[pct-l] Pemmican Bars

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

On Dec 21, 2010, at 12:50 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> We have used Pemmican Bars on most of our endeavors since 1973 and  
> they
> definitely do the trick!

I have liked Pemmican Bars. They are hard to find, but have decent  
calories. They are made of different stuff than the typical bar. I  
think the flavors are a little odd.

The trouble I have with Pemmican Bars is they are a little dry and  
hard to swallow.

I seemed to have a strange phenomenon happen on the trail--happened  
both halves of my two-part PCT hike, but doesn't happen on shorter  
trips. Food I can normally eat at home is impossible for me to  
swallow on the trail. I could not eat tortillas and peanut butter,  
for example. I would literally choke on it. There were many kinds of  
foods I was completely afraid to try, knowing I could accidentally  
get it stuck in my esophagus. I struggled even with fig newtons.  
Drinking water with the food did not seem to help. I don't know what  
caused this. I simply struggled to swallow it.

I was pretty certain Pemmican Bars would have done the same thing to  
me, since the consistency was similar to a fig newton. I probably  
would have tried them anyway, though, because you can't beat 400  
calories in one bar.