Gearing up

Like I mentioned on the 1st post, Step 2 was the fun and painful one. You can obviously imagine why its fun and why its painful (my credit card is still in flames and REI loves me). But its also very confusing, the reviews will drive you crazy, people's opinions and suggestions will never seize to throw you off and feel like you are more lost than you were when you started. Excessive information will cause this, but everytime it would happen I just tried to remember how things were when I was a kid; Simple.
I used to be a scout and back in the day we didn't have all this fancy gear, 250 brands, 70 options for one same product, 2000 experts, 3 billion reviews, etc., etc.
Camping was like Halloween, you wouldn't buy a brand new costume, you'd make something out of what you could find and it was awesome. A little from what we had at home, some borrowed things, a few brand new accessories and a good luck kiss from mom and I was good to go. Of course some gear was purchased but the options were limited which made the choice easy.
Like we say "Hike your own hike"
At the very beginning I was so egger to have my complete gear that I bought a few things which I had to return. There is no REI in Miami and the outdoor stores are far from where I live (SoBe) and not very good anyways. So online shopping was my best option. The good thing is that REI accepts returns and that made me very happy. So on I went, bought my tent (The North Face Stormbreak 1 tent), the backpack (REI Crestrail 65) and 3 pairs of boots which I ended up changing for a 4th one (Vasque).

This is the face of happiness when a big box from REI awaits at your doorstep...

Introduction - The wild idea

Hello everyone! First of all, thank you for checking out my page :) This blog will describe the process I went (and am currently going through) to hike the famous John Muir Trail in California, USA.


The wild urge came to me (like many, I believe) while reading amazing Sheryl Strayed's Wild. The shivering brave story of a young woman with a disturbing childhood and beyond complicated life who randomly decides to leave it all and search for answers out in the wild. She embarcs on a 3 month hike with no experience whatsoever through the defying Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). I had seen the movie with Reese Witherspoon's outstanding performance and a few months later I bought the book. Best decision I have ever made. There are no words to describe what the content of the book means and what it leaves you (or at least me) with, but I'll say one thing, THANK YOU SHERRYL.



Since September 2015 I have been slowly planning my trip. Buying gear, making choices, reading about the trail, reading gear reviews, figuring out the permit. Oh the permit...what a complicated pain. But to me this was the 1st test. If its easy then its pointless, if its hard then I'll have to fight for it and work hard, this will determine how bad I want to do it and how hard I'm willing to work for it. Turns out I really really really wanted it... Not only I took it as a test but also as a life lesson. Determination was key and I found it.

I originally wanted to start out of Yosemite Valley hiking Southbound (SOBO) 211 miles all the way to Mt. Whitney. After 1 week of daily rejections from my friends at the Yosemite National Park Services I had to come up with a Plan B because the dates kept being pushed forwards and it was getting too late for me. I didn't know if a plan B even existed but I knew one thing, I was hiking the JMT no matter what. So after a little research (special thanks to my actual friends in the John Muir Trail Facebook group and my gals in the Ladies of the JMT group) I found out there are other starting points that are easier permit-wise (only permit-wise, definitely not easy trail-wise...But we'll get to that). Instead of going SOBO I would be going NOBO and starting at the Inyo National Park out of Cottonwood Pass. This would add me an additional 22 miles, but once you already have 211, at that point 22 more or 22 less...whatever, right? It took me 10 min. to get my permit reservation approved. Happiness, excitement, relief are only some of the feelings that were taking over me.
Step 1 complete, test approved, 1st goal achieved.

The challenge now was that I knew nothing about going NOBO, I  knew everything about the SOBO trail and don't assume its the exact same thing but opposite way. I also had to figure out those 1st 22 miles that are from a complete different NP. But I figured, hey, I got my permit, I'll figure it out. I did a little research and then placed the whole thing on hold for a moment since we were in early February 2016 and I still had time until July 19th. So I went on to the fun and painful stage. Buying the gear.