Bart's John Muir Trail Gear List

In 2015 our family hiked the John Muir Trail. For 21 days we carried everything we needed. The list details my gear share & helped me reduce weight. As family "mule" I carried tent, stove, pots & bear can. It shows "base weight", i.e. the weight of everything on my back w/o water, food or waste.

Bart's John Muir Trail Gear List

In 2015 our family hiked the 210 miles long John Muir Trail from Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley to Mt Whitney.

For 21 days we carried everything the 3 of us needed on our backs. From Sun July 12 through Sat August 1st. The list below details my share of the gear we used. The list helped me reduce the weight on my back to a minimum. Mind you, I was still the "mule" in the family. Consequently, I carried the tent, stove, pots and larger bear can. This allowed Tatyana and our (then) 9 years old son Casper carry appropriate loads.

The list shows "base weight", which is the weight of everything on my back without:

  • water,
  • food or
  • waste[1]

"Trail weight" varied from a few pounds more to a maximum of 52lbs (23.5kg) when we hiked out of Muir Trail Ranch with 10 days worth of food.


  1. Leave No Trace ↩ī¸Ž