[pct-l] Food

[Guthrie Alexander]

Great information Scott thanks for writing that up, I'm hoping to eat as
healthy as I can on the trail.
On Feb 10, 2014 11:57 AM, "Scott Williams" <baidarker at gmail.com> wrote:

> On the PCT I ate constantly and ate mostly crap.  Any kind of sugared
> cereal and cheese for breakfast, cheese crackers, corn nuts, candy bars,
> jerky, nuts, dried fruit etc, every hour on the hour to stay fueled.  Lunch
> was tortillas and cheese, salami, peanut butter and mac and cheese or
> lipton sides for dinner with lots of junk to fill it out.  The healthiest
> stuff on that trail were the foraged greens and onions, agave, mushrooms
> and other tasties to be found as one hikes.  I do a lot of that on any
> trail.  I made it to Canada fine, loosing 35 lbs but figure I was
> malnourished by the end.  I was eating 2 boxes of mac and cheese per dinner
> by Stehekin and was still hungry!  That's 8 servings according to the box!
>
> I hadn't planned to thru hike, so most of this was purchased from trail
> towns on the way.  I just couldn't stop walking and food be damned!
>
> My diet changed drastically between that hike and the CDT, 2 years later.
>  I stopped eating all processed foods, primarily sugar and flour.  Also on
> the CDT, I went stoveless.  Everything was simply soaked.  So, for the CDT
> my breakfast consisted of 3 oz of a mix of rolled grains, 2 oz dried fruit
> and 2 oz nuts, soaked overnight and topped with a cup or more of yogurt I
> cultured on trail from Nido.
>
> Lunch and dinner were the same, 2 oz instant brn rice, 2 oz dried pork,
> chicken, beef, shrimp or other Asian dried fish, dried cheese or TVP or
> some combination of all that, 2 oz dried mixed veggies including seaweed
> which I love, (that's a lot of veggies rehydrated) 2 oz nuts, 2 oz dried
> fruit and 2 tbls olive oil, and spices and a bit of hard cheese and my own
> smoked jerky.  People were blown away by the sheer size of these meals.  I
> also sprouted seeds, beans and anything that would grow, in small zip locks
> and loved the crunchy little guys as part of my meals.  That's over 1/2 lb
> dried food at each meal.  Over the snowy San Juans I added more block
> cheese and salami or summer sausage as I needed even more calories.  The
> soaking of the next meal began as I was finishing the current meal, so they
> all had 4 to 6 hours of rehydration and they were tender and  delicious!!!
>
> What is amazing is that when eating all that junk on the PCT I needed to
> refuel on the hour all through the day as I was starving and would start to
> get light headed if I didn't.  On the CDT, I ate breakfast, lunch and
> dinner throughout New Mexico and was never hungry, never bonked or hit the
> wall energetically and never needed snacks, even on 30 mile days.  When I
> entered the San Juans and needed more calories due to the snow and
> ruggedness, I simply couldn't eat that much at one sitting and at that
> point split my breakfast, half at 6am, half at 9am.  Lunch was split
> between noon and 3pm and dinner I just ate in my bag till it was done.
>
> It was a hell of a lot of work dehydrating enough meat and veggies for
> nearly 5 months of meals, but totally worth it.  My meals were so good,
> that as my speeds built and I began leaving meals in the hiker boxes, I
> gathered a following of folks who loved them as they'd never had so much
> quality veggies and protein in a trail meal.
>
> For the AT this year I'm dehydrating a lot of meat and veggies as these are
> the difficult things to buy in trail towns.  But I'm figuring I'll be
> crossing into towns every 2 to 3 days, so much of the other  stuff, nuts,
> dried fruit, basic starches and some fresh stuff, will be purchased on the
> fly.  Amoeba, who hiked the AT twice in Crocs and most of the PCT, always
> could pull out of her pack a nice juicy cucumber, red pepper or an apple
> and man those were delicious on trail.  I loved hiking with her!  So maybe
> I'll do a bit more of that on the AT.  But I'll ship out a basic bunch of
> healthy stuff every 2 or 3 weeks and just put meals together as I go.  And
> this time I'm cooking.  Too much time in shelters on rainy nights to not
> have a warm cup of soup.
>
> There's probably more, but this is enough to give you the picture.  Oh, and
> I only lost 6lbs on the CDT.  I didn't need to loose much that hike, but
> the increase in energy, fitness and basic happiness with what I ate on the
> CDT was incredible.
>
> But, damn, just go for it.  Bring as much healthy stuff as you can fit in,
> but no matter what you eat, if you love living on trail, you'll make it
> anywhere you want to go.  If you feel malnourished, and many find
> themselves loosing more weight than they should, think healthy options,
> stuff that sticks to your ribs and doesn't go through your system like a
> flash in the pan.  Flour and sugar products which are absorbed within the
> first few inches of your intestine leave me starving very soon after.
>  Whole  grains and starches that have enough fiber to slow the absorption
> rate will last you for hours, maybe even till the next real meal.
>
> Have a wonderful hike Jake!
>
> Shroomer
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 8:59 AM, Jake Handy <jakers329 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > I understand that my caloric needs will definitely rise during the day to
> > day hiking of a thru attempt, especially from that of my 2 to 3 day hikes
> > I'm used to.  Can someone give me a snapshot of a typical day on the PCT
> of
> > what they ate, including specific foods/amounts?  I realize that needs
> vary
> > with the weather and terrain, but an idea of your average day would help!
> >  By the way.... I'm a fit 46 y/o guy.
> > Thanks!
> > Jake
> > _______________________________________________
> > Pct-L mailing list
> > Pct-L at backcountry.net
> > To unsubscribe, or change options visit:
> > http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
> >
> > List Archives:
> > http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
> > All content is copyrighted by the respective authors.
> > Reproduction is prohibited without express permission.
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-L mailing list
> Pct-L at backcountry.net
> To unsubscribe, or change options visit:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>
> List Archives:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
> All content is copyrighted by the respective authors.
> Reproduction is prohibited without express permission.
>