[pct-l] hiking calories

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good afternoon, Lost & Found,

If you want the latest, greatest, lead-pipe-cinch, absolute truth about
Calorie consumption on the PCT please stop reading now and seek truth
elsewhere.

The technical variables are too many and too great to simplify into some
sort of generality. In the comments below please insert as many terms of
equivocation – i.e. “weasel-words” -- as you think may be necessary to
sooth any “facts” you may choose to believe.

Fuel burn rate can vary with:

Age

Gender

Weight, personal and pack

Mileage

Personal metabolism

Weight stability – losing vs. gaining

How long one has been on the trail

The difficulty of the trail

The average temperatures, and,

Unspecified additional considerations “A” thru “R”.

I sometimes start with the dubious value of 90 Calories per mile for an
unencumbered  runner or walker on favorable ground, then mark-it-up to
about 120 Calories per mile for hiking with a pack in the mountains.  All
that is in addition to a "normal" day’s Calorie intake.
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=166338

For 25-30 mile days I most often shoot for about 3,500-4,000 Calories/day
or -- more broadly -- about 2 pounds of mostly-dry food in a reasonable
balance of fat vs. carbohydrate and protein.

This guessing can be a bit of a problem for someone who must pack all the
resupply boxes ahead of time, but for others the solution becomes automatic:
If I was hungry in the previous section I load-out more for the next
section.  My appetite in a trail-town will be a good indicator, as will be
a scale if one is available.

Enjoy your planning,

Steel-Eye

-Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09/


On Sat, Apr 7, 2012 at 8:32 AM, Hikes and Bikes <hikingis4me2 at yahoo.com>wrote:

> My latest newspaper insert (Rejuvenate) from a local hospital says that
> "an 11-pound backpack increases the number of calories you burn by about 6
> percent" when hiking.  Is there any data on this for weights and miles
> hiked?
>
> Lost and Found
>
> "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely
> in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside,
> thoroughly used up, totally worn out, Guinness in one hand, steak in the
> other, yell 'Holy Sh**, What a Ride!"
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