a small fee!

Muir Trail Ranch Store. With wifi access!

Inside the MTR store. iMac seems a bit out of place in the wilderness huh?

Baby horse at MTR.

Muir Trail Ranch resupply hut.

Erica had reserved a room at the ranch for the night, so Jeff and I set off to find a campsite along the San Joaquin River. We found a couple of good sites but were told by a couple that they were saving them for their friends. This really peeved Jeff and I off, who reserves campsites in the wilderness?

Anyways, we found a campsite close to the river and began to set up camp. Chops just happen to be wondering by shortly after and set up camp near us. Jeff and I then waded across the San Joaquin to Blaney Hot springs, or basically hot tubs in the ground.

It felt so good to get a soak in, and rest the legs up a bit. We met a few other hikers here and had a great time talking with them. Kristen and Brad, who we met going up Silver Pass, showed up and took a soak with us as well.

It was getting dark, so Jeff and I crossed back over the river, made some dinner then went to bed. Tomorrow we would be hiking up to Evolution Valley, one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my life.

Day Summary:

Miles Hiked: 8.2  mi
Total Miles on JMT: 108.8 mi                                          Day 9: Muir Trail Ranch to Evolution Basin