Running the John Muir Trail was an incredible experience. My personal account of the FKT effort is posted at iRunFar.com. A special thanks goes to my amazing support crew who really can’t be thanked enough. An excerpt is below, but be sure to read the full report here.
With my extensive travels in the Sierra, the John Muir Trail has always been on my list of things to try but for various reasons I was unable to put together an attempt until now. Initial aspirations for the JMT in 2013 were derailed by an Achilles injury, but recovery in the late season enabled me to do some fun adventures in the Sierra that rekindled the inspiration to make an attempt in 2014. However, the distance and ruggedness always seemed intimidating to me, and the potential aftermath of a broken-down body seemed downright terrifying. Despite having second thoughts, I was lucky enough that preparation entailed doing what I love to do anyways, which is exploring rugged and wild mountainous areas, both on-trail and off-trail. In fact, the process of preparing for the JMT was just as enjoyable as doing the JMT itself. There was no regimented training plan, instead just a lot of adventures exploring tremendously beautiful places in the Sierra, the Santa Lucia Mountains of Big Sur and the Lost Coast of Northern California. These adventures came naturally and despite acknowledging that they would cumulatively help a possible JMT attempt, I had no specific training for the JMT. In fact, many of these adventures were groundbreaking accomplishments in themselves, including the La Ventana Loop and ‘The Drain’ route in the Ventana Wilderness, an FKT up Cone Peak on the Big Sur coast, the King Range 50 at the Lost Coast, and the Complete Lost Coast with Rickey Gates. I spent many weekends in the Sierra scrambling up peaks and designing aesthetic off-trail routes, enjoying the wonders of the Sierra off the beaten path. At the end of the day, despite all of the adventures, I still wasn’t sure if I was adequately prepared for the big task of 223 miles along the JMT. After all, I had no prior multi-day experience or even 100-mile experience under my belt. On the other hand, I rationalized that the time on my feet pursuing these arduous adventures gave me a decent shot and I knew the High Sierra very well.
Read the full report at iRunFar.com!
Read more about my JMT FKT at iRunFar.com. I hope to be back to my regularly scheduled programming of Sierra adventures soon 🙂
Leor Pantilat's Adventures
Congrats on an amazing achievement. I love all of your High Sierra TRs. Did you wear Hoka’s the whole time? Thanks, Andrew
Great run and write-up Leor! Could you elaborate on what you had in your pack/used during the JMT? Thanks.
Simply spectacular, Leor!
What a great experience! Wow! Well done!