Re: What it was like hiking the John Muir Trail in 1954

Pika's 2008
John Muir Trail Journal
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

LOOKING BACK NOW THAT I HAVE FINISHED
I hiked the John Muir Trail solo in 1954. My pack was a war surplus German Army rucksack. For shelter and rain-gear, I used a WW-II GI poncho with part of another poncho for a ground cloth. I cooked over wood fires using a tin can with a wire bail. My sleeping bag was the liner from a war surplus Army Arctic bag. I carried an aluminum, one-quart Army canteen for my water. I slept on the clothes that I wasn't wearing. My pants were cotton Army surplus field pants with a good pair of long john bottoms if it got cold. I also had a fairly lightweight wool shirt and a nice thick sweater that my mother knitted and a poplin pullover ski parka. I wore high top Keds tennis shoes and surplus socks. I had a Navy wool watch cap and woolen Army mittens. I carried a Boy Scout knife and a supply of strike-anywhere wooden matches and a bottle of Oil of Citronella as mosquito repellent. That, together with a pack full of rice, dried milk, dried eggs, pemmican, macaroni, spaghetti, chocolate, peanuts and raisins was about it. I did carry a small fly rod and an assortment of flies to supplement the rather Spartan diet. I got hungry, cold and wet on the trip; I was on half-rations for the last third of the hike. My pack then, without water and food, weighed about 15 pounds, the clothes I wore were about another 5 pounds.

I have just completed a repeat of the John Muir Trail; 54 years after the first through hike. My pack for this trip weighed just over 16 pounds and the clothes I wore weighed about three pounds. This time I resupplied several times rather than carry all my food with me from the start. I was a lot more comfortable on this trip but I'm not sure I had any more fun.


http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=263994

Nice read! Thanks for posting the link.

Thanks for sharing, that was interesting. My reaction was that it sounds like not much has fundamentally changed about the wilderness experience in 60 years.