Four months now left until I embark with my son on a thru hike of the John Muir Trail. Our permit to start the month long backpacking trip is July 7, 2021.

I’ve added my full pack weight (gear, food, water) to my training hikes. My gear base weight is 13.1 lbs. with the required bear canister required in the Sierra. I’m simulating my food and water weight based on our longest food carry of 8 days between resupply points. My food/water weight for training is 10 lbs. This brings my total pack weight to roughly 24 lbs. I’ve spent considerable time and money investing in ultralight gear to get my total pack weight down so I’m really happy with this fully loaded weight for the thru hike.

I’m doing a constant incline up a mountain now that is the equivalent of 50 flights of stairs. My low speed on the uphill is 1.7 mph and top speed is 2.7 with the average just over 2mph. Considering the grade of the incline and distance of over a mile… that’s not too bad for a start. Next month I’m planning to increase my total constant uphill climb to 1.5 miles and likely close to an equivalent of 80 flights of stairs.