[pct-l] "buy-as-you-go" strategy

[Stephen]

I also agree back with Brian in that you wont know until you go.  Ithink 
theJMT is two weeks for most these days.  Really not a good testing ground, 
well it is a good hike,and sure a good test, but not an all season journey 
either. When Iwas going at it hard from spring through fall hiking in and 
out of the high country, and other places, I did get sick of certain items. 
And while I found it hard tochoke down PB&J after a couple weeks, I haven' 
found anything that gives me a good burst of energy like that.  Or the 
longer effects of corn pastas.  So in another way I tend to agree with Brian 
also that while it maybe hard to get started on a big pot of gruel or choke 
down that peanut butter, once I get started on it hte benefits outweigh the 
feeling of uck, andit goes down pretty good. The problem is don't let 
something like this effect your over all goals.  I like to say, "You know 
you're in trouble when you start craving pizza on the first day." A little 
extreme, but I've had it happen when I've hiked in and out of the eastern 
sierra trailheads for a few days at a time over a two to three week period. 
If I were planning to hike the entire PCT I think I'd send minimal basics 
and plan on taking in some shopping along the way and doing the bounce box 
thing as I'd be more inclined to want to go to town and launder shower 
etc...
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brian Lewis" <brianle8 at gmail.com>
To: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2009 9:18 AM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] "buy-as-you-go" strategy


> Stephen said: "Everyone is different in this respect towards eating
> repetitively.  It is worth pondering how you may react to your food 
> choices.
> I've talked with folks who caneatrice for weeks on end, and have a friend
> who hiked the JMT many years ago eating only oatmeal"
>
> Definitely there are a lot of variations in what people are happy with; I
> expect most long distance hikers have run into someone with a stunningly 
> low
> amount of variety in their diet.  One friend eats trail bars (the same 
> sort
> of trail bar) for everything but dinner, and his dinner every night is a
> mountain house (one of maybe 3 flavor varieties).
>
> I also noted the opposite effect --- people would see others picking up a
> particular food item in a trail town and try it out and sort of fall in 
> love
> with it, eating a lot of it for the next few hundred or more miles.   I 
> was
> that way after I saw Sleepwalker eating rosemary flavored triscuits. 
> Lucky
> went from disliking oatmeal to going gonzo over the "X with creme" type of
> oatmeal packets, we would stop for five minutes and he would have eaten 
> two
> of them (I think he walked out of one trail town with two boxes of the
> stuff).
>
> In terms of what a person will get sick of on the trail, I wonder whether
> the JMT is a sufficient distance to know for sure?   I nevertheless 
> suggest
> that the best way a person can find out about themselves on this point is 
> to
> do one or more long shake-down hikes the year before to find out first 
> hand
> what food mix seems to work, as well as things like how warm a sleeping 
> bag
> they want, what kind of shelter works best, etc etc etc (and a few more
> etc's).
>
> I opted for lots of resupply boxes with a lot of food in them, buying
> locally when I was pretty confident I'd have decent selection but mailing 
> at
> least part to many other places.   I'd be a bit more relaxed about this if
> doing the trip again, but I built in sufficient variety in what I mailed
> myself that I never had the "I'm so sick of eating X" problem.   I ended 
> up
> not loving every one of the meals I made for myself at home ahead of time 
> (I
> made a variety and didn't have time to try them all out ahead of time), 
> but
> when your body needs the calories you can choke down something that's "not
> great but edible" without too much problem!
>
> Bottom line is I agree with Stephen. I guess with the caveat that until 
> you
> really learn what works for you over long distances, I'd err on the side 
> of
> assuming that you could get sick of daily eating something that seems fine
> on a weekend trip (or that seems a good idea in a book or from someone's
> trail journal).
>
>
> Brian Lewis / Gadget '08
> http://postholer.com/brianle
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