Backpackers Panty's thats normally really smelly stuff, you must have a strong stomacheOriginally Posted by tflaris
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Enjoy your trip bud!
Unless I missed it, your list does not include either toothpaste or toilet paper.
A GPS (Garmin) is not necessary for hiking on the AT, nor is it needed elsewhere in the eastern USA for that matter. Why not just put a rock in your pack instead? The rock would distract you less from enjoying the woods.
Sunglasses will be needed whenever you decide to hike through alpine snow fields somewhere. But, unless your eyes are especially sensitive, you will not need them during your early September hike under Georgia's forest canopy.
Backpacking adults typically need to consume 1.5 to 2 lbs. of food per day, assuming that the food is all, or nearly all dehydrated. So, unless you intend your initial backpacking adventure to be a fasting/suffering exercise, consider taking with you at least 4 lbs. of food for each of you, in other words a total of 8 lbs., not just the 5 lbs on your revised list. That's assuming "three days" actually means a two night trip during which the first day's breakfast and last day's dinner will be consumed "off trail". If, however, you will actually be on the trail for three days and three nights, each of you should carry at least 4 1/2 lbs. of food.
"Backpackers Panty Vegan Meals for 2 (Dinner)
Cliff Bars (lunch)
Smart Bars, energy bars (snack)
Oatmenal, Almonds/Cranberry (Breakfast)
Instant Coffee, single serving pack (Breakfast)"
Energy wise, there's nothing wrong with your food selection, provided you take more of it. If you read the labels, you will find that its nearly all carbohydrate, with perhaps a bit of protein in the "Smart Bars" and the "Vegan Meals". Neither those carbs nor the proteins will provide you with more than 100 calories per ounce. Read the labels. Then, add food until each of you has at least 2,600 calories per day, and preferably 3,000 calories or more.
I am not personally familiar with the "Backpackers Pantry Vegan Meals". But, in my experience, "recommended" portion sizes of freeze dried (or dehydrated) backpacker meals are often set optimistically, perhaps for marketing purposes. So, read labels carefully and compare the calorie counts to what you'll need. And, consider taking along some nuts, or nut intense form of trail mix. Fats, including nuts, provide more than twice as many calories per ounce as carbs and proteins do. At home many of us need to restrict the quantity of fat that we consume. On the trail it's different.
No problem. I have never used the Backpacker Pantry meals but looking at the calorie count are you planning on 1 meal for 2 for each person? That way you would get about 700+ calories each? Just wondering. For me I would add some coconut or olive oil to my breakfast and smother my cliff bar in peanut butter or almond butter. But I have a wicked high metabolism. Maybe someone else can comment.Enjoy your trip.
Thanks for the great information. I will look into this and make sure I bring enough food. I was looking at food for every meal but might have overlooked the overall calorie count.
Thanks again
TF
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We were planning on splitting the Backpackers Panty. Meals. If I remember correctly they are around 700 calories for 2 people.No problem. I have never used the Backpacker Pantry meals but looking at the calorie count are you planning on 1 meal for 2 for each person? That way you would get about 700+ calories each? Just wondering. For me I would add some coconut or olive oil to my breakfast and smother my cliff bar in peanut butter or almond butter. But I have a wicked high metabolism. Maybe someone else can comment.
TF
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That bear bagging illustration is good stuff.
I will start practicing this also. Any instructional films you recommend?
If I can pry the iPhone vid away from my hiking buddy, you can watch me make 7 attempts, that should suffice.
Don't plan on splitting the freeze dried meals.
They feed 1 hungry hiker each - at BEST.
For males, you'll probably need to supplement the freeze dried meal with an energy bar to feel unhungry.
Here's what I eat:
Breakfast: 4 packets of brown sugar flavored Quaker instant oats or 5 packets of Apple & cinnamon Quaker oats or 5 packets of walnut and date Quaker oats. Surprisingly, the different flavor fill the bowl a different amount.
Snacks = lunch spread out throughout the day, eating about every 2-3 hours: 3 macadamia nut cliff bars or 4 high calorie protein cereal bars or 5 regular granola bars. My guess is that the calories of these options is very similar.
Dinner: 1 mountain house super high calorie meal (like chili Mac), or 1 regular mountain house meal plus a protein or granola bar.
Late night snack (to keep warm all night): 1 snickers bar or 1 macadamia nut cliff bar.
This is the right amount of food for a 45-50 year old male, carrying a pack weighing 22-27 lbs, and walking 16-18 miles per day at a 2.25 mph pace over rolling rocky AT terrain, with 15 minute breaks every 2 hours, on 3-5 day hikes.
My teenage son eats lots more, my wife eats a little less. A hiker that is on the trail for more than a 2 weeks eats way, way, way more because their metabolism shifts into high gear.
In the hottest part of the summer, my appetite goes down a little due to the extreme heat, so I eat 2-3 granola bars per day less.
Thanks for the detailed breakdown on food.
Greatly appreciated!
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed that is the only thing that ever has."
- Margaret Mead, Anthropologist
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