Gear List for Backpacking the John Muir Trail
The John Muir Trail is a little challenging to go true Ultralight for. The heavy, required bear canister, and therefore, a heavier, framed pack to carry that canister, generally sees to that. However, I do believe my gear list is lightweight and still full-comfort. And if you will be on the JMT for more than two weeks, comfort is definitely something you’ll want! Read on to see what I packed, and how some of those items fared. If you want a condensed version, check out my Lighterpack.
Note: This page contains affiliate links. If you choose to purchase with this link, I will earn a small commission, so thank you! I stand behind all of the gear I use, and don’t give gear recommendations lightly.
PACK
Lined with Gossamer Gear Waterproof Pack Liner, used the G SitLight Camp Seat as the back pad
Thru. Summit Bum w/ Comfy Strap
Fanny pack to hold my camera, phone, and earbuds.
SLEEP SYSTEM
Enlightened Equipment Enigma 10* Quilt
Sea to Summit Aeros UL regular pillow
Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Uberlite Sleeping Pad
TENT
Big Agnes Tiger Wall 3 Platinum
Split in half: I carried body & fly. Did modification work on the fly as per this YouTube video.
Mom carried poles, stakes, and groundsheet.
COOK SET
MSR PocketRocket Deluxe
Toaks 750 mL cook pot
Sea to Summit Alpha Light Spoon - Long
Bic Lighter
Fuel: 4 oz canister
Pot Holder: cut-up bandana
Bear Canister: BV500
WATER
Katadyn BeFree
Excited to try a new filter with a faster flow rate!
1 L Smartwater Bottle w/ sport cap
0.7 L Smartwater Bottle w/ sport cap
2 L Hydrapak Seeker dirty water bag
This bag is compatible with the BeFree
CLOTHING WORN
Top: REI New Route Merino Wool Tank
Bottom layer top. Interested to see the “smell-proof” capabilities of merino on a long hike!
Top: Patagonia Long-Sleeved Sun Stretch Shirt
Top layer top
Bottoms: Purple Rain Adventure Skirt
Bra: Patagonia Barely Bra
Underwear: Icebreaker Men's boxer merino blend
Looking forward to trying this boxer length underneath a skirt to help with chafe
Socks: Injinji Ultra Run No-Show
Trying the low cut socks out because of terrible tan lines.
Shoes: Altra Lone Peak 4.5
Newest model of the Lone Peak
Sunglasses: Ray Ban, non-polarized
Hat: Patagonia low trucker
CLOTHING PACKED
Insulating Layer: Enlightened Equipment Torrid Apex 7D Jacket
Rain Shell: Montbell Versalite
New shell! I used this on the Lost Coast Trail and was impressed by it’s waterproof-ness and can’t wait to use it more.
Wind Pants: Enlightened Equipment Copperfield
Baselayers: Patagonia Lightweight Capilene Long Sleeve Top & Bottoms
Extra Socks: Injinji Ultra Run No-Show, Alpaca Wool knit socks (from Peru, sacred socks)
“Extras”: Montbell Chameece Gloves, Montbell Zeo-Line LW Balaclava
Xero DIY Sandals
BATHROOM/ HYGIENE
Storage Bag: ZPacks small DCF dry bag
Deuce of Spades Trowel & TP + 2 ziplocks
CuloClean bidet & Smartwater 0.5 L bottle
Hand Sanitizer
Blistex UPF 15 lip balm
Sun Bum small stick sunscreen SPF 30
Tiny toothbrush & travel toothpaste
Eyedrops
Monistat for chafe
Body Wipes
Mini nail clippers
Mini tweezers
Lotion: travel-sized
SAFETY/ REPAIR
Garmin inReach Mini
Spyderco Ladybug Knife
First Aid Kit:
Leukotape (on poles), ibuprofen, benadryl, immodium, alcohol swab, square of gauze, 1 band aid, neosporin, personal rx meds, lighter, needle, safety pin
Repair Kit:
Therm-a-rest patch, gear tape, duct tape (on poles)
Maps: Digital (Guthook Guides & GaiaGPS)
Trail is well-marked
ELECTRONICS & CAMERA
Power Bank: Anker Powercore II 20000
Wall Charger: Anker PowerPort PD 2
Headlamp: Nitecore NU25
Phone: iPhone XS
Cords: micro USB, iPhone cable
Earbuds: Apple
Zpacks small dry bag
Camera: Sony a6000 w/ 24-105 f/4 lens
Extra camera battery
Garmin Fenix 6 Pro watch
OTHER
Wallet
Bandana snot rag (tied on pack)
Post-Hike Commentary
What Worked Well, and What Didn’t.
My Gossamer Gear Gorilla was awesome on this trip. I was initially a little hesitant to use it with the BV500 bear canister, and the canister does take up the majority of the pack, but the rest of my kit is small enough where this wasn’t an issue (and the outside pocket of the Gorilla is so huge, you could easily stash anything in there). The bear canister sat right up against the removable frame, and I could barely feel it in my pack. The new G SitLight back pad is so much better than the old pad that comes with the pack: better at wicking sweat and comfort! And it was a great butt pad to pull out and sit on.
The Thru. fanny pack is something I am now on the fence about. I think the Comfy strap just doesn’t hold up to carrying my larger camera in it, so the strap slides down and loosens, which is annoying when hiking. This isn’t the pack’s fault, but mine for pushing it past its limits. Again, for shorter hikes, this wouldn’t bother me as much, and on longer thru-hikes, I won’t be carrying my large camera set-up. All in all, the fanny pack is great, just don’t expect the band to maintain tightness when you’re putting 3 lbs of camera gear in it.
Well, I gave the Uberlite another shot, but I think it possibly developed the dreaded slow leak? If not, it is just terrible at keeping air in the pad overnight. Which, is understandable to a degree: the colder air shrinks, causing the pad to deflate overnight. It wasn’t to the point of needing to blow the pad up in the middle of the night, but if I slept on my side, my hips would sink right into the ground. This was in the second half of the trip, the first half was fine. Leak? Colder nights at the end? Not sure, but this pad will probably only be used for true mid-summer pursuits from now on.
I really liked how the modifications to the Tiger Wall turned out (see YouTube video link above) and using it in the field. It was really useful to have maximum adjustability with guylines (something that you normally have with non-freestanding tents) since there is a lot of granite in the Sierra, and sometimes soft, sandy, or soil tent sites will have a hunk of hard rock underneath them. Having adjustable guylines made it so that I could move the stake over 1-2 inches from a spot and still keep a good, taut pitch on the tent and fly with the line locs. This modification was quite easy to do, and I’m not a very handy/ DIY person. Overall though, we had no condensation with the tent, even though we camped at lakes (vent your fly properly!), it held up great during some rain/hailstorms, including having a river run under the tent during a particularly bad one, and held up to some high gusts (saw the pole bend, but pop right back up!). I still prefer single-wall, non-freestanding tents, and sometimes I really wish we just had a simple freestanding tent out of laziness, but it did all work out in the end.
The Katadyn BeFree worked very well, paired with the HydraPak Seeker. I was slightly nervous about it because I heard it easily gets clogged, but I had great flow rate throughout the trip, and would backflush it every 3-4 days. The only thing that would make it better? If I could just screw it onto a Smartwater bottle.
My shirt combination worked really well. I liked being able to take off the superlight sun shirt and lounge around in the tank top during breaks, and sometimes hike in the tank as well. The REI New Route Merino tank was great. I would like to try something a little lighter weight, but I thought the shirt was flattering, and the merino wool claims are true: this shirt - that was against my sweaty back - smelled significantly less than the Patagonia synthetic sun shirt. Like, it was night & day. I took the sun shirt off on the last day and stayed in the merino tank. My sister thought I had already showered and was in a CLEAN SHIRT when I saw her. NOPE. Merino is just that magical. Not to knock the sun shirt: I loved that it was stretchy and fit really well, and wasn’t hot. It did its job as a synthetic sun shirt.
My Purple Rain skirt worked really well! I love the stretchy waistband, and the pockets, the ease of using the bathroom, and making layering wind pants/ leggings so simple. I just wish it wasn’t so long. I am still on the search for the perfect hiking bottoms, though, these were really great. The Icebreaker boxers did hold off the chafe longer than usual, but the inner thigh chafe got worse as the trail went on, probably because I was never able to clean that area properly - as in, a real shower. I liked the boxer length because I am a big leg-spreader on breaks, which is good for when you’re now wearing a skirt. Kept things more PG, ya know? Downside: these wore holes near the seams in the crotch area, so not very durable.
I swapped the midweight trail Injinjis for the low-cut Injinji Ultra Run socks for this trip. The socks themselves were great: the padding is really nice, the colors are cool, the weave was tight enough that my feet weren’t covered in dirt at the end of the day. But, if I was to wear these again, I need to bring gaiters, because the dirt getting in-between the sock and my heel was really bad, and was rubbing really bad. I almost got to the point of having sores there. So, the gaiters kind of negate the reason I bought the low-cut anyways, so I may just go back to the higher rise socks. I’ll keep these for day hikes, though!
If you read my blog, you may have heard me lament Patagonia changing the Active Mesh Bra design. Well, now I don’t care anymore, because the Patagonia Barely Bra is where it’s at!! I don’t have small boobs, but also don’t need a ton of support. I can’t recommend this bra enough for ladies! Definitely give it a try, even though it’s expensive. It is my new go-to bra for all hiking and daily life.
I’m a huge fan of wind pants in theory. They are stupidly light, and yet, add a good amount of warmth for those who wear shorts as their primary hiking layer. They’re also great for wearing over base layer bottoms in the evening when its a little chilly. However, wind pants are fragile, and my 10D EE Copperfield pants ended up splitting on the seam when I awkwardly bent over while getting water. They’re not the first wind pants I’ve ripped: I’ve also ruined Montbell Tachyon pants as well. So, there are great, but you really need to baby them. Maybe get the thicker denier fabric, and go up a size bigger than usual, too, so you have a little more movement room in the butt and knees.
The Montbell Versalite was awesome. Super light, rolls up into its hood, is 100% waterproof, pit zips are HUGE. Great for keeping the afternoon thunderstorm rain off and hiking with in the cool mornings.
I tried some new camp shoes this trip: the Xero DIY sandals. Making these was sort of fun. Wearing them was ok. The laces were loose, and you can’t really adjust that without completely taking apart the lacing on the sandal. Obviously, it’s my fault that they weren’t tight enough since I had to do the lacing in the first place. The grip on the bottom was really good, unlike flip flops and cheap sandals I’ve used in the past. I still think I want a slide style sandal instead of a thong though. So I’m still on the lookout for an acceptable camp shoe.
My Buff was a star on this trip. Used as a face covering in resupply locations where it was required and when the smoke was bad, used to protect my neck/ chest from sunburn, dunked in ice cold creek water and worn as a balaclava to keep cool on hot afternoons, and worn as a balaclava on cold mornings while hiking. They truly do have a ton of uses!
The CuloClean! This worked very well as a bidet attached to a 500 ml smartwater bottle. I generally used ~250 ml per cleaning, if you know what I mean ;). The flow was strong, and I barely needed to use TP on this trip. I will do a longer post about using a bidet in the backcountry.
Battery was something I was worried about, especially leaving MTR, our longest stretch. The Anker Powercore II 20,000 mAh lasted nearly the whole time. I generally use ~50% of my phone battery (iPhone XS) every day (some days more, some less). The battery lasted for 10 days with this amount of charging (only charging an iPhone, no other electronics). On the 11th day, it died after charging my mom’s phone (iPhone 11) from 40-100% and two headlamps.
