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.  

Dealing with Snow in the High Sierra

It seems that no matter when I enter the High Sierra - whether late May, early June, or mid June, I'll have to deal with fairly copious amounts of snow. Here is what one 2003 PCT thru-hiker wrote about the snow (he entered Sierras on June 10, 2003 in a normal snowfall year):

When is it safe to enter the Sierra? This really depends on the year and how much experience you have on snow and in the mountains. The most generally accepted date to leave Kennedy Meadows is on June 15. I left on June 10 and did fine, although the snow was excessive at times. After leaving Crab Tree meadows, the jumping off point for climbing Mount Whitney, the PCT through the Sierras is a a sequence of passes, separated by valleys. Usually, snow would obscure the trail for the last 2-5 miles before the pass and for 2-5 miles after the pass. Sometimes the snow was nothing more than an annoyance for route finding. Othertimes, there was snow hidden in gullies and in cols that made traverses dangerous or difficult. In the morning the snow would be hard, but usually manageable, except before 9 or so. In the afternoon (around 2 or 3), the snow would be soft enough that postholing (when each step drops you to your knee or worse in the snow) became common.

I sense that I won't truly understand the conditions and how to approach them the safest way possible until I'm actually at the kick-off day (ADZPCTKO) and can talk to former thru-hikers in person.

I'm guessing that the problem with snow before 9 am is that it's icy. I don't see why my Kahtoola microspike traction devices wouldn't help with that. I've walked with them on frozen solid icy trails before, and they provide superb traction, biting into the ice with a loud crackling sound. It seems like it would be a wise idea to use those and get in more hours of morning hiking than to submit myself to hours of postholing in the afternoon.

I am also concerned by stream crossings, which are best attempted early in the morning when flow is lowest. But if there are too many streams to cross, I suppose I will inevitably end up having to do afternoon crossings every once in a while.

Finally, I'm a bit scared at the thought of having to go straight up steep snowy passes like Forrester Pass, and doing any other potentially dangerous things. These fears are normal for PCT thru-hikers, I'm sure.

Since I'm beginning on April 24 and foresee keeping a pretty good pace, even in the early sections (maybe 20 mile/day on average), I could end up at Kennedy Meadows as soon as June 1st. I might try to slow myself down and delay my Sierra crossing by deliberately spending more time in towns in the public libraries, or spending more time hiking along the PCT with relatives and friends (I grew up in Southern California). Maybe someone would take me down into Orange County for old times' sake (never been back since age 21 - 10 years ago). Or, I could just get to Kennedy Meadows as soon as possible and hang out in the southern Sierras or Lone Pine area until the snow mostly melts. 

Ice axe

This page shows how to make an ice axe tether. I'll have to do something like this with my ice axe (CAMP Corsa, 70 cm).

Learning from a PCT Thru-Hiker's Detailed Trail Journal

I've seen quite a few, but this one by Chris Willett ("Suge") from 2003 was so detailed and thoughtful that I read the entire thing. It's basically an entire book. I think it gave me a very good idea of what it may be like to live on the trail. I also see from his diverse subsequent adventures that his first long hike on the PCT was a major turning point in his life. 

One of the ideas I gleaned from Chris' report is the idea of using a 5 gallon paint bucket as a bounce box - a container for extra gear and things that you may need further up the trail, that you keep forwarding to yourself to post offices further along the trail. As he states, the advantages of using the paint bucket - available from any hardware store are:

- They are very tough. You won't have a shredded box to pamper after the third mailing.

- You don't need any tape to seal them up. The lids snap shut and stay on tightly.

- They have a wire handle, which make them easy to carry through town.

- You can sit on them outside of the PO.

- They are very waterproof.

- They protect their contents.

- They are very big. You can put a lot of stuff in them.

That's a great idea that I plan to try out. 

Water Treatment on the PCT

As a rule, most American backpackers filter or otherwise purify all their water in the backcountry. The ones who are least likely to treat water are... ultralight thru-hikers. In Colorado we met plenty of short-distance backpackers (even those on the Colorado Trail) who seemed paranoid about getting ill from untreated water, even if it was flowing directly from a snowbank. "I don't know... Look at all the pink algae growing on the snow... I'd rather play it safe," someone actually told us. Then we'd meet some experienced thru-hiker who said he never treated any water on the CDT and had never gotten sick. Hm...

Read this article for a better understanding of the prevalence of much-feared Giardia in the Sierra Nevada. Basically, in two words, Giardia is uncommon, and you're more likely to get intestinal problems from poor hygiene or meals in restaurants in town. 

On the PCT, I will be using the same treatment strategy I used on the CDT, namely:

• Drink from the best water sources possible: snowmelt trickles/streams, springs, and small streams coming out of ungrazed areas. Get water from larger streams when necessary.
• Treat only water that is not flowing rapidly or water from areas that might have been grazed (i.e. has been exposed to cow dung). I will use Aquamira tablets and drops.

Following this strategy, I hope to treat no more than 5-10% of the water I drink on the PCT.

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...)

PCT Gear Weight

Today I drafted my first PCT gear list with gear weight included. I tried to include every little item I could think of, down to spare batteries for my flashlight. This exercise is very useful for making rational gear decisions - especially for first-timers. 

My base weight came to right about 10 lbs. This was a little disappointing, as I'd basically been aiming subconsciously for 7 to 8 lbs and had imagined I'd reached that level. However, a second look shows that over 1 pound of that is the hammock, bug net, and second sleeping pad, which I feel will more than make up for their weight in comfort, quality of sleep and rest, and time spent looking for a campsite. Another pound is my relatively heavy Canon G7 camera with a spare battery and wall charger. I don't think I'm ready to get rid of that, and the cost of cutting the weight of my camera setup in half would be over $100, not to mention the corresponding loss of picture quality. Almost another pound is my merino wool top and leggings, which might not be necessary for substantial sections of the trail. 

In short, I've reduced my baseweight to my comfortable limit. If I decide to discard the hammock along the way or get rid of extra merino wool, I can always send those ahead in a bounce box.  

What is mildly unsettling is that this weight doesn't include the extra gear that I expect to be carrying in the Sierra Nevada: bear canister (1.15 kg), ice axe (.27 kg), heftier pack that is more comfortable with weights over 25 lbs (add .5 kg), and -- most likely -- a warm jacket (.35 kg), traction device for the snow (.42 kg), and waterproof socks (.09 kg). That adds up to another 2.8 kg of baseweight, or over 6 more pounds. I just can't believe I'll have a baseweight of 16 lbs. I will be heading out of Kennedy Meadows carrying a 40 pound pack!