Tried to save weight by bringing only a hammock on the JMT and forgot to check if trees exist above treeline

Spent three nights sleeping on rocks under a tarp because I didn't realize half the trail is above 10,000 feet with barely a shrub in sight... has anyone else made a dumb gear assumption that totally backfired on a high altitude route?

2 comments

2 Comments

claire_ramirez8h ago

Cringed so hard reading this. Three nights on rocks? That's brutal man. I remember my first time above 10k on the Sierra High Route and I brought a foam pad so thin it was basically a napkin. Woke up shivering every hour because the ground sucked all the heat out of me. Hammocks are such a trap for high altitude trips. You see all those YouTube hikers using them in forests and forget the pretty part of the JMT is basically a moonscape. Honestly kind of impressed you made it work with just a tarp though. Most people would've turned back.

faith6848h ago

32 degrees was the night my NeoAir failed me above Bishop Pass and I woke up with frost on the inside of my bivy. So yeah @claire_ramirez I feel that foam pad pain deep in my bones. The weird thing is I actually switched to a closed cell foam pad after that and it sucked way less for insulation even if it felt like sleeping on concrete. Hammocks at altitude are basically a dare to the weather gods. I tried one once at 11k and spent the whole night swinging in the wind like a pinata.