How many days of food at a time?

[Grimace]

It was real rare for us to hike for more than 3-4 days w/o a resupply. Because the AT runs pretty close to civilization you are never more than a day to a grocery store no matter where you are. It might take some effort to get there, but it is possible.

You may want to reconsider your mail drop schedule as most towns have a full service grocery store. We're talking Supermarkets in most cases. There are indeed a few towns where a mail drop might be helpful. Since this is the case, it is easy to hit a road corssing, hitch into town, hit up the grocery store and pizza joint, and get back on the trail. You can even do this and still get your full day of hiking in.

When choosing food, it hinkt he rule of thumb is 100 calories per ounce. This may or may not cut down your food weight. I used to carry Luna Bars, packets of Tuna, gorp, granola bars, candy candy candy, hot dinners, the works. I just like to eat.

Hope this helps

[A-Train]

tracey,
first off, i'd say 2 lbs of food a day is more accurate. I seemed to do more than fine on this amount.
I was a lightweighter, tho not ultralight. I tried to resupply every 2-4 days. Down south it was more like every 5 days, but after Damascus it seemed doable pretty easily about every 3 days.
People will tell you that resupplying often will take away a lot of time, and if you find close resupply points, and don't waste much time in town, this is certainly not true. It was very satisfying to hitch or walk to a town or grocery, resupply, eat a nice meal and get back on the trail. Being back in the woods, after a good day of hiking, being satisfied by town food is a good feeling.
Having a lighter pack may translate into more miles which also means less days to resupply. If you can hike a 60 mile section in 3 days while it takes some 5 days, than obviously you can pack lighter (supposing you have the confidence and ability to make it).
I knew a couple guys who were doing 25+ miles a day and resupplying every other day. Carrying less food allowed them to go faster, or was it the other way around.
I'm sure you'll figure out what works for you once you're on the trail. Once you've established a pace and know your daily mile capabilities (i.e. what is comfortable) then it will be easier to know how to space food.
I'd recommend for someone trying to go lightweight to rely more on shopping than maildrops. It would be annoying to deal with post offices every couple of days.

[chris]

You might try emailing Teatree, who hiked the PCT last summer and the AT sometime in the past. She did mail drops to alot of places because of exactly the same reasons. She has something on trailjournals.

If you carry a light pack, you'll find yourself hiking longer miles. Mostly, this is because you'll have a lot more energy left over toward the end of the day. Don't be surprised if you start hitting the 15 mile mark early in the afternoon. Unless you really like a spot, this will mean that you'll be sitting around, or hiking a few more hours. That being said, if you want to average, say, 20 miles per hiking day, then you'll want to shoot for around 3000-3500 calories per hiking day. Depending on how large you are, once your miles per hiking day go up much past 20, caloric requirements really go up.

South of Damascus, the longest stretch is from Walasi-Yi to NOC., which is something like 100 miles. So, 5 days. Or 7 if you want a little room for comfort. Think about trying to buy from NOC. Otherwise you'll end up mailing yourself a day and a half of food to NOC. You won't want to haul supplies for the Smokys from NOC over Cheoah.

In the end, how far you go between resupply points is up to you. But, a word of caution is in order. I knew a woman on the PCT this summer who had several 220+ mile resupply stretches because she didn't want to hitchhike or take a side trail. She was using maildrops and underestimated how much food she would need. Once you try to put 10 or 14 days of food on your back, it is easy to do this. After 450 miles, she had gone from athletic to emaciated. I think she eventually finished, but perhaps had to skip a little and change her strategy a bit.

[smokymtnsteve]

Tracy yam , I'm a vegetarian also and not eating the kind of stuff you can find near the trail(I do very limited dairy) here is my mail drop plans for my walk to damascus , I'm doing it Again this year.

Neels gap (miles 31)from last supply
blueberry patch (miles35)
rainbow springs (miles37)
noc (miles 31)
fontana (miles 30)
gatlinburg (happy hiker) miles 45
standing bear farm (miles 36)
Hot springs (miles33)
hitch into erwin from sams gap
(a very easy hitch),supply then shuttle back (miles 42)
erwin (pick up remainder of drop)(miles 24)
greasy creek friendly (miles 23)
roanmtn/elk park (delivery to trail head by relative) miles 22
kincora (hampton) miles 20

[Zzzzdyd]

I will have anywhere from 3 to 7 days food on board. I get by very well on 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lbs of food per day. I make my own gorp.

I don't see how anyone can't eat Mac & Cheese !! It's the best all-round trail food ever invented. Especially the triple cheese type. I only have it about once a month at the house though.

Springer - 4
Neels Gap - 7
Rainbow Springs - 4
N.O.C. - 3
Hike Inn - 7
Davenport Gap - 4
Hot Springs- 6
Erwin,TN - 7
Damascus - 5

etc., etc. I always try to have one days more food on board than I plan on needing.

[smokymtnsteve]

I don't see how anyone can't eat Mac & Cheese !!

I don't see how anyone CAN it eat it ...yuck!

[sloetoe]

If you're going ultralight, how many days of food do you carry at a time?

### My solo base weight is ~10 - 12 lbs.
My "with kids" weight is ~15 lbs.

This includes my "hauler" 4.5lb, 5400CI pack. With that I can carry about 40 lbs of food/water -- good for about 10 days between mail drops with them at age 8, probably good for <9 days now. I figure that's be good for about three weeks for me solo. That puts me leaving town with 55 pounds at times, but I still consider base weight the relevant measure. "Ultralight" is about your pack, not your planning...

Yes, I like to stay *out* of town, though I'd never avoid an easy food drop local. Last month, going 160 miles Fontana-> Springer, I left with 2.5 days' worth to Wesser/NOC (33 miles?) then picked up 7 days' worth from my car (to Neel's Gap), then 2 days' worth for the last 30 miles. My winter/solo base weight (with a 2 lb MoonBow Gear Skin) is around 18lbs, so with 7 days of food, I think I left Wesser with about 32 lbs in a frameless pack -- perfectly comfy.

(Hmmm. I think I missed the question. I'm late; it's tired....)
'Toe

[sakkit]

My base pack weight is 14lbs. This includes all that I need except food. So for 10 days of hiking my pack weight should be around 24lbs.

Sakkit

[Kozmic Zian]

Yea.......How Many Days? You could ask this question to 100 hikers and get 100 different answers. If hiking the AT, just use the 'guidebook of choice', the maps, and information from other hikers to determin how far, or how many days you have until the next resupply. Buy or carry food accordingly. You, being a veggie, might want to know where full service food stores are located, because alot of easy to reach 'stores' along the Trail are 'short term resupply' only (having only junk food, basically) or minimal choices, at most. When I Through Hiked, I found what worked for me, after several hundred miles, and kind-of stuck to it. Unlike another poster, stay away from the 'high-sugar', high starch only, diets. They'll make most folks sick over time. You need a varied diet of mixed veggies, starches (caloric input) and whatever you determin works for you. I sprouted my own seed sprouts when I went, in an extra water bottle. Had fresh sprout and cheese sandwiches with the 'available bread' at whatever store I could find. Lots o' nutrition, there. Carried a block of cheese. Your bread needs to be of a non-crushable variety, like bagles. I liked the ramin noodles, with a few fresh 'plantains' from the side of the Trail, steamed over the noodles, or rice or a 'Lipton' or 'Kraft' quick-cook. That, with the sproutwich, sustained me to Maine. I did use power bars as a 'pickmeup', but only a few per week. I'd drink tea or coffee and of course, spring water.

I hope that your planning and food design work for you, and they ad to your pleasure while hiking The Trail. As, I mentioned, you'll be able to figure it out up there, after a few resupplys. Just remember to carry only what you use everyday. One of the finest lessons learned on The Trail, is conservation, in all ways, including the food process. KZ@

[Pencil Pusher]

Eastern Active Technologies, where your last mile is your lightest mile!

[oruoja]

On my LT hikes I especially carried more freeze dried for the stretch between Rte 4 to Jonesville to save weight (7 to 9 days depending on weather and how lazy I was). Over the years Mountain House variety and taste has improved considerably. The cost can be high, but you can stock at certain Walmarts at a good price especially in locations where hunting and fishing seasons are popular. For example, most Walmart bought Mountain House entrees (two serving type) can run $3.48 while at REI they are as high $6.00 for the same item. Even in sections where I could rely on store bought resupply I still liked to have two or three freeze dried in my pack as supplemental meals or for insurance if I added a day or two to my next resupply.