John Muir Trail
Brett Maune holds the unsupported and overall record at 3d14h13m from Whitney Portal
(3d9h58m from Whitney summit), set Sept. 3-6, 2009.
I lay down on a rock in the sun to warm up for a bit and I dozed off. A nice middle aged woman
sat down next to me and looked at all my gear. She said, ‘Looks like you have some decisions to make.’
I said yes, I am trying to finish this trail but I have a plane to catch that I really can’t miss and
tons of work to get back to and I’m trying to decide if I can/should try to make it. She replied,
“Why are you here?” I went into a long explanation of how I was running the 225 mile John Muir Trail
and I was doing it unsupported and I was trying to set a record. She smiled and looked at me with warm
penetrating eyes, “But why are you here”. And then she just got up and walked away...
-- John Stamstad, 2005 (from his report on a failed attempt at the unsupported JMT record in September 2005)
The John Muir Trail (JMT) runs 223 miles from
Whitney Portal to Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley, crossing some of the most rugged and remote country in
California. The JMT traverses Yosemite and Kings Canyon National Parks, and the John Muir and Ansel
Adams Wilderness Areas (Inyo National Forest). The southern terminus of the JMT is technically on the
summit of Mt. Whitney (14,495'), and hikers/runners must traverse an additional 11 miles between the
summit and the trailhead at Whitney Portal (8,500 feet).
Brett Maune redefined the JMT records on September 6, 2009, when he arrive at Happy Isles TH
in Yosemite at 2:58pm, 3d14h13m after leaving Whitney Portal, and 3d9h58m after leaving the summit of
Mt. Whitney. Maune's trip was unsupported, yet he smashed the overall (supported) JMT record
by nearly 6 hours, and obliterated the unsupported record by over 19 hours! Prior to this
trip Maune was unknown in the ultra and fastpacking scenes. He made an attempt on
the record a month prior to his successful trip, but made several "rookie" mistakes and
crashed and burned on the first day. Apparently undaunted, he resolved to make a second
attempt on the next full moon, and was ultimately successful. The story is detailed on
www.backpackinglight.com,
where there is also an in-depth discussion of all things JMT (Portal vs. Summit, NoBo vs. SoBo, sleep deprivation, nutrition, etc.)
Maune's report is on the 10th page of the BPL link.
Because Maune was unknown, and because his trip was unsupported and therefore essentially
un-witnessed, I made an attempt to verify his claim on the record, which is discussed on
this page.
Following this effort, I personally believe he did what he said he did.
At the start of his trip, Maune met Ian Alloway
on the summit of Whitney, where Alloway was acclimating for his own unsupported record attempt (Alloway's view is
that the southern terminus of the JMT is Whitney's summit, while Maune wanted to challenge the records from the
Portal and the summit as well.) Alloway left the summit 1 hour after Maune, and arrived at Happy Isles 4d5h5m later,
breaking Michael Popov's previous unsupported record by 20 minutes. It is of note that Alloway took the Mist Trail
into Happy Isles, which is about 1.5 miles shorter than the official route of JMT, which has been used by other
record seekers.
Unfortunately for Alloway, Maune had crushed that record the previous day. Alloway's report also appears on the
www.backpackinglight.com
forum, and is archived here as well.
Earlier speed records and attempts are discussed below.
What is this disgusting yellow crap I'm coughing up? Should I be concerned?" -- Brett Maune, hours after completing his JMT record.
There have been many amazing, fast trips done on the JMT over decades. I have a lovely email from
Mrs. Christine Speed, who's husband, Robert (Speed!), apparently set the speed record in 1948.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Speed didn't know the time. Here's an exerpt:
"I think that to hold a record in 1948 you had to at
least jog the trail as late into the night as you could see, eat
very little and drink out of streams. My husband was exceedingly
self-reliant, fearless and needed very little in nature. He could
just throw himself down anywhere on the ground and go to sleep.
But someone must have timed him and obviously, his time was
formally entered because he knew he had set the record. All he
did say, in self deprecation, was that the record was superceded
virtually immediately in the next year or two." - Christine Speed,
June 15, 2005.
In the age of the internet it has become much easier to keep track
of the records. Nevertheless, prior to the trip I did with Buzz
Burrell in 2000 the actual record was murky. We concluded that
Jim Knight held the record from Whitney to Yosemite (around 4.5 days), while
Blake Wood held the car-to-car
(from Whitney Portal) record at 4d22h, Aug. 9-13, 1998 (Jim had
slept on top of Whitney.)
Buzz & I beat both times on our trip (4d14h39m from Whitney Portal), but
didn't reach our goal of 96 hours, car-to-car. Our trip reports
are archived here.
Some interesting discussion of the Portal vs. Summit issue, and other JMT
items, is on at this thread.
I recently learned via John Rosendahl that Don Douglass did the JMT
supported in early August 1982 in 4d21h30m from Whitney Portal to Happy Isles. This time
would appear to beat Blake Wood's 1998 time. The run was reported in the
LA Times (8/11/1982).
Douglass started with 6 companions. Nicki Lewis and David Hermitage finished the
trip in 5d16h, while Greg Laval, Bob Holtel and Fred Copeland did not finish because of injuries.
Lewis' time may have been the fastest by a woman up until Sue Johnston's 2007 trip, though
Catra Corbett apparently did the route in 5d15h50m in 2004
as the first leg of a yo-yo (which she completed in 12d4h58m, which I think is the overall yo-yo FKT).
I went back in 2003 and did 3d22h4m solo, supported, Whitney Portal to Happy Isles.
My trip report is here.
About a month later, Flyin' Brian Robinson failed to beat my time due
to getting lost in a sleep-deprived fog on the final night.
The next year,
Kevin Sawchuk ran it in 3d21h5m.
The record was lowered
to 3d20h0m by Sue Johnston in 2007.
Johnston's time is the fastest by a woman.
Michael Popov took serious stabs at Johnston's supported record in 2008 and 2009, but failed both
times.
There have also been many fast unsupported trips on the JMT
(Mr. Speed's trip was almost certainly unsupported.) Some
unsupported people have liked to keep their times from the
summit of Whitney, rather than the Whitney Portal (car-to-car)
terminus preferred by supported runners, which can make for some confusion.
Reinhold Metzger claimed the record for a long time, beating his own records
from time to time, with a
best time of 5d7h45m
(Mt. Whitney to Happy Isles, 2004).
However, it turns out that John Rosendahl did a faster trip way back in
1988 (Aug. 25-30), hiking solo, unsupported and uncached from Whitney Portal to Happy Isles
in 5d7h50m. Rosendahl's trip was reported in the
Los Angeles Times (10/3/1988),
the Irvine World News (9/29/1988), and the Sierra Club Newsletter (Dec. 1988).
Mark Davis hiked solo and unsupported
from Whitney Portal to Happy Isles in 5d10h8m (5d5h18m from the summit), starting on August 18, 2008 -- a fast time but not faster than Rosendahl.
Davis' report is very instructive for anyone wishing to try this, so I am quoting it extensively here:
I departed Whitney Portals at 5:10 a.m. on August 14, 2008.
I hiked to the Summit of Mt Whitney in 4 1/2 hours and departed
at 10:00 a.m. Kept hiking till midnight and camped at Rae Lakes.
The next day I felt tired going over Pinchot and Mather passes,
and camped on the Kings River. The third day went better. I made
it over Muir and Seldon passes. This was my favorite part of the
whole trail and I hope to go back there someday to explore.
The fourth day also went great and I made it to Devils Postpile
for the night. Leaving Devils Postpile the next day, I came upon
a small wildfire, attempted to put it out as best I could and called
911 with my cell phone - which worked! I felt very good about doing
something to protect this gorgeous wilderness. That afternoon my left
leg developed a horrendous cramp and I limped into Tuolumne Meadows
for the night. The next morning I felt a little better and hiked the
24 miles to Happy Isles, where I was surprised to find the bridge missing.
My wife and kids met me here and took me down to Cathedral Beach so I
could soak the dirt off of my feet and drink a beer. My total time on
the JMT was 5 days, 5 hours and 18 minutes (not that I was keeping track).
This was a very exciting and challenging 5 days...and I'm thinking about
doing it agian. Also, I like the way it removed my "love handles".
Through the whole trip I had doubts about being able to finish this
trail and I was pleased every time I passed an exit trail and kept going.
This helped build my confidence and made me feel real good.
- Mark Davis
Davis' starting pack weight was 18 lbs, including 10 lbs of food, which
consisted entirely of the Hammer Nutrition sports drinks Perpetuem and
Recoverite.
In his report he
discusses the bear canister issue -- Davis did not carry one.
All previous unsupported times were crushed by Michael Popov, in 4d5h25m (starting July 30, 2007,
from Mt. Whitney summit, where he spent 2 days acclimating).
Here is a link to Popov's trip.
Maune's time of 3d9h58m from the summit of Whitney (Sept. 3-6, 2009, see above) annihilated Popov's unsupported
record, and beat Sue Johnston's supported record as well.
Jacqueline Florine holds the women's unsupported FKT on the JMT, 6d6h53m from Happy Isles to
Mt. Whitney Summit (6d12h27m TH to TH), set in Aug. 27 - Sept. 2, 2005. Here trip report is
here.
A lot of great info on the JMT and some other fast times are given
on the www.backpack45.com website.
Sleep deprivation is a pretty fascinating thing. Everything I could see was moving, even the rocks,
they just kept shifting around... The mind also has an interesting way of coping with stress.
I was starting to get a couple of blisters but in my mind they weren’t mine — they were someone else’s
The one on my right heel belonged to a girl at the office which is even more strange because I don’t work
in an office. I kept getting mad at her “would someone please tell her to stop smashing that blister, it
hurts like hell!”, or “my god do I have to stop and bandage that for her again? Can’t she do anything herself?”
-- John Stamstad, 2005
