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The following pages detail a trip I took in August 2000 with three friends: David, Susan, and Zach. The goal of the trip was to cover the John Muir Trail from Yosemite to Bishop (roughly) in a week. 85 miles, one way. There would be a complex car shuttle to route around the need to backtrack on foot.

We would be travelling 85 miles down the spine of the Sierra Nevada in the middle of August, which in my experience often means thunderstorms. We might encounter bears, so we had to take 3 pound bear canisters. And snowstorms have happened in July, so we had to be prepared for cold weather.

I think David took a leap of faith when he invited me on this trip back in Dec/Jan 2000. I hadn't backpacked with them before, nor went on a trip of this difficulty level in many years. It took me awhile to accept the invitation. On the last trip here, my friend and I were headed for Mt. Whitney but had to cut the journey short at Mammoth due to a serious blister on his foot. I felt determined not to let that happen to me. Furthermore my pack would be heavier than everyone else's because of my photo gear. I'm happy to report that David's trust was not misplaced and in fact we all finished this test of our abilities without any showstopping injuries or problems. It was the trip of a lifetime!

Packing for this trip involved a number of Gordian knots. How much photo gear to take? What camera? The decision to use film rather than digital media was simple -- based on my experience to date, a state of the art digital camera like the Nikon CP990 eats batteries like a hiker drinks water; and more importantly digital media still doesn't capture the as great a range of light and dark as film. I ended up choosing a film-based 35mm SLR camera atop a simple L bracket atop a monopod. The reasoning was that I'd usually be shooting in bright light and hence the tripod took too much space and weight. Also once you take a tripod, you need a heavier panhead. A tripod takes more time to setup and breakdown. I also decided to take a tent, because I didn't have enough faith that there would be no storms in the Sierra, and I'd read it may make a marginal difference in reducing bear attacks (compared to sleeping in the open, which I did on the last trip and had a bear practically lick my face). After reading Ray Jardine's book on traveling the PCT lightly, I decided to pare down the weight of my footgear by taking light boots and running shoes. The only maps I had of the PCT were either tons of USGS quads or some large Tom Harrison panels, so I decided I'd rely on my companion's maps. My pack as loaded in my car, was somewhere between 52-56 pounds. Considerably lighter than last year's Mt. Whitney backpack trip at 70 pounds, but not light enough. I agonized over what to take, but with only a 2 week break since a wonderful excursion to the Canadian Rockies, perhaps not enough time and energy to focus on reducing my packload. I've resolved next time not to have more than 40 pounds.

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