ballpark planning food and water weight

[blw2]

Ballpark, what do you plan for food per day, weight wise I mean....?

ditto water?

I've been dreaming and gearing up a bit to get back into backpacking a bit, after many years of "tailgate camping"
slowly buying little odds and ends to round out my gear
and I've been taking a closer look at what I need vs what I have and how much everything weighs, with my mind pointed towards final decision on a pack to replace my old heavy beast.

Goal is to do a little local hiking, or who knows.... but what I'm really planning for is one week section hike(s) in summer, starting with something in GA on the AT perhaps, likely June or July next year. Maybe Amicalola to ?

Anyway, I'm looking at weights of my stuff, and really wanting to keep my overall weight down....and wanting to verify that I get the right pack and not something too ultralight that might be fine for my base weight stuff but not so good once I load up with food and water....

As a point of reference...Leaning to ZPacks arc, for the ventilated back and potential hiking here in Florida

[Dogwood]

http://www.adventurealan.com/best-backpacking-food/

Want details Alan Dixon breaks it down.

Want a general overview. Check out Swami's food article https://www.thehikinglife.com/health-safety/the-hikers-diet/

Want to understand(and maybe get overwhelmed trying) written by a PhD Nutrionist based for LD hikers. http://thru-hiker.com/articles/PackLightEatRight/fat.htm

[MuddyWaters]

Water depends on when and where.
from carrying 1/2 liter (1 lb) to 6 L (13 lb) can be necessary
most avoid long dry water carry hiking locations, but is necessary in spots on some trails
most I ever carried was 6.5 L
in snowmelt season where water is running over trails everywhere out west, might carry less than 1 lb water

On AT, normally 1-2 L is more than plenty. Water is everywhere on AT, its an ocean of water compared to most other trails
5 miles per liter works for most people, most of the time. Less in cool weather, a lot more in very hot weather. If its 95F, and steep uphill, might take 1 L per mile.

Clear as mud right, it just depends.

Food, at first people arent hungry
first week 1.5 lb/day of dry high cal food is more than enough
It will increase every week
Its not critical , Ive hiked 100 miles in 5 days, eating on 3 or 4 lbs of food when I felt sick before, you just lose weight.
A lot of weight.
My last day of a leg into town, I typically want nothing in my pack, looking forward to real food. I may eat very little for 15-20 miles , focused on real food when I get there. Kills the taste for trail food 100% for me. Your body can run without food for a while.

[HooKooDooKu]

Gross starting point will be about 2lb/person/day.
You can definitely get lighter than that if you concentrate on calorie dense food and lots of dehydrated meals.

What I find is that on short weekend hikes where I don't concentrate on lots of dehydrated meals nor packing on a lot of extra calories, I'm close to about 2lb/person.
When I did a JMT thru hike where I concentrated on packing tightly and averaging about 3,000 cal/day, I was still around 2lb/day.

[blw2]

awesome! Thanks

So 2# per day for food (or a little less if you're knowledgeable per that article)

what about water? Plan on packing a couple liters seem about right? (so 4# or a little more..)

[BuckeyeBill]

2 pounds of food/ day for your food. Your water weight is 2.2 pounds per liter, plus container weight. Calculate how much water you think you will need and add 2 more liters as a just in case. If water is readily available, you can cut back on the amount carried, but drink water while filling your water containers.

[swjohnsey]

On the AT 2#/day food, a liter of water. More water before camping at night or on dry stretches.

[cbxx]

At 2 lbs per day, if your food is average 100 calories per ounce that is only 3200 calories per day, so after you have been on the trail for a while, or on very tough sections, you might need either more weight, or more calorie dense foods. 3200 probably is not enough for a big guy. On the other hand if you are a small person and only doing 8 miles a day, it might be OK for a while. There is some variation.

[Venchka]

At 2 lbs per day, if your food is average 100 calories per ounce that is only 3200 calories per day, so after you have been on the trail for a while, or on very tough sections, you might need either more weight, or more calorie dense foods. 3200 probably is not enough for a big guy. On the other hand if you are a small person and only doing 8 miles a day, it might be OK for a while. There is some variation.

WhiteBlaze has been through the calorie mathematics ad nausea. The calorie deficit is generally made up by nonstop eating in towns. Pizza and ice cream lead the list of calorie make up foods. Shrimp tacos and local craft brew worked for me in Pagosa Springs last year.
Wayne


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[egilbe]

For a new hiker, usually 1.5 pounds per day of food is a good starting point. Water is so variable. There were days I never carried more than half a liter when I was constantly walking by brooks and streams. Other days, I've run out carrying three liters and eagerly awaited the next water source. In the PCT, you may need to carry gallons and re-evaluate what you consider a water source.

Carry what you feel comfortable. For me, three to five miles between sources and a liter is pretty comfortable.

[garlic08]

100 cal/oz is pure carbs. Add some fat (nuts, for instance) and you can increase that by 25 to 30%.

Water carried depends on water available of course. If you're stepping in fresh spring water every mile, there's no real need to carry any at all unless you're phobic about it (and plenty are).

I often dump remaining water before a steep climb if I have positive, confirmed knowledge of water on the other side of the hill. A liter of water is the heaviest thing in my pack, including the pack, and an extra liter makes a large difference to me.

You'll need to develop your own water needs matrix. Most experienced hikers know how much they need for X miles in Y temps and Z elevation gain. That varies easily by a factor of two depending on your needs. Many thru hikers in temperate conditions can travel between 5 and 10 miles per liter, and need from 1/2 to 2 liters to camp, a significant deviation.

Water management is an important part of the hiking skill set, I think more important and more variable than food.

[Dogwood]

Darn well right you should be prioritizing consumable category wt for a wk long June or July AT section hike as that category just sub breaking it down into food and water, leaving out fuel, will be BY FAR - VERY FAR - the single heaviest and likeliest most voluminous category you carry. YET, repeatedly many of us rush on past the category to endlessly chattering about gear wt. The food and water wt is probably the lowest hanging fruit in seriously putting a quick dent into lowering wt and bulk hauled yet in any one category most often the prioritized focus is on gear, shopping for gear, comparing gear, and endlessly opining about gear a fashionable topic for the shopaholic lets buy something U.S. culture.

"As a point of reference...Leaning to ZPacks arc, for the ventilated back and potential hiking here in Florida"

Excellent observation. YES, the ventilated back does help with hot humid weather as you experience in FL and GA. It's a GREAT feature of the Arc Blast and Arc Haul especially considering it's an UL pack for it's volume and feature set.

[Dogwood]

Yes H20 and food wt varies depending on many potential variables too long a list to detail here.

Here's how you can lower those wts for you're anticipated GA AT hike:

First the H20:

The AT has mega analyzed water logistical info. USE IT to lower unnecessarily carrying water wt. Most, if not all, GA AT lean to's should have water during June or July but again read w=the next advice.
Gain as current reliable water availability for your June July hike as possible including recent rainfall patterns for the GA AT corridor. Factor these into your personal needs as you gain that incite further into your hike.

Second, the Food: by NOT hauling ALL the food for the GA AT hike from start to finish do a resupply. That alone can cut your food wt haul in half while allowing some wiggle room to bring some food comforts like fresh produce which might be beneficial for such a hot time to get some of your moisture from rather than depending solely on found water sources on trail. In the event a depended upon trail water source isn't viable the produce can assist to carry you to the next one that is.


Water source locations including reliability and resupply options with details are available in such sources as the AT Thru-Hiker Companion. DO NOT ASSUME the title makes the inexpensive Companion only good for Thru-hiking!

[MtDoraDave]

Good point about resupplying . If the op intends to start at Amicalola, Neels Gap is only 3 or so days in, and iirc they will hold a box you mail to them for a dollar.
My first section hike, I carried way too much water... because I didn't know where it was or how often I'd find it. Now I use AWOL's guide, and rarely carry more than a liter.

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[ZombieDust66]

Ballpark, what do you plan for food per day, weight wise I mean....?

ditto water?

I've been dreaming and gearing up a bit to get back into backpacking a bit, after many years of "tailgate camping"
slowly buying little odds and ends to round out my gear
and I've been taking a closer look at what I need vs what I have and how much everything weighs, with my mind pointed towards final decision on a pack to replace my old heavy beast.

Goal is to do a little local hiking, or who knows.... but what I'm really planning for is one week section hike(s) in summer, starting with something in GA on the AT perhaps, likely June or July next year. Maybe Amicalola to ?

Anyway, I'm looking at weights of my stuff, and really wanting to keep my overall weight down....and wanting to verify that I get the right pack and not something too ultralight that might be fine for my base weight stuff but not so good once I load up with food and water....

As a point of reference...Leaning to ZPacks arc, for the ventilated back and potential hiking here in Florida

I had a two .75 liter bottles that I filled at every water source plus my 64oz Sawyer dirty water bag for emergencies. There was so much water on the trail in June I never had to fill the sawyer bag


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