View Full Version : So food... Meals...How many for how long?
So the hike is SOBO, Deep Gap NC to (hopefully) Amicalola Falls, GA in 8 days, 7 nights. The plan is to arrive at Deep Gap late Friday night in May of 16 and camp and head out at first light on Saturday morning, then finish up sometime the next Saturday night... or we can push it out to Sunday afternoon if need be. Keeping in mind we are both fat people who are not vegetarian and have no food allergies. The questions are:
1) This is 8 or 9 days on the trail. We are not planning any zero days at all, but we know we will pass through resupply places and towns. With that in mind, how many nights/days/instances will we have to eat a meal off the trail in a town or in a restaurant or fast food or whatever? Assume that we will eat "out" whenever possible.
2) How many days/nts should we pack for to start out?
3) I assume the MREs or freeze dried dinners are what people do on the trail? If so, which are the best tasting? I assume these are just add water and/or heat to eat, right?
4) What are the best snacks to have stashed in your pockets to eat while hiking and how many per day?
Of course I know this is different for everyone, and you have to find what works for you, but we don't know what works for us yet, so I just want to hear how others do as a reference point.
Lnj, if you search this site using Google, you'll find that most of these topics have been exhaustively discussed. For example, for info on snacks type this into your Google search box:
site: whiteblaze.net snacks
Do the same for georgia resupply, dinners, and anything else you want to research.
When I plan food, I first figure out where I can resupply, then calculate how many days it will take me to hike that distance, using a ballpark estimate of your miles per day (I use 10). Then add food for one more day, just to be on the safe side. Generally this has worked out pretty well for me.
Gambit McCrae
08-21-2015, 14:31
I don't think that it is whiteblaze.net policy, BUT it is a good safety practice to not specifically give dates, times and locations online, for obvious reasons. That being said, I wouldn't want to sleep at Deep Gap and I have been there quite late at night setting up shuttles. I would stay in franklin for the night and head up to Deep Gap in the morning to start your hike. Just a question, Why South Bound? It would make sense to me if starting the AT so close to the southern terminus to start at the beginning. Thus whenever the trip is over, if it isn't at the planned ending, you haven't created any gaps.
Resupply: For this length of trip, in this area. I would suggest taking/ carrying 3-4 dinners at a time. At dicks gap (day2-3 at most) you have Top of GA hostel who now has resupply(please double check this)
At Unicoi gap I would come off trail for the night and get a $80 hotel room in Helen (little German town)(and resupply options)
Neel Gap you have Mountain crossings with good resupply and hot lunches/ hostel. These three places would give you many options to get resupply.
Meal Choices-
I have never seen an MRE used on the trail. They are heavy, produce a lot of trash, and just aren't that good IMO. Freeze dried meals (Mountain House, BP Pantry, Backpackers Gourmet), Pasta and rice sides, Idahoan tators with additives like bacon. And home made dehydrated meals are my choice, cheap and delicious.
Snacks? I only bring jerky homemade and snickers :)
So the hike is SOBO, Deep Gap NC to (hopefully) Amicalola Falls, GA in 8 days, 7 nights. The plan is to arrive at Deep Gap late Friday night in May of 16 and camp and head out at first light on Saturday morning, then finish up sometime the next Saturday night... or we can push it out to Sunday afternoon if need be. Keeping in mind we are both fat people who are not vegetarian and have no food allergies. The questions are:
1) This is 8 or 9 days on the trail. We are not planning any zero days at all, but we know we will pass through resupply places and towns. With that in mind, how many nights/days/instances will we have to eat a meal off the trail in a town or in a restaurant or fast food or whatever? Assume that we will eat "out" whenever possible.
2) How many days/nts should we pack for to start out?
3) I assume the MREs or freeze dried dinners are what people do on the trail? If so, which are the best tasting? I assume these are just add water and/or heat to eat, right?
4) What are the best snacks to have stashed in your pockets to eat while hiking and how many per day?
Of course I know this is different for everyone, and you have to find what works for you, but we don't know what works for us yet, so I just want to hear how others do as a reference point.
Great information. Thanks for the tips on dates. I only said May of 2016. I have no idea exactly when in May we will go, but I won't share it when I do know! :)
Thanks for the tip on Deep Gap. We may do the Franklin thing instead. Just want to get on it early on Saturday. It is even possible that we will start and go an hour or so Friday night and then camp. Still very much in the planning stages now, so it's all apt to change.
The reason for SOBO, is because we live in North GA and hope to get a ride from family or friends to and from the trail. If we start the farthest away from home, then at least we are always coming toward home. The goal is to not leave a gap, but to finish, but I know anything can happen to change that. Also, I hear that the big thru-hiker crowd gets going for Springer March thru April, so we were hoping to miss the biggest crowds gong in May and in the opposite direction. Again, we may change our mind about that as well.
Good info about MREs. My husband is retired Army, so it was his first thought, but the Army Rucks were 80# plus, so this is a totally different thing. I was thinking jerky. Would the snickers be a melted mess, attracting bugs and animals? Sounds good though!
So I read 3 options for eating "out": Dicks Gap, Neel Gap, Helen, right? So if we pack for 4 nights to start, we should be gold. Thanks!
Gambit McCrae
08-21-2015, 15:44
Great information. Thanks for the tips on dates. I only said May of 2016. I have no idea exactly when in May we will go, but I won't share it when I do know! :)
I thought you meant the 16th day of may but you mean 2016 with no specified date to start
Thanks for the tip on Deep Gap. We may do the Franklin thing instead. Just want to get on it early on Saturday. It is even possible that we will start and go an hour or so Friday night and then camp. Still very much in the planning stages now, so it's all apt to change.
If memory serves correct its only about a 30-45 minute drive to Deep gap from franklin
Good info about MREs. My husband is retired Army, so it was his first thought, but the Army Rucks were 80# plus, so this is a totally different thing. I was thinking jerky. Would the snickers be a melted mess, attracting bugs and animals? Sounds good though!
As you stated, backpacking and military are two different things. A lot of folks try and retro fit mentalities of Military (gear, food, sleeping etc) and IMO it doesn't transfer very well.
So I read 3 options for eating "out": Dicks Gap, Neel Gap, Helen, right? So if we pack for 4 nights to start, we should be gold. Thanks!
In order:
Dicks Gap: (Top Of GA Hostel-closes at 7pm-.2 miles off the trail) - Shuttles to and from the town down the road and they serve breakfast-clean place but lots of rules
Unicoi(Helen, GA-15 mile hitch down mountain-Easy place to hitch both directions-no hostel just hotels galore)
Neel Gap: (Hostel on Trail)
MREs suck. In my experience, anyway. There are various half-decent freeze dried options, but they're pricey. I like to have one or two of these in my food bag. A more typical dinner is some Liptons/Knorr noodles or rice packets, with some kind of protein mixed in. Ramen will do in a pinch. Cheese, summer sausage, pepperoni work well for protein. Also, chicken, tuna, or salmon in foil packets.
BirdBrain
08-22-2015, 00:37
Lnj,
I would encourage you to look into freezer bag cozy cooking. No need for MRE's Many options right off the shelf. No need for expensive food designed for hiking. A grocery store is fine. Check out these videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzXZIH7SGYA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W17nvn9W0uI
I use pint size freezer bags instead of the popular choice of using a quart size. Pint size is enough. It allows for a smaller cozy and makes eating out of the bag easier. Use only quality freezer bags that are BPA free.
As far as snacks, I have peanut butter snickers in the morning and pepperoni stocks in the afternoon. I do not eat lunch. I eat gorp instead as I walk. My gorp mix is macadamia nuts, cashews, and reeses pieces. I choose snacks that are calorie dense. If you choose high calorie to weight ratios, your food bag will be lighter and smaller. A good site for calculating such things is here.
http://www.healthaliciousness.com/nutritionfacts/nutrition-facts-compare.php
(http://www.healthaliciousness.com/nutritionfacts/nutrition-facts-compare.php)
Here it is loaded with my gorp choices
http://www.healthaliciousness.com/nutritionfacts/nutrition-comparison.php?o=12131&t=12087&h=19151&s=&e=&r=
Consider fresh food for your 1st or 2nd day on the trail for each section. Minimal added weight, opens up more food options.
Tuckahoe
08-22-2015, 07:16
Just a couple thoughts for you --
1) As a short section hiker, you're most likely not going to be on the trail far enough or long enough to develop the "hiker hunger" that most all thru-hikers will suffer from. If anything, especially for the first couple days the strenuous nature of the hike will kill much of your appetite.
And
2) As a result it will be very easy to pack way too much food. And I really do mean way too much!
Pedaling Fool
08-22-2015, 08:23
Just a couple thoughts for you --
1) As a short section hiker, you're most likely not going to be on the trail far enough or long enough to develop the "hiker hunger" that most all thru-hikers will suffer from. If anything, especially for the first couple the strenuous nature of the hike will kill much of your appetite.
And
2) As a result it will be very easy to pack way too much food. And I really do mean way too much!
This is generally true and it's definitely true in my case and I love to eat:)
When one first starts out on a hike their body is shocked by the level of exertion of hiking all day, up and down mountains, not to mention with weight. So, counter-intuitively, your appetite takes a dive, you may feel really hungry, but you can't eat nearly as much as you think and generally less than you normally do; although in extreme cases where your system is severely shocked you may not even feel hungry and won't feel like doing anything, except get horizontal.
This can last for about a week, so don't pack too much food. I typically don't get the Hiker's Appetite until after about 3 weeks on the trail. That's a whole 'nother story...
garlic08
08-22-2015, 08:55
I agree with the above about the appetite. You will not be that hungry. Rather than taking an extra day, take one less day than expected and you'll still have too much. When I thru hike, I love running into section hikers about halfway through their hikes and they realized they packed way too much and are giving it away. It always happens, and I do it too.
Also, remember that food is not a critical survival item, especially on the AT where there are so many confirmed bailout options. We are so used to having three squares a day, we panic when it's not there. I've run out of food a day or so early and I didn't blow up. It actually turned into a neat adventure and I learned a valuable lesson about hunger. I do a lot less food planning than I used to.
Another phenomenon is the miles you will actually hike when you're out there all day and you're not heading back the next day. You might hike up to 50% more miles than you thought possible, so your 10-day trip may turn into a seven day trip, and you'll have a ton of food left over. That happened on my first section.