John Muir Trail Gear List

Holy moly batman... we leave to hike the John Muir Trail today. We have been planning for this trip for 6 long months. Honestly, when we decided to do this trip I had no idea how much planning and research was going to be involved. I will confess thought that I'm an over-researcher. I spend entirely too much time reading about items I want to purchase. However, what you can know is that all of this gear listed here is was heavily researched. When our trip is over, I will report back with how we felt about it all after we used it for a month.

When I was doing research I was looking for gear that was lightweight and comfortable. We are definitely not doing this thru-hike as ultralight backpackers. In the backpacking community there is a lot of debate about the weight of your pack because there is a balance between comfort and weight. Some people feel like having the lightest pack is the best way to comfort but others will carry more weight in order to have things with them that help them to be more comfortable. Another factor is the cost of ultralight gear. The lighter the gear is the more expensive it is. So we did our very best to choose gear that we could afford and that was lightweight and comfortable.

I want to take this time to give a big shout out to our local retailer Cumberland Transit. Those guys there have been a HUGE help in helping us pick out gear and making sure we had everything we needed. They were also kind enough to make us Cumberland Transit ambassadors which allowed us to get some free gear and discounts. I can say that without their help we would not have been able to take this trip.

For those of you who don't have access to local retailers like Cumberland Transit, we have linked all of our gear below. These are affiliate links and when you make a purchase through one of these links, we receive a teeny tiny portion. Your use of affiliate links helps keeps this blog alive. With that said, again, we highly encourage you to try out your local outfitter and test out gear, ask questions, and figure out what is best for you. And if you are in Nashville, definitely check out Cumberland Transit.