<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"><base href="x-msg://123/"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Hello Doug<div><br></div><div>You asked some questions that we all probably ask ourselves from time to time:<br><div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; "><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Just wondering if there are any tips for saving on food weight?</div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>There are a lot of food schemes used by distance hikers and I would guess we could eventually learn to balance personal needs against carrying too much food weight for each of them.</div><div><br></div><div>I like to cook and dehydrate my own trail one-pot meals at home before the hike. I package each day's worth of food into one-day bags and pack an appropriate number of days into resupply parcels if I am section hiking. Otherwise I put the bags into the freezer so that my wife can mail them to me if I my hike is long enough to make setting out resupplies impractical. </div><div><br></div><div>I have tried both going cold and using off-the-shelf one pot meals by grazing in trail town supermarkets, but these options have worked out somewhat heavier for me for the kinds of foods I like on the trail.</div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; "><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Better to carry a little less than a little more?</div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>One of the good things about section hiking a long trail is that you get pretty familiar with getting trail hard over and over and over <g>. I have gotten pretty good at estimating the amount of food I will need before I get trail hard, after I get trail hard, and when the weather gets cold (hiking and sleeping in below freezing temps). </div><div><br></div><div>In general, I do tend to pack just a little bit more than I think I will really need (just in case…), but I always carry any left-overs on down the trail with me. I don't like to throw trail food away where the wild critters can get it and you never know when you will meet a fellow hiker who will be VERY happy to help get rid of that small extra weight <g>.</div><div><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; "><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; ">And am I the only one that finds some foods that sound good to me at home- I had hardly stand on the trail?</span></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div>I only cook/dehydrate trail meals that I already enjoy as regular meals at home. I usually throw in at least one "new" trail meal I haven't tried before on the trail during each section hike - I use that meal once during each resupply cycle to see how I like it on the trail. I can put up with just one meal out of the 6 or 7 I usually use for a resupply cycle if I find that I don't like it as much on the trail as I thought I would. </div><div><br></div><div>Some of these meals make the cut and get used on the next hikes and some don't.</div><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; "><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; ">I am finding a more bland type food appeals to me better than the spicy stuff.</span></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div>I have found that for me the opposite is often true. While I do on the average like to eat the same meal over and over during a hike, I also carry a little garlic powder and Tony Cachere's to perk things up when needed.</div><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; "><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">I used my 30* summer bag in temps well below that and was cold both nights. I tried using a small quilt I had Feathered Friends make for me that is about 4' x 5' inside the bag for added warmth but I could not get the quilt to cooperate with me and it kept moving around all night. Maybe I could safety pin it in place. Cold nights are miserable and I think I am coming down with a cold. </div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>My personal metabolism ramps way up when I finally get trail hard and I then tend to sleep warmer unless I get hungry during the night. I have learned to eat some cheese before going to sleep to carry me through a freezing night. </div><div><br></div><div>I mostly hammock camp (Hennessy hyperlite w/underhammock & open cell insulation) and use a comforter (made from a 30 degree NF down bag cut in half lengthwise) until night temps get down into the single digits. I use a Shires Tarptent when there are no trees with an ancient 20 degree NF Blue Kazoo down bag w/Thermarest NeoAir mat. I use the same Blue Kazoo in the hammock when night temps go single digit.</div><div><br></div><div>I carry long johns to use for sleep clothing to help keep the sleeping bag or comforter clean(er) - lightweight Capaline during warmer months, expedition weight when nights get below freezing. I picked up a set of Body-Sensors (Terramar) expedition weight tops and bottoms in Dubois almost by accident (was on fall sale at the nice little outfitters there) - turned out to be the best (by far) that I have tried. The long johns double as sleep clothing and as an extra layer when the weather gets really ratty on the trail.</div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; "><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; ">My best trail food is a block of cheese and a nice onion on a tortilla shell and an individual pack of mayonnaise.</span></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div>I got sick as a dog from bad mayonnaise that was on the outside of a pack of good mayonnaise. I noticed that the good pack felt greasy when I opened it, but I didn't think much of it. That greasy feel transferred from my fingers into the food I put the good mayo on and I came down with a case of food poisoning that put me down hard for almost three days. Fortunately I was fairly near a town with a hospital and the ER doc told me that he had seen this happen before. </div><div><br></div><div>My take-home message was to use soap and water to wash any mayo packets before I put them into my resupply packet and make SURE that none have burst open when I get ready to use them.</div><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; "><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">I can't stand any floaties in my water or strange colors</div></div></div></blockquote><br></div><div>I have been trying to remember any NM water which didn't have floaties or strange colors <g>. I have been happy to find water that looked like loose lime jello and cheerfully dipped water out of elk hoofprints many times…my personal water standards have changed considerably since I started hiking the CDT <g>.</div><div><br></div><div>If it was me I would definitely check out that train sound…there are LOTS of inclines on the CDT.</div><div><br></div><div>Good luck!</div><div><br></div><div>- Charlie</div><br></div></body></html>