Camping and Backpacking GEAR thread

The Freedom plan is the one that I use. With taxes and fees, comes to about $28 per month for the mid plan (40 text messages included). If you go over the message limit in that plan, each message is $.50.

On my JMT trip, I logged a point every 30 seconds AND sent a ping to the online map every 1 hour. I easily got 5 days of use on one charge, even with daily texting. Just don't forget to stop your tracking and turn off the unit at the end of the day after it sends the last ping and any messages you created.

 

So here's what my track looks like when zoomed out, when you zoom in you can select certain pin points for coordinates, and it even summarizes your daily tracking.

 

Wow, it seems they really bumped the price up for the medium plan for freedom. Looks to be $34.95/mo without tax and the enrollment fee. still a great peace of mind. I am planning to do the JMT summer 2018, looks like a worthy investment.

 

Correction.... I tracked a point every 10 seconds, not 30, and still had 5 solid days of battery life between charges. I wanted the most detailed track that I could record without running out of internal memory over 3 weeks.

 

I just looked at my account and I'm on the Recreation Plan. It's plenty sufficient.

 

Did yours ever get confused? I ran some faster intervals when doing a week in the smokies and it seemed to confuse the gps a few times, probably from switchbacks?

 

Consider your terrain and also your frequency of tracking points. If you're in a deep canyon or very heavily wooded area, you may see an occasional track point that is a bit off trail. I saw only a couple of those in the 3 weeks I was out on the last trip. Also if you're on some tight switchbacks and you're moving fast, you're not going to record the detail of your exact path if your tracking interval is set too long between grabs. I found the track points to be very accurate overall, but it's up to you on what interval you set it, but you have to consider the length of your trip and the internal space available on your unit. Luckily, the tracking menu shows you how many days or weeks of tracking you have left on the device based on what you set it to. If you're just doing a one day trip, set it to every 2 seconds. If you go on a 3 week trip, you'll need to set it to at least 10 seconds between points.

 

What's the main differences in the new ones? I haven't looked into it.

 

Hey Seabass. Do you have notes or a thread about your JMT trip? i am currently trying to learn as much as I can about it. From what I understand, if i am going NOBO and want to do Whitney, all i have to do is get the whitney portal permit, which is only through the lottery?

 

Here's an example where mine wigged out for 2 points. Not sure why, but it was a very rare occurrence. You can always go into your online Garmin account into the map function and fix them though.

*edit* Upon looking at where I was, I was basically on a cliff face going down a huge series of switchbacks so my signal was limited a bit. This was the Golden Staircase.

 

I have a billion notes and used many resources for my research.

To answer your question, it depends on where you start. If you want to start your hike at Whitney Portal, you have some things to consider:

1. Where will you camp, if at all, in the Whitney Zone? If you camp in the Zone, you'll need an "overnight visiting Whitney" permit which is tougher to get coming in from that direction and does take the lottery to win one of those.
2. If you plan to blast through from the portal, summit Whitney, then exit out to the west at least to Crabtree Meadow (big day), then your permit will be a "little" easier to get.
3. I don't recommend option 2 unless you're in primo shape and already acclimated very well to those altitudes. Play it safe and camp at Trail Camp and see how you feel before going up to 14,500'.

If you come in somewhere else from the south, like Cottonwood Pass, then you will have a much easier time getting a permit. You can just post up at Crabtree and day-hike Whitney and not need to denote that in your permit request. You'll add 20 miles or so to your overall agenda, but you'll have much better chance of acclimating to the altitude and you'll have a significantly higher chance of getting a permit for the dates that you want. Plus, when you come in from Horseshoe, you get an automatic permit to climb Half Dome if you exit out of Yosemite.

This is all based on this year's permit requirements and before. Things can change year by year.

 

Your last paragraph, you state if I entier from Cottonwood pass, which is an another alternative ive looked at, you mention Horseshoe. Horseshoe Meadow? Those are pretty much the same things? I didnt know about the automatic permit to climb half done if we exit the Valley. That would be cool.

 

Same thing, basically. Start at Horseshoe Meadow and go up and over Cottonwood Pass on your way to Crabtree where you would meet up with the JMT for the first time.

And yes, it gets you an automatic HD permit. You just show the HD ranger your full permit and it gets you in on whatever day you arrive.

 

Okay, just wanted to make sure. I like this idea better, gives us a couple more days to acclimate.

 

Do you know the soonest I can start applying for the permit of my date? Say im shooting for July 27 2018, whens the earliest I can try to apply for that permit via recreation.gov?

 

168 days I believe. I am also looking at trying to get a permit for the JMT this year.

 

Yes. There's a table on the YOSE site that gives you the dates to apply based on entry date. And! You can send it in two days before that dates lottery -so they have time to enter it into the system.

FYI if this winter is anything like last, just be cautious of early start dates. I had a July 19 permit starting in Tuolumne but passed on it due to trail conditions. (And also because all my gear was ashes... but anyway...)

 

Didn't know that there was a table on the YOSE site for start dates. That's awesome.

 

Thanks for the info! I will probably skip the lottery and enter from Horseshow Meadow.

Took awhile, but I found the calender/table youre talking about! Thanks!

Link: https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/wildpermitdates.htm

 

I see. I 100% plan to get one as soon as we move out west and I can go backcountry more. So depending on the price I am in for the GB.