Note: This blog was original posted on The Trek

Buzzz! I stared at my watch in disbelief. The words “Lottery Results Announcement (Action Required)” flashed across the screen, followed by “Congratulations! You were successful in the…”.

My heart started racing. I’d entered the Yosemite lottery for a southbound John Muir Trail permit a week prior. My friend and I were desperately hoping to secure a Happy Isles permit, and we knew the odds were stacked against us. I stared dumbly at my watch, thinking it had to be spam email. I’m notoriously unlucky in lotteries, and I could hardly believe that I won permits.

After I finished putting my toddler to bed, I raced downstairs to read my email. Sure enough, the email was genuine. I officially secured permits to hike the JMT! 

Why I’m Hiking the John Muir Trail

Hiking the JMT has been a longtime dream of mine. I grew up backpacking in the White Mountains with my dad. He taught me how to fall in love with the wilderness, and fostered my curiosity and joy of being outside. All of my childhood trips were basecamp style adventures, and I did my first thru hike style backpacking trip in 2022 when I section hiked the Appalachian Trail through the 100 Mile Wilderness in Maine.

The 100 Mile Wilderness made me fall in love with thru hiking. I spent hours on YouTube watching PCT documentaries, vicariously living through other hikers as I returned to my fulltime engineering job. Several years and one child later, I finally had the stars align with my work and personal schedule, and was able to start planning my JMT hike in earnest.

Why I’m Dehydrating My Own Food

One of the biggest lessons I learned in the 100 Mile Wilderness was that I could depend on freeze dried backpacking meals letting me down. If a big day of hiking in Maine couldn’t make a meal taste good, I wasn’t sure what could. For the JMT, I plan on making all my own backpacking meals. I’ll be dehydrating and meal prepping a whopping total of 66 meals (22 breakfasts, 22 lunches, and 22 dinners) and packing myself hundreds of snacks to enjoy on trail. 

I’m steadily working on developing and testing my own dehydrated food recipes. I’ll post updates on my food, gear, and hiking prep as I approach my JMT start date in July!