How much food?

[hikergirl1120]

I feel like I keep asking the same questions but here goes....

Do you think carrying 10 day worth of food is too much starting out SOBO? How many days worth of food do you usually carry on a thru??

I am concerened about resupplying up north and I was thinking that I should take more food just in case until I get into the flow of things.

Any thoughts on this??

I always appreciate the advice everyone gives!!!...well almost always LOL J/K!!:)

[stranger]

I'm assuming you are talking about the 100 mile wilderness when you say carrying 10 days worth of food going southbound. Personally, that's a heap of food, and that weight will slow you down and could potentially lead to injury. My understanding is that you can resupply now in the wilderness, I don't know where exactly (white house landing???), but when I did the wilderness I went through in 6 nights, 7 days.

So my advice would be to either resupply where you can in the wilderness. I've never done a thru but I've hiked big sections for many years, I would say my typical resupply would be no more than 3.5 days of food, but I tend to hike high teens - low 20's. Food is heavy, and weight sucks.

Check out the handbook or companion, you should be able to resupply in the wilderness, and that section isn't anything too difficult anyhow which helps if you are just starting out.

[DavidNH]

for most of the AT carrying a 10 day food supply is too much. Normally, you would carry 3-5 days worth of food.

However, you mentioned that you are starting Southbound IE from Baxter and heading into the 100 mile wilderness. During this stretch that may not be unreasonable.

You can do some re-supply at the camp store at Abol Bridge, about 10 miles from Katahdin Stream Campground. Then you hae about 98 miles to go without re-supply opportunity. There is the White House Landing in the middle of that, but you'd need to hike a mile off trail and get the boat ride in and expect to pay premium prices. To my knowledge they don't accept mail drops. Perhaps someone else could speak to that. After this you will stay over in Monson and also re-supply.

DavidNH

[hikergirl1120]

I have this idea that I want to avoid going into towns as much as possible. Am I crazy? I probably am ha ha

[TrippinBTM]

No, I shared the same idea. However, it also got to be such that I wanted my pack to weigh as little as possible. Also, I fell in with a group, and the more people you have, the more likely you'll spend longer in town. You just gotta go with the flow. Town is a nice relief and break anyways, you'll be tired and hungry and won't always mind the wonders of the restaraunt, the hostel/motel, the laundromat, the coffee...

[garlic08]

I met a guy heading SOBO last year who started with the same 10-day strategy. He was a very popular guy, giving out food at nearly every opportunity, even cooking it with all the extra fuel he had. In southern ME, he was starting to rethink that strategy, realizing maybe it wasn't the best way to hike the AT.

It would be good to have some experience with how much food you might need for 100 miles before you enter the 100-mile "wilderness". Ten days sure sounds excessive. Some NOBOs do it in four or five.

If you work up to the point of being able to hike 100 miles in, say, five days or fewer, you can skip quite a few towns if you want. But you'll be hiking pretty much alone if you do that.

Last I heard, White House Landing accepts mail drops for a fee, and I heard their grocery selection is very limited and understandably expensive. Groceries at Abol Bridge weren't the greatest when I was there, and I was only buying for one day.

[mikec]

When I nobo the 100 mile wilderness this summer, I plan on getting a 12 day food drop at Monson. 10 days for the 100 mile wilderness and 2 days for Katahdin Stream Campground. Everything is freeze dried in this maildrop to save weight. I just hope that I don't starve ;)

[vonfrick]

I feel like I keep asking the same questions but here goes....

Do you think carrying 10 day worth of food is too much starting out SOBO? How many days worth of food do you usually carry on a thru??

I am concerened about resupplying up north and I was thinking that I should take more food just in case until I get into the flow of things.

Any thoughts on this??

I always appreciate the advice everyone gives!!!...well almost always LOL J/K!!:)


I'm assuming you are talking about the 100 mile wilderness when you say carrying 10 days worth of food going southbound. Personally, that's a heap of food, and that weight will slow you down and could potentially lead to injury. My understanding is that you can resupply now in the wilderness, I don't know where exactly (white house landing???), but when I did the wilderness I went through in 6 nights, 7 days.

take the food. and if you do get injured, you won't starve. better safe than sorry. besides, if you end up with too much, it's easy to give away.

[hikergirl1120]

I figure I will take that much food to begin with and I can always tone it down as I go on....

I am going on a week trip in May, I will prob have a better idea after that of what I will want to carry.

I sincerly appreciate the advice !!!!!!!!!

[Spirit Walker]

Starting your hike, your appetite won't have kicked in yet. You can go a bit lighter than you will later in your journey. You might consider dropping off most of your food bag at Abol Bridge - so you do your first two days light, then pick up an eight day supply. You should be able to do the 100 miles in 8 days. The first couple of days southbound into the Wilderness aren't difficult. Though they may be very muddy, there are few big climbs. By the time you get into the climbs in the Barren Chairback Range, your food weight will be lighter. By the time you reach Monson, you'll be starving - but you can fill up there.

To me, one of the advantages of a southbound hike is that you start your journey with a long wilderness section. Most of Maine is remote, with towns spaced far apart. It gets you into the rhythm of the hike. NOBOs have the possibility of towns so frequently, it is a real temptation to go to town frequently, especially in the bad weather of March and early April, so they have a harder time getting into the rhythm. When Rolly Musser did his survey of AT thruhikers, he found that SOBOs were much more consistent in their mileage, averaging 15 mpd, than NOBOS who did a lot of short days into and out of town - so their average was much lower (11 or 12 mpd).

If you want an emergency extra food supply - bring a couple of Ramen. They are light, and you won't be tempted to eat them unless you absolutely have to If you are making good time, crumble one into the rest of your meal the day before you go into town.

[hikergirl1120]

Starting your hike, your appetite won't have kicked in yet. You can go a bit lighter than you will later in your journey. You might consider dropping off most of your food bag at Abol Bridge - so you do your first two days light, then pick up an eight day supply. You should be able to do the 100 miles in 8 days. The first couple of days southbound into the Wilderness aren't difficult. Though they may be very muddy, there are few big climbs. By the time you get into the climbs in the Barren Chairback Range, your food weight will be lighter. By the time you reach Monson, you'll be starving - but you can fill up there.

To me, one of the advantages of a southbound hike is that you start your journey with a long wilderness section. Most of Maine is remote, with towns spaced far apart. It gets you into the rhythm of the hike. NOBOs have the possibility of towns so frequently, it is a real temptation to go to town frequently, especially in the bad weather of March and early April, so they have a harder time getting into the rhythm. When Rolly Musser did his survey of AT thruhikers, he found that SOBOs were much more consistent in their mileage, averaging 15 mpd, than NOBOS who did a lot of short days into and out of town - so their average was much lower (11 or 12 mpd).

If you want an emergency extra food supply - bring a couple of Ramen. They are light, and you won't be tempted to eat them unless you absolutely have to If you are making good time, crumble one into the rest of your meal the day before you go into town.

Yes that makes a lot of sense to me.

Maybe I would feel better if I had a better plan for exactly where I did plan on going into my first town.

I am trying not to over plan this trip but maybe I am being too lax.

[vonfrick]

Yes that makes a lot of sense to me.

Maybe I would feel better if I had a better plan for exactly where I did plan on going into my first town.

I am trying not to over plan this trip but maybe I am being too lax.

monson's you're first town. go to shaw's. they'll take you back and forth to greeneville for groceries.

[shoe]

You could also get with "boarstone" here on WB.
She can do a food drop in the middle of the wilderness (i think at Jo Mary lake road)
That way you don't have to carry that much food or head into White House Landing unless that's what you want to do.

[stranger]

In regards to avoiding towns, I often think this is a desirable thing to do in theory, but rarely done in practice.

If you have a decent amount of experience along the AT and you can avoid towns fairly easily, then more power to you. But if you lack experience, and haven't actually done this before, you may find that when you are out on the trail this doesn't come to fruition.

I think alot of hikers plan on hiking a certain type of hike, but realize when they get on the trail they frequent more towns than they thought, hence spending more money than expected. Personally, I think money is the single greatest aspect of the trail that people get wrong, every year, time and time again. Just my observations over the years.

It's pretty hard to walk across a road with sore feet in the rain, and re-enter the woods on the other side when you know it's a 2 mile hitch to a $40 hotel room and hot meal. Most hikers will make that hitch, regardless of whether or not they can afford it long term.

[hikergirl1120]

Well that is a bridge I will have to cross I guess....I will see what happens but I think i will start with the 10 supply and re group after I get to my first town....or out of Maine LOL

[TrippinBTM]

It's pretty hard to walk across a road with sore feet in the rain, and re-enter the woods on the other side when you know it's a 2 mile hitch to a $40 hotel room and hot meal. Most hikers will make that hitch, regardless of whether or not they can afford it long term.

It's not very hard when the room is $40.

Also, in Monson, Shaw's is supposed to be cool, but I stayed at the other hostel in town, the Lakeshore House, which I found much more welcoming. They have internet, a laundromat, nice rooms, a bar/restaraunt, live music, and kayaks that you can take out into the lake (for free if you stay there) if you feel like spending some time in town. The owner, Rebekka, is awesome.

Also, there is a general store with more than enough hiker food, plus a gas station. You don't have to go to Greenville.