This is a very popular trail, so the Park Service requires advance reservations for backcountry campsites.  I applied for an itinerary I found on the web on March 15.  I picked 8 nights and 9 days since it seemed like a reasonable duration for a 93 mile hike with backpacks over terrain with lots of climbs.  I picked the week beginning Labor Day since usually the mosquitos are nearly gone and the crowds thinner that time of year.  I had now way of knowing we’d have record late spring snow creating a snowpack lasting much later than usual.  Or that both Jenny and I would have time for the hike, or that there would be a string of perfect weather.  But all this happened.

The original plan was for me to hike the entire loop and for Amy and Jenny to join me for portions as their schedules permitted.  It turned out that Jenny was looking for jobs and had time before landing one, so she also wanted to do the whole hike, while Amy wasn’t particularly interested.  Molly was back at Quest as a sophomore so couldn’t join.  So Jenny and I bought food, equipped ourselves, created a food cache in a 5 gallon plastic bucket for storage at Longmire, and on Labor Day Amy drove us to Sunrise to begin the trip.  Our itinerary was

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More important than the horizontal miles is the elevation change.  Check out this profile to tell the real story.