General Info:
1) We used the Tom Harrison Maps and the Wenk book as our resource on the trail. I wrote all over the maps and we carried only the relevant sections of the Wenk book.
2) We also carried the pocket profile map that showed the elevation. www.pocketprofilemaps.com is the website but I also found it at REI. It was under $5 and so worth it.
3) We got 50 plus boils from the 8oz/227 gram fuel canister. We used one 8oz canister from the start to reds, reds to MTR & had two from MTR to Whitney Portal but hardly used the 2nd one. Of course, I also had a small one in the pack as a back up.
4) We had a spreadsheet that someone had given me that showed daily mileage, estimated camps, etc. I adjusted it to where we thought we would camp and while we didn't follow it exactly, it helped to make sense of the maps.
Things I did right:
1) The food--we only had one fuzzy meal out of the close to 80 dehydrated bags of food. Damn zucchini. Good thing we had an extra meal along.
2) Wearing my trail runners. I debating between trail runners and boots with ankle support. It came down to what I could wear that would be best for not getting blisters. My trail runners won. I have never had an issue with blisters when I wear them. I get blisters with the boots--I really think it's because if I tighten the boots around the ankle, the heel moves and if I tighten them for the heel cup, the ankles rub--so blisters either way. Plus I remembered in Glacier National Park, I tweaked my ankle on day 6 of our backpack trip, so the boots don't provide ankle support anyway!
3) Took the right amount of clothes. Beside underwear, bra & socks...you do not need duplicates
4) Joby Gorillapod tripod for the camera--didn't use it much but when we did, it worked great!
5) I prefer a hydration hose and was glad that I used this one: Blue Desert SmarTube Hydration System off of Amazon. Could have my hydration tube and the liter nalgene for around camp.
Things I did wrong:
1) The fuzzy zucchini :)
2) Saying it was a once in a lifetime trip...pretty sure we will back someday to do it again!
Things I would do differently:
1) A better plan with the Spot--and what the plan would be if we hit the 'help' button that would send a message to our family. We had told our family that if they get that message, to look at the coordinates on the message and contact the nearest ranger station from the list we provided. We never intended to use that button but our intentions were 'this is not an emergency but we need help'. We met a ranger along the trail that said it should be used more like 'we can get to the nearest trailhead but we need help there'. The ranger said they get calls and have no idea what type of issue the hiker is having since the spot doesn't allow two way conversations. I get that--did we break a leg, are we sick with food poisoning, etc.
2) Make sure ibuprofen was in all the re-supplies. Can't believe I overlooked that...but in the end we didn't need it.
3) Keep a better journal--I swore I was going to do it but in the end didn't. I did keep track of mileage, stops, etc. but not the details of the day.
Thing we took that didn't need:
1) All the Lithium batteries. We needed AAA batteries for the Spot and AA for the camera & GPS. The spot said that one set of Lithium batteries would last like 3 days with continuous use. I wasn't sure how long they would last with how we were going to use it. The last trip I took, the camera used a set of regular batteries every 2-3 days. We were switching to Lithium batteries but still wanted to make sure we had plenty of batteries. We took 16 AAA and used 3...24 AA and used 4. We could have donated the extra at Muir Trail Ranch but we decided to just carry them out so we could use them in the future.
2) The first aid kit, all the duct tape, the leukotape--little did we know we wouldn't need any of this! But I wouldn't have changed anything here...better to be safe than sorry.
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