General Advice for a Beginner for a 40-Day Hike

Here's a letter I got and my response below:

1. im going backpacking for a month or so by myself, and you are one of
the people that i know that has done similar things to this and i need
advice. ill be on foot for the most part, sleeping outside, and in the
U.S. i need to know what to pack, and what kind of gear i need to buy,
and what kind of clothes are good for this sort of thing. ill be
walking south, i think, starting sept 7 or 8th. ive neve done anything
like this before, so any advice you can give me would be great.
again, ANYTHING you can think of that a new backpacker should know, i
would like to know. i know that might be a tall order, but i would
greatly appreciate your help.

2. this is what im thinking.

as this is my first trip, and ill be gone for so long, im thinking
pack size up to 60 pounds. a friend of mine is letting me use his
external frame pack, and if i had to guess without measuring it i
would guess it weighs 6 pounds on it own, 12 pounds with the
stove/plates/silverware/canteen that came w it. ill give you a better
weight tomorrow when i weigh it for real. ill be starting in MI, but
heading south. i want to put down a lot of ground, but im not sure
what is a realistic amount to walk in a day. right now im thinking
that i can cover 20 miles a day without to much trouble... does that
sound realistic? could i do more and not be crazy?
like i said, ill be heading south but dont have any plan as to were i
want to go. i just wana walk and dont care where i end up.
my budget is 2,000. the less i can spend the happier i will be, but i
would be willing to spend at least that much. the pack itself is
already acquired, but the things that i know ill be needing are:

footwear
tent
bed roll/bag
rain gear
butane (thats what my stove runs on)
back pack cover
appropriate clothing (i dont know what is good and what is not)

thats what i can think of right now. what otehr things will i be
needing? i plan on picking up food along the way as i go, and in that
regard lots of rice, beans, potatoes, oatmeal, and fruit. im a
vegetarian, otherwise i would go for some jerky as well, but thats
out. any suggestions in the food depo?

in general, im lacking most in practical advice about backpacking, like...
-how far can i expect to go in a month and a half?
-is it safe to walk on major highways on the shoulder, or should i
stick to side roads more, or should i avoid roads all together?
-if i go off road, are rivers and such a common obstacle that will
give me trouble, or are they easily overcome?
-is the threat of people mugging me something to worry about? (ive
talked to 2 people who have done traveling somewhat like this, and
both of them had mugging attempts. :/ is this something that happens a
lot?)

wew! thats just a few of the questions i have. thanks a lot for your help with this. :)



3.ok, ive done some reading on your page and feel a little
more prepared to tell you what im thinking.

like i said earlier, i will be doing this by myself without any
re-supply "points" on my trip, other than walmarts. i think this would
effect my pack size and type, right? im not opposed to buying a new
pack for myself if you think the external i am carrying is a bad idea,
but for what im doing i think it will be ok.

after reading about the PCT, im thinking that doing a trail like that
might better than trying to walk off roads and the like. im not doing
the trip for any one reason, just to see the world from a different
perspective, so completeing a trail wasnt vital to my goals for the
trip, but from some of the reading ive been doing is sounds like i
might cover more ground this way. what do you think? im still
undecided, esspecially as i dont know of any trails in michigan. i
want to go south were it is a little warmer, and the north country
trail ive read about doesnt go that direction.

And my response:

1. I would strongly recommend hiking not along roads, but on established long-distance hiking paths. It is much more scenic and pleasant, you don't have to worry about cars and riff-raff, and you will be part of a trail culture and will meet other people like yourself. Hiking completely alone for more than 2 days is tiresome for most people psychologically, and you may lose interest in not-very-scenic road walking without companions. Also, you'll have the satisfaction of completing a route or a specific segment of a route, which you won't get from road walking. You'll see the most scenic areas in the region and will have bridges to cross creeks and good trail markings to avoid getting lost. Some areas even have pit toilets. That's a lot more hiking infrastructure than you'd get on a road walk.

There are 4 awesome long-distance trails in your region:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Age_Trail

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Shore-to-Shore_Trail

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_Hiking_Trail

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Country_Trail (passes through the U.P.)

Here's a complete list of long-distance trails in the U.S. if you want to find something further south (see the Buckeye Trail, for instance):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-distance_trails_in_the_United_States

2. With a 60-pound pack you will be limited to about 10 miles per day and will be at high risk of knee and ankle injuries unless you have been training extensively. For comparison, in the Rockies Kim was able to hike nearly 20 miles a day with a 20-pound pack and might have been able to work up to 25 miles. I could average between 25 and 28 miles a day on the PCT carrying a pack that typically weighed about 20 pounds. You will literally be able to cover twice as much territory (and thus be able to resupply twice as often and carry twice as little food between town stops) if you can get your loaded (with food) pack weight at least to 30 lbs. After that you'll still be thinking after your trip how you could have shaved off more pounds, because the weight of your pack will really come to weigh on you during your hike. 60 lbs means limited mobility even in towns because you simply don't feel like running around on errands with the pack on. It means fewer detours to campsites to use showers and restrooms, because the extra half-mile just isn't worth it. And when it rains, you'll feel even less mobile with a heavy pack because it's so much effort to take if off and get out raingear and then put it back on. You can take a 6-lbs pack on your hike, but I guarantee you you'll remember my words with regret :)

3. Count on your calorie needs doubling during your hike. I needed 5000 cal a day. Food will cost you at least $10/day if you buy along the way and eat the cheapest foods available. If you're picky and like to eat nutritiously, it could be as much as $20/day. Rice may be a pain to cook. It'll use a lot of fuel (i.e. add more weight) and takes time to cook. Consider taking food that can be cooked by just bringing water to a boil once, and also bringing more food that doesn't need to be cooked at all. Some days you just won't feel like going to the effort of cooking (meanwhile you freeze as your rice is slowly cooking) and will just want to eat as quickly as possible.

4. It will be hard in the remaining time to learn about lightweight gear options, especially since you have little previous backpacking experience. But it's not impossible. Anyone with any experience hiking long distance literally weighs every item they are considering taking and makes spreadsheets showing the separate and total weights. First-timers tend to skip this step and either get discouraged and quit or mail home a huge chunk of stuff from the first town stop. That's why such a large percentage of people who set out to hike the Appalachian Trail quit (something like 3/4).

5. If I had 40 days and a budget of $2000 and no equipment, here's what I'd do:

a. dedicate $15/day for food, or $600

b. put aside maybe $200 for unforeseen expenditures (and whatever else you might have left over after gear purchases)

c. join the excellent backpackinglight.com forum and tell people in the "G-spot" forum that you've got $1000 and want to spend 40 days hiking in the Midwest with as light of a backpack as possible. You'll get tons of responses and good ideas. I would aim for a base pack weight (everything minus food and water) of no more than 15 lbs, even 10 lbs if possible. Then you can go to the used gear forum and look for the gear on sale. A rough budget might look like this (assuming you buy lightly used, but good gear):

1. $275 - down sleeping back to 20 degrees

2. $100 - lightweight pack

3. $125 - lightweight shelter

4. $20 - sleeping pads

5. $75 - trail running shoes

6. $30 - sturdy hiking umbrella

7. $25 - cheap raingear (frogg toggs or something + pack cover, or even a poncho)

8. $250 - other clothing (baselayer + breathable but windproof nylon layer + socks + gloves + warm hat + lightweight jacket)

9. $100 - odds and ends: small flashlight, pot, alcohol stove, spoon, etc.

I think that comes to $1000. The folks at backpackinglight.com can give you more specific options. I'd follow their advice, which tends to be very good. There are a lot of experienced hikers there, and they know all the lightweight gear options available.

Sample Resupply: Julian, CA

I have some ideas about getting food at town stops that may help some thru-hikers. We'll look at the tiny tourist town of Julian, CA as an example. There is a gas station with mostly junk food, two small groceries, and a nuts store.

Eat while in Julian: (ideally split into 2 meals)
- loaf of whole-wheat bread
- two sticks of butter
- head of lettuce
- several tomatoes
- an apple or two
- block of cheese OR cottage cheese
Yum! Lots of fat, complex carbs, and even some vegetables. I just bite into the head of lettuce as if it were an apple. All this can be found at the 2 groceries. A quicker, but decently healthy option is:
- box of generic whol-grain bran flakes
- half-gallon of whole milk
- a few bananas
- an orange

Resupply
Don't miss the nut shop!! It has tons of high-calorie, high-fat goodies:
- nuts (sweetened and plain)
- banana chips
- awesome home-style granola
- dates
- all sorts of chocolatey, nutty stuff

At the groceries you can get:
- whole-wheat bread
- cream cheese
- cheese
- expensive, "crummy" calories like instant noodles, potato flakes, etc.

Eating out
There are a number of places to eat out. Ask for a local's recommendation before choosing a place to eat!!

Update - 1 Week To Go

Here's a list of things I've been doing:

1. Food planning

I made a google document (an online document that multiple people can edit) for my parents and girlfriend, who will be sending me packages of food and maps along the way. The spreadsheet contains a section for requests for upcoming boxes, including relevant addresses, as well as an expense sheet so that I can reimburse them along the way from my bank account. The first food box -- for Warner Springs -- needs to go out this Friday. I also had my first shipment of MealPack bars sent to my parents' home. At roughly $1 per 100 grams and 400 calories, they're a good deal as far as nutritious energy bars go. 

Hopefully, this arrangement will give me the flexibility to adjust my eating habits along the way while still enjoying the advantages of maildrops. 

2. Itinerary

I have done a day-by-day breakdown of the route, as discussed in a previous post. I am not tied to this itinerary, but it is important as an estimate and a list of important information that has a bearing on my decisions along the way. I've sent the itinerary to those who are involved in my hike in some way. 

3. Maps

I'll finish printing out maps in a day or two (Halfmile's maps), as well as Jonathan Ley's Glacier Peaks reroute. I bought resealable freezer bags (hard to find in 11'' height) to store map sections in. I've decided to cut out pages of Yogi's trail guide and include those in each section. I can toss those as I need to along the way, but some pages will certainly come in handy -- enough so that I don't feel like rewriting the most important info on a special sheet. 

I'll mail off the maps, divided into sections, to my parents' house and have them include them in maildrops. 

Finally, the day before I leave I'll print out the water report for sections A-G. I was originally going to plan out water sources in advance, but it seems like too much work. I'll probably do this on a section by section basis just a day or two in advance. 

4. Packages

I just sent off a tube with my trekking poles, knife, and tent stakes to Scout and Frodo's home in San Diego. These are trail angels who typically take in PCT thru-hikers at the start of their hikes. I saved just $3 over the cost of checking this piece of luggage on my flight. 

I will prepare a package soon with my gear for the High Sierra to be sent to Kennedy Meadows in a couple weeks: ice axe, Kahtoola microspikes (crampon-like traction devices for snow), gaitors, larger backpack (Golite Pinnacle), plastic pack liner, and a fresh bottle of DEET. 

5. Body

I have one more session at the tanner's left, and 2 or 3 sessions at the gym, as well as some jogging and biking. The day before I head out, I'll cut my hair short and shave certain parts of my body to make things easier on myself later on.

I'm still looking for small bottles to store contact lens fluid in. 

6. Boxing up belongings

I've begun packing up my not-so-numerous belongings and listing the contents of each box on the top and side. Of particular importance is the box of backpacking gear. This box has a detailed list of its contents inside the box, so that anyone could find the piece I need on request and mail it to me in a maildrop.

7. Wrapping up business

I have lots of writing and web work to finish up...

8. Excitement

I'm excited to leave this boring, computer-based lifestyle behind me, free up my mind, and be out in the wilderness living a simple lifestyle. This excitement overrides any sadness at leaving my girlfriend behind, but we'll see how that plays out in the coming weeks. 

MealPack Bar Review

Bear Valley MealPack bars are a different kind of bar than you might expect. They are made of exclusively healthy, natural ingredients and are very dense. Each bar weighs about 100 grams and has a little over 400 calories. They are block-shaped and packaged in a thin transparent wrapping.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to eat these day in, day out, but I think I am going to try a few dozen of them first before ordering a ton. The ones I liked were the Fruit 'N Nut Pemmican and the Coconut Almond bars. I ate just one of each. They have lots of nutrients, but not as much protein as some of peanut bars you can get in stores. The price of these bars depends on the quantity you order and seems very reasonable. They are considerably less pricey than, say, Probars, which are tasty but expensive. 

The salesperson confirmed over the phone that orders may be sent to General Delivery, so hikers can have these sent directly to the post office to pick up. 

efoodsdirect 3-Day Responder

I got my package with a 3-day supply of food in the mail today from efoodsdirect.com. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to try eating the food for exactly 3 days and see how I like it. I'll be adding olive oil to the dinner recipes for more calories.

The packaging is resealable mylar bags with several servings per bag. There is a bit of air in the bags, but not much. They seem to reseal securely. The bags weigh on average 20% more than expected going off the packaging information, including the weight of packaging itself. 

Caloric content

Going by the info on the bags, here is what I get.

1. Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal: 368 cal. / 100 g

2. Tropical Fruit Medley: 228 cal. / 100 g

3. Cheesy Chicken Rice Casserole: 276 cal. / 100 g

4. Vegetable Beef Stew: 350 cal. / 100 g

5. Instant Potatoes: 179 cal. / 100 g

6. Cheesy Potato Soup: 311 cal. / 100 g

1168 calories per day is built into the meal plan, with 40 grams of protein. Assuming 20% more food than what is declared on the packaging, that makes 1401 calories per day and 48 grams of protein. Perhaps another 400 calories could be added by using olive oil liberally with the recipes. 

Cooking instructions

The cooked meals require adding the mixture to boiling water and simmering for 20-25 minutes. I think the same effect could be achieved by taking the pot of boiling liquid off the stove and letting it sit in its "pot cozy" for the same amount of time. The water will slowly cool, but it should still be hot enough to do the trick. 25 minutes is a long time to wait for dinner, though.

I will report on my opinion of the food in 3 days...

Taste test

Oatmeal -- really tasty; I could imagine eating it for days on end

Tropical fruit medley -- pretty good

Casserole -- really tasty

Vegetable beef stew -- didn't like it much

Instant potatoes -- good

Potato soup -- decent

Since I will have only one pot to use during my hike, I can't pour soup over the potatoes.

Conclusion

I liked much of the Responder kit, but not all of it enough to use it to supplement my rations. 

My Current Food Ideas

I've been reading a lot about backpacking food and general nutrition lately. I now understand the difference between complex and simple carbohydrates, the importance of fats, and the Glycemic Index. The reason I'm so concerned about this is because of a failed food strategy during last year's hike through the Colorado Rockies (which I've mentioned before). So here are my tentative food plans for the PCT.

Calories

I won't know until a few weeks into the hike, but I think I can expect to be consuming 6000 calories a day, or nearly 3 lbs (1360 grams) of food at 460 calories per 100 grams of food. 

General meal plan

Large cold breakfast, large hot dinner (probably on Caldera Cone alcohol stove) with large dessert. Mostly bars as snacks during the day. If necessary, can switch to 2 hot meals a day or do dinner in 2 stages. 

Resupply

The information below assumes a food drop strategy. I am fairly certain I can eat all the food below day in and day out. I like it all and have eaten it on hikes, albeit not for this long. I would not have to buy the entire supply of food at once, so there would be chances to adjust my diet.

Schedule

Breakfast either right as I get up or within a half hour or starting the day's hike. Hot dinner about half an hour to an hour before stopping. Dessert at camp (unless in bear country, then with dinner).

Breakfast (tentative)

1. 200 grams Quaker Natural Granola (Oats, Honey & Raisins) + 60 gram Nido whole dried milk and water.

Total 260 grams, 1140 calories, 40 grams protein, about 30% of calories from fat. 

Snacks (tentative)

(I'll aim for bars with comparatively less sugars and more complex carbohydrates.)

1. 200 grams Mealpack Pemmican Fruit 'N Nut Bars

850 calories, 34 grams protein, 28% of calories from fat.

2. 210 grams Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Nut Bars

1000 calories, 24 grams protein, 45% of calories from fat.

I'm going to aim for 40% of my calories from fat

3. 110 grams Snickers (or similar bar) >>> these are not as good because they have too much sugars

540 calories, 9 grams protein, 45% of calories from fat.

Total 520 grams, 2400 calories, 67 grams of protein, and nearly 40% of calories from fat.

Dinner (tentative)

Dinner might be a dehydrated dinner from efoodsdirect.com or a similar producer, with plenty of vegetables and different kinds of tastes, possibly with some dehydrated meat thrown in. Or, I may boil buckwheat (kasha) with dehydrated carrots, onions, and meat. In either case, I will drench my dinner in vegetable (olive) oil. Over time, I might have to make myself 2 dinners (or one hot lunch) to keep myself satisfied, and for variety.

200 grams, ~700 calories, 20 grams protein, ~40% of calories from fat.

Dessert (tentative)

100 grams Oreos + 60 grams creamy peanut butter

850 calories, 17 grams protein, ~50% of calories from fat.

Total for dinner + dessert: 360 grams, 1550 calories, 37 grams of protein, 45% of calories from fat.

Total for day (tentative)

1140 grams of food, 5300 calories, 144 grams of protein, ~40% of calories from fat.

Cost: should be about $12/day of food, not including food in town.

Food in towns

Eat different stuff for variety, especially fruits and vegetables, and things with tasty sauces, maybe picking up some snacks to take on the trail with me. 

Andrew Skurka's Eating Habits

Now we'll look at the eating habits of another well-known long-distance hiker -- Andrew Skurka. Excerpts from articles are given below.

1. 2007 Adventurer of the Year: The Walking Man

His daily diet consists of two Balance Bars and a Clif Bar for breakfast; a snack every two hours for the next 12 hours, alternating between Snack A, a Balance Bar and a candy bar, and Snack B, exactly three ounces of Pringles and three ounces of mixed nuts; and a dinner of instant mashed potatoes rolled up in a tortilla followed by three ounces of Hershey's Dark Chocolate. The rationale? It's light and easily packable. To offset the caloric deficit he builds up in the wilds, he gorges on eggs, bacon, cookies, and peanuts whenever he reaches a town, usually every few days. 

2. Notes from "Nutrition and Cuisine" article from Skurka's site

• Eats energy bars during the day and has one easy-cook meal in the evening, cooked on an alcohol stove. 
• The best energy bars are high in calories, favor complex carbohydrates over sugars, contain adequate fat and protein, and are fortified with vitamins and minerals.
• "Breakfast and snack bars [i.e. not energy bars designed for sports performance] can be another healthy staple in a backpacker's diet. I say "can be" because it entirely depends on the bar. Many contain over-processed granola and sugars; and they offer few vitamins/minerals and little fiber. Instead, look for bars with whole grains, nuts and berries, and good sugars (e.g. honey, not corn syrup). Particularly avoid Pop-Tarts and Milk 'N' Cereal bars, which set you up to crash-and-burn."
• Candy bars "are heavy in fat, which helps to mitigate the crash-and-burn effect of their simple sugars; and some contain a fair amount of protein, particularly those that contain peanuts or peanut butter. All candy bars are not well suited to the backcountry: some are thin (and break too easily) or awkwardly sized; others cannot be eaten on-the-go; and some come with cardboard sleeves that create more trash for you to carry. My favorites are Fast Break's, Kit-Kat's (but only the Big Kat bar), Nutrageous,' Baby Ruth's, Pay Day's, and Snickers'. I avoid thin chocolate bars (like Hershey's chocolate, Krackel's and Kat Kit wafers), bars with cardboard sleeves (like Mounds and Take5's), and chocolate candies (M&M's and Whoopers)."
  
• Hot dinners include: "angel hair pasta, coos-coos, dehydrated and freeze-dried meals, and instant mashed potato burritos. These meals strike a good balance between simplicity and sustenance." 
• Eats about every 2-2.5 hours during the day, starting with a breakfast of about 600 calories. Each snack is 300-500 calories. 
• Daily caloric intake is roughly 4000 calories a day, which maintains energy, but is not enough to maintain body weight. So he binges in town.
• To maintain vitamin and mineral levels, "make energy bars (almost all of which are fortified) a regular part of your diet; eat dried fruits and legumes if you are willing to accept their inconveniences; and take a multivitamin, which can't hurt, though they might not help much either, as most studies have shown only marginal benefits. In trail towns, stock up on fresh fruit and produce, ideally before you hit up the local burger joint and lose your appetite."
• Says that the cost of "fattening up" before a hike usually outweighs the gains. 
• Apparently recommends getting about 35% of one's calories from fat. This is consistent with other sources, which recommend 35-40%.
  
• Recommends aiming for 125 calories per ounce of food (440 per 100 grams); other, somewhat more "liberal" sources recommend aiming for 100 (350 per 100 grams)
  

Now compare that information with his actual meal plan for the Great Western Loop. 

Buckwheat

Buckwheat is one of those rare foods that I can eat day after day without getting tired of it. It is a bit of an acquired taste, and I ate it for years in Ukraine and Russia. Buckwheat sold in the U.S. is generally of a lower quality and turns to mush when boiled, so I recommend heading down to the nearest Russian foods store to buy the real thing. A bag of 1 kg of dark brown buckwheat groats imported from Ukraine or Russia ("grechka" in Russian) should cost between $2 and $3. 

Buckwheat is not a grain like many people think. It provides a high amount of complete protein (13 grams per 100 grams) that's supposedly better than that of soy or even fish and packs over 300 calories per 100 grams. At $2.50 for a kilo, that's a really good deal on a prime protein source. I personally just boil it and eat it with butter and vegetables, cheese, meat, or beans. 

Buckwheat takes about 10 minutes in boiling water to cook. You can also soak it in warmish water for half a day and just bring it to a boil, and it'll be ready. 

I'm considering making buckwheat a staple for my hike and eating between 150 and 200 grams a day for lunch or dinner. That's 20 grams of protein and lots of complex carbohydrates.

More Dehydrated Food Options

Here is another site I have come across that has good prices for dehydrated foods: BePrepared.com. As opposed to the previous site I mentioned that focuses on meals, beprepared.com sells cans of many different kinds of dehydrated foods. Some of the things that have caught my eye (all dehydrated):

• butter
• meat
• refried beans
• eggs
• cheese
• granola

Article review: "Budget Hiking on a Short Schedule"

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/archive/index.php?t-33346.html

Good article! It raises once again the tricky topic of food and resupply. Eating junk food may require you to consume more calories, the author thinks. A couple links to more bulk food stores are included.

The part about hiking when it's cold and relaxing when it's hot to save time and energy is important, as is his advice to get into town in the mid-morning, eat some food, then do one's errands and leave when the food has had time to digest. 

Food ideas

This is really interesting:

Proper nutrition is essential. Poor nurtition will make you miserable. It will slow you down, and it will give you irrational, irresistible urges to spend lots of money at restaurants.

When I thru-hiked the AT in 2006 I bought food along the way. I ate around 7,000 calories a day, hiked far fewer miles than I did on 5,000 calories a day on the PCT, and had a never-ending appetite 24/7. 

I'm certainly not qualified to give nutritional advice, but pay attention to what you eat! If you read information from past thru-hikers you can end up with some terrible advice. Thru-hiking on pop tarts, peanut butter, bagels, and mac'n' cheese is very common. Most thru-hikers on such a diet struggle to do short mileages, are constantly hungry, and get worn down and depressed towards the end of their hikes. And they wonder why!

I recommend maildrops. That is to say, you will mail yourself packages of food to post offices (care of general delivery) and businesses that are near the trail. They are cheaper, more reliable, quicker, and they provide better nutrition when compared to buy as you go. The best way to mail yourself food is to use priority flat rate boxes. You can usually fit around 4 days of food in one of these, and you can send any reasonable amount of weight to anywhere in the US for $9. The post office will send you the boxes, tape, and labels for free if you are using priority mail. Let's assume that we have 40 total packages, an average of a package for every three days for 120 days. I try to send mail drops every 3-5 days, and the 5 day packages usually take up 2 boxes. So we spend $360 (rounded up to $400) on postage.

Here is a sample of my 2007 food. I ate the same thing every day on both my 850 mile AT training hike and my 2,700 mile PCT thru-hike. A typical day for me for the bulk of my PCT hike was 37-42 miles, and I weighed around 170 during that period. I spent around $11/day on food. Plan food according to mileage and your weight. $1000 should be plenty for an AT thru-hike.

Inexpensive Dehydrated Food Option

I've been investigating some dehydrated food options for the PCT. Normal dehydrated backpackers' dinners are far too expensive to use on the PCT with my budget, but I was given a link to efoodsdirect.com, which offers considerably cheaper options. 

Obviously, their year's supply of food is out of the question. These products often require lengthy preparation times, and everything would have to be repackaged for my hike. Furthermore, it's very risky to get that much food at once, not knowing in advance if I'll even like it, or if I'll be able to complete the entire PCT. 

Here I'll look at the products that could be used for a thru-hike:

3-Day Responder

$22 for 3 days of food, or $7.30/day

Approx. 1400 calories a day, according to company rep.

Conveniently packaged meals that need just boiling water and a few minutes of simmering (i.e. sitting in boiling water with the lid on).

Very easy to transport when backpacking.

Little extra air in packages, so will not expand much at high altitudes. 

>>> I have ordered this to try out at home and will write a review when I get it and try it out.

3-Day Responder 5-Pack

Identical meals to the above.

$100 for 15 days of food, or $6.67/day

Shipping just twice as much as for 3-Day Responder.

Grab-n-Go Pack

$350 for 60 days of food (200 meals), or $5.83/day

More calories per day than Responder packs, according to company rep.

Meals are not individually packaged and would need to be redistributed in plastic bags. 

Many more meals and much more variety than the Responder packs.

Same cooking style -- just add boiling water and let sit.

Nutrition Case

$190 for 6 cans of food

Contains breakfast food, snack bars, and a drink powder.

Snack bars need to be reconstituted in water, with honey added (in small plastic container).

Quick-Fix Case

$110 for 6 cans of dinners.

More variety for main meals.

Shipping the above

Company reps have confirmed that they can ship priority mail to general delivery. That means food can be ordered from the trail, directly to the trail.

Food ideas

I'm going to try the basic Responder pack to test the overall quality of food, and make a decision on what to get, if anything, after that. The Responder packs are most convenient for backpacking use, but may lack variety for long-term use. The other food packages listed above would need to be repackaged for use in thru-hiking. Either the Grab-n-Go pack alone or the Nutrition and Quick-Fix Cases together could provide an entire meal system. A mixture of these could be used to add variety, but that could start getting complicated. 

Boosting calories

Obviously, 1400-1800 calories a day is not remotely enough for PCT thru-hikers. What I like about these meals, however, is that they provide all the nutrition I would need in a very condensed form, and include lots of fruit and vegetable ingredients and adequate protein. The caloric value of the dehydrated food seems to be in the 400 calorie per 100 gram range. These regular meals could then be supplemented with lots of energy bars packing approx. 500 calories per 100 gram (e.g. Snickers, oatmeal or nut bars, poptarts or equivalent). So, a day's food supply might consist of:

• 400 grams dehydrated stuff = 1400 calories + 70 grams olive oil = 600 calories
  
• 600 grams high-energy snack food = 3000 calories

Note that adding olive oil to the lunches and dinners can add quite a few calories, and I would be getting 5000 with about 1 kg of food. 

The cost for the above day's worth of food would be approx. $10-12, not including shipping costs, which would probably amount to another $3 or so per day depending how I choose to do it. In town, I would buy various supermarket foods for variety. Oh, and eating this dehydrated food would require using a stove - either the Bush Buddy or an alcohol stove (don't like the idea of carrying superfluous fuel around with me, though). 

Saving on Food Expenses with Costco

The other day, I visited Costco for the first time ever. Seeing a number of food items that I will almost certainly need on the PCT, I figured I might be able to save quite a bit of money if I could have these sent to me on the trail in bulk. These items include:

• olive oil (poured into 16 oz bottles or smaller)
• Nature Valley "Sweet & Salty Nut" bars
• whole grain poptarts
• Nut Goodies
• king-size Snickers

At the U.S. Postal Service website, you can calculate how much sending a package would cost. The podcasts I've listened to recommend using priority mail because of its greater reliability, and because unopened packages can be forwarded for free. Priority mail has something called flat-rate boxes, which are boxes of a certain size that cost the same no matter where in the U.S. they are sent from, or how much they weigh. This makes them ideal for sending high-density, high-calorie foodstuffs such as those I've listed above. 

Flat-rate boxes come in three sizes:

1. 8-5/8'' x 5-3/8'' x 1-5/8'' = $4.95

2. 13-5/8'' x 11-7/8'' x 3-3/8'' OR 11'' x 8.5'' x 5.5'' = $10.35

3. 12'' x 12'' x 6'' = $13.95

Oatmeal bars bought in bulk at Costco may cost half as much than the same bars purchased separately at a trailside supermarket. The total expense of sending a variety of the food listed at top in the 2nd box shown above should come to roughly $35, compared to $50 on the trail.  

Trail Food Ideas

This post is mainly for personal reference, and I will continue to add to it as I come up with more ideas. I tend to be unimaginative in the food department, and glancing at this list while hiking the PCT will help me remember some of the food ideas I have had. 

Some things to focus on

- Caloric content (enter stores with a certain number of calories in mind to purchase). Aim for average of 400 calories per 100 grams. 

- Protein content: the more, the better. Cheese, meat, eggs, dairy products, protein powders, etc.

- Fruits and vegetables: maximize consumption on days in town and the day afterwards.

- Whole grains and complex carbohydrates: sugars are all too easy to come by and don't provide long-lasting energy

- Salt, spices, and vinegar-based sauces: do I have any cravings to satisfy? 

Foods for the trail (ideas)

- peanut butter; combine with cookies, crackers, and bread

- olive oil; pour in soups, mashed potatoes, and on bread; need to get plastic 16 oz bottle to carry oil

- cheese; string cheese and mozarella cheese

- sardines and tuna (occasional, for protein and fish oils)

- junk food as necessary: Oreos, Snickers, Butterfingers, Pop Tarts (if desperate)

- mashed potato flakes (check mixing requirements; powdered milk is expensive)

- whole grain pasta??? (what about sauce, though?)

- packaged soups??? (Ramen, Lipton, etc.)

- sandwiches: peanut butter and jam, or meat, cheese, and vegetable 

Foods to eat in town or shortly after leaving (ideas)

- juice from concentrate (mix myself shortly after purchase)

- cottage cheese

- ice cream

- box of cereal (or two) with milk 

- apples, bananas, tomatos, lettuce, spinach, grapes, baby carrots, etc. with sandwiches or with dip

- canned fruits and vegetables if fresh is unavailable

- hot dogs??? (can heat up on fire w/ titanium stakes, but how do I carry ketchup and mustard?)

- meat: any cooked meat, such as lunch meat or ham (will need flavorful sauce)

- sandwiches with meat, lettuce, spinach, tomatos, etc. (need to find sauces in small amounts, possibly stealing from McDonald's...)

Cooking on the PCT

What are the cooking options on the PCT?

1. No stove, no cooking. Lightest option in terms of cookware, and makes the eating process as quick as possible. However, the use of exclusively no-cook food may end up adding weight, since these foods may contain more water. Also, it is somewhat easier to tire of uncooked dry foods. 
2. Gas stove. Adds a lot of weight: stove + fuel. Finding fuel canisters along the trail may be problematic. Compared to the no stove option, hikers with gas stoves will find themselves carrying approx. 300 or more grams on average. 
3. Alcohol stove. The stove itself weighs almost nothing, but HEET is sold in bottles that may be heavier than backpackers would like. However, HEET is readily available in nearly all trailside towns. Total average weight of cooking gear could be even more than that of a gas stove setup. The solution would be to obtain small amounts of alcohol at a time (filling up a smaller bottle and pouring out the rest of the HEET that I don't need), keeping the average weight of the stove equipment to 150 grams or less. 
4. Esbit stove. Stove weighs almost nothing, and fuel tabs, while expensive, are significantly lighter than alcohol. Getting fuel tabs on the trail may be problematic.
5. Wood stove. The Bush Buddy weighs about 140 grams, which makes it a lighter option than gas or alcohol stoves. It's fun to use, and fuel is unlimited, but cooking time may be greater than with other stoves. Also, hikers have to learn to deal with smoot on their pots. 
6. Cook fires. Lighter than even a wood stove, but perhaps not as efficient or manageable as a special stove. Soot may be an issue.

Mailing fuel

Here is an excellent article on shipping fuel and combustibles to PCT hikers by mail. Basically, all fuel types can be shipped, but only if certain precautions are kept. This makes it possible to mail smaller amounts of fuel to oneself while on the trail, reducing the average carried weight of one's stove setup significantly.

My choice

Originally, I needed to make a decision in favor of either my Bush Buddy wood-burning stove, or an alcohol stove which would weigh next to nothing. When I realized that I may have to carry around more HEET fuel at any given time than I needed, I decided to stick with the Bush Buddy. With my MSR Titan 0.85 L pot, my cooking setup would have come to 275 grams. I had also been considering taking my 2 L pot, whose larger size makes cooking big meals easier, as well as using the pot for washing one's body (though I can do a full body wash, including hair, with just a 0.85 L pot). 

Then I did some soul-searching. On the CDT in Colorado, my girlfriend was generally in charge of the cooking (I would usually light and feed the stove). When I'm on my own, I don't have a lot of patience for cooking meals and tend to skip cooking whenever I feel at all rushed. I don't know that I'm going to often feel like taking long breaks specifically to cook, and I'll probably gravitate towards quick-cooking foods anyway. For my needs, 275 grams of cooking gear seems like overkill. 

What I've finally settled on is a single 1 liter pot -- the K-Mart grease strainer (pot) -- which weighs in at 107 grams without the strainer part. It costs $7 and seems to be sold at any K-Mart store. It is superior to the Walmart grease strainer because the lip is rolled outward, not inward, and thus will not catch food. Both pots are made out of aluminum, which is lighter, but somewhat more malleable than titanium. Removing the lid handle, as many people do, saves a trifling 6 grams, but some ease of use is lost, so I put it back on. The pot is wider and lower than my MSR Titan and seems to be a more usable shape for both eating and washing. When I want to make some hot food, I'll build a cook fire and set the sufficiently wide pot across two stones over the fire. If practical, I may carry a few Esbit solid fuel tabs on each section to avoid having to build (and extinguish) fires. Either way, I save about 170 grams of cooking gear and have a setup that better fits my actual needs. Basically, all I need is a pot, and most of the time I won't be heating anything in it. 

My single utensil is a long-handled titanium spoon which weighs 10 g. I love the long handle and find I never need a fork during my backpacking trips anyway. 

ADDED MARCH 4:

I still have some doubts about this decision as I think about my nutritional needs. I've recently discovered some inexpensive dehydrated meals that are full of nutrients, and I can't cook those three times a day on Esbit tablets (expensive!). The jury's still out...

Food Strategy

Food was a big problem for me on the CDT. I lost weight and never had enough calories and probably protein. This weakened me and I got sick and had to spend a week at a generous thru-hiker's house in Leadville, Colorado. We had planned for "healthy" food and soon couldn't eat it anymore. We had to mooch food off people too many times to count! 

This time, I am going to take a calories based approach. Rather than focus on the number of days ahead of me and try to plan meals for those days, I'm going to take the mileage ahead of me and multiply it by a coefficient to see how many calories I'll need, then buy that number in the store. As I gain experience and my caloric needs change, I can modify that coefficient. I hope that this approach will ensure that I have enough energy to get me from town to town. I found that in Colorado we would buy what seemed like plenty of food, but run out of it one day early. I think counting calories can help avoid this. If you judge food content with your eyes, you'll probably intuitively be going by your normal food intake rather than your hypermetabolic PCT intake. 

So, let's say my coefficient is 200 calories per 1 mile. If I have a 120 mile section coming up, I'll need 24,000 calories. If I take 6 days, that's 4000 calories/day at 20 miles/day. If I take 4 days, that's 6000 calories/day at 30 miles/day. 

This time around, I'll be especially looking for foods that are high in protein. I'll try to have on average at least 400 calories per 100 grams of food. Some things, like olive oil or butter, are far higher than that, whereas pasta is a bit lower. 

I'll let myself buy foods that I would never eat at home, such as Oreos with a load of peanut butter on top (our best discovery in Peru). I'll aim for whole grains, but will sometimes be reduced to buying enriched grains.

I'll typically load up on fruits and vegetables and eat as many as possible the day I'm in town and that evening. 

The PCT isn't as difficult to resupply on as the CDT, and I expect to average about 4-5 days between towns as opposed to 7 in Colorado. That means less weight in the pack, and more speed.