JMT -3 days: Training

So many months have gone into our preparation for our John Muir hike. At first it was just talk about the scenery, and how fantastic it will be. Then it progressed into gear and what kind, how light, how many, what to share, etc. etc. As I was a little late to the game, I ended up with all my own gear ie. tent, stove, while Misty & Jo are sharing such items but that’s cool. Everything will be shared at some point or another. The next step was to test the gear…

Well, our first trial was back in October when I was still a firm “No Way, Jose”. At this point, Jo had agreed to go with Misty on the trek but had never even slept outside before(!) so it was decided it was high time this oversight was corrected! I went along for moral support, and again, I hate to miss out on things 🙂 So we did a car-assisted overnight camp out in Joshua Tree National Park. Misty and Jo were true hard-core campers and actually slept in a tent (I chose the warmth and safety of the SUV), and we actually cooked our meal over an open fire! It was a fabulous night, but perhaps a little ‘softer’ camping than what the JMT will be like.

Next was another overnight in Mecca after a club hike. Our good friend Mary joined us, and took my position in the trunk, while I toughed it out in my brand new Tarptent. Misty & Jo trialed their new tent too and although all worked fabulously, it still wasn’t quite roughing it….

And so Jo and Misty went for the gusto. In late April they took all their gear up the tram to camp at 9000′ on Mt. San Jacinto. They did a little hike, found a beautiful campsite, set up camp and even felt strong enough to hike 4 more miles round-trip to the tram for a cocktail. The sun was setting as they returned, and as they described it to me, the temperature dropped just as precipitously. They scarfed down their camp stove dinner and leapt into their sleeping bags as the early evening descended into the 40’s. It was a very cold and very long night for them both.

A few days later they went out and did it again! This time they chose to camp at Whitewater the same night a gale blew in, complete with swirling dust devils, howling winds, rain & sleet! By the time dawn arrived they threw everything into the car and headed to the nearest IHOP for a breakfast worthy of champions. The fact that Misty & Jo endured such extreme conditions on both occasions with smiles on their faces and funny stories to tell and still wanting to tackle the JMT, made me feel that we perhaps really could do this after all. The only thing left was to train.

Misty & Jo started to carry heavier backpacks in December, incrementally adding a few pounds as the weeks went on, hiking at least 3 days per week, carefully tracking their mileage to make sure they were hitting their target goals. I was training for both a 10K and Half-Marathon and so actually scaled down my hiking while I concentrated on the running, thinking I would pick it back up at the end of February. Which I did, but then ignominiously tore a calf muscle on a very weak jump shot in Pickleball in early March. That put an end to everything. I couldn’t hardly walk for 2 weeks, and limped for 4. Finally at the beginning of May I started hiking again in earnest, and promptly got tendonitis in the other leg(!), which laid me up for another week. So I really had to start my training from scratch. Luckily, all’s gone well since and after several weeks of just carrying water, I’ve added enough pounds of gear to my pack per week to get me to my trail weight of 31 lbs. Ouch. It kinda hurts. I’ve hiked it twice so far, for 6.5 & 8.5 miles and so far so good. The shining light of hope is that with every day of eating on the trail, my pack will get lighter! Nosh on!