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madfarmer
06-03-2011, 19:52
Hey all,

I'm starting the morning of June 16th so that I can summit Baxter the same day and spend only one night at KSC.
I did some math and figure I'll make it to Monson in 9 days total (8 starting from KSC). I'm an experienced hiker, but planning my food supply for Maine seems a little tricky. I'm hoping to avoid maildrops after ME and NH (except maybe NOC or Fontana...), but at this point I'm thinking I'll have a package waiting in Monson and Caratunk.

Two things: 1) I'm vegetarian... though not opposed to eating junk food like poptarts if [WHEN] it becomes advantageous. 2) My base weight is 18-20 pounds. I think I'm doing pretty well considering I'm not trying to call myself UL.

However, I'd like to stay under 35lbs at most/all times, and I'm not sure how to pack 9 days worth of food and still reach that goal.. without resorting to ramen and poptarts from the start.

Current menu:

Breakfasts: cold. mixed nuts, dried fruits, granola bars, bagels, cheese, nutella or pb

Lunch: similar to bfast but heavier on the wraps or bagels with cheese.

Dinner: alternating between quinoa, couscous, oatmeal, pasta, and quick cooking red beans and rice.

At this point, to cut weight, I'd need to do away with several portions of nuts, cheese, and PB. However, these are all important to a no-meat diet, eh?

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated!

TJ aka Teej
06-03-2011, 20:51
1. Eat a lot at the Abol Bridge Store. Bring a sub with you to eat at Hurd Brook.
2. Eat your heavy stuff the first few days.
3. Talk with Dawn at Shaw's about a food drop. Tell her I sent you her way.
4. Stove Top Stuffing. Weighs nothin'.
5. That 35 lb pack gets lighter every day.

garlic08
06-04-2011, 09:31
My strategy is to lighten the load and increase the pace so you don't have so many days to carry food for. I don't like carrying more than seven days food on a thru hike. The northern half of the HMW has excellent trail (might be a little muddy in June?--I was there in early July and it was just starting to dry up) and you have about 16 hours of daylight near the summer solstice up north there--it's easy to hike a long day and make major miles without pushing it. Others enjoy many days out in the woods and that's great, but often that philosophy is at odds with hiking long distances.

I'm vegetarian too. I hiked NOBO twice in that area and had no problem resupplying very well in Monson at the store. I skipped Caratunk and Rangely, finding it easier to carry a few more days food than to mess with mail drops or hitching to town. The stores at Stratton and Andover were fine for resupply, too.

Tinker
06-04-2011, 22:43
Spend a night at White House Landing and pig out while you're there on real food. You should be able to save a couple of pounds of food doing that in the middle of th HMW.

Another thing: I carried Ghee in the HMW. It's not quite the same as whole, fresh butter, but you can add it to just about anything you cook, and, I must admit, I liked it better than olive oil. It didn't go bad and I used it for 7 days until it ran out. This was in early September.

DavidNH
06-04-2011, 23:08
I hope you don't race through the most beautiful section of the AT just to save a few pounds in pack weight. That would be criminal in my view.

Give it a full 9-10 days.

Regarding White House landing.. going there means walking a mile off trail, then catching a boat ride across lake. The place is expensive, and they charge (or did charge in 2006) more if you pay via credit card. that said, they are famous for 1 pound cheeze burgers. Food is ample here. You can resupply to agree and pay through the nose for the privilage.


I echo one sentiment stock up at Abol bridge.

David

Tinker
06-04-2011, 23:21
I hope you don't race through the most beautiful section of the AT just to save a few pounds in pack weight. That would be criminal in my view.

Give it a full 9-10 days.

Regarding White House landing.. going there means walking a mile off trail, then catching a boat ride across lake. The place is expensive, and they charge (or did charge in 2006) more if you pay via credit card. that said, they are famous for 1 pound cheeze burgers. Food is ample here. You can resupply to agree and pay through the nose for the privilage.


I echo one sentiment stock up at Abol bridge.

David

They charged a fee to use a credit card in 2008 also, but it was well worth it.
You can also get PIZZA there (I'm figuring that the 1# cheeseburger wouldn't appeal too much to you ;)).
Btw: I fell off the veggie wagon a couple of months before doing this section, and have to admit to liking the burger very much (without cheese).
The mile (felt like less, and I can't say that I noticed how far it actually was in the book). I enjoyed the boat ride, and the camp is on a grassy slope at the side of the lake, there is a shower, etc. etc.
Don't miss it unless you can't afford it, really.:)

Dogwood
06-05-2011, 00:59
Hike faster or greater MPD, but like David said it would be kind of a shame to do that in such a scenic area. Also, at the start of your hike you will probably be more prone to injury if really pushing the pace. IMO, you might be better off hiking greater MPD by hiking longer hours rather than hiking faster MPH.

Don't carry 9 days of food between resupply. Somehow break the food haul up. I'm notorious for that! You could do that in several ways. Two of the ways that come to mind that seem the most convenient are stocking up at Abol Bridge and WHL. At either place, even though you are a lacto vegetarian(I'm a pesce vegeterian), you should be able to get two days of trail food at each. Call ahead first though to check on current supplies! I don't recall if either place holds drops so that might be a possibility to add into the mix.

Since nuts, cheese, and PB all have high cal/to wt ratios I would think twice about eliminating those foods from your trail diet! It depends on how much trail food wt, cals, and other nutitional ideals you initially are planning each day though! If you absolutely have to ditch trailfood wt ditch the low cal/oz crap like pooop twarts!

I sent a box to Caratunk and Andover. The only places I did send boxes in Maine. Monson, Stratton, Rangely, Andover all have small-large stores. Rangely has a large grocery store. Check out the resupply articles here on WB about what's available where. I think it was Rangely where there was a small store that had some healthfood.

Maine resupply, even for a vegeterian or even a Vegan, is DEFINITELY doable! The resupply pic will get clearer for you!

WILLIAM HAYES
06-09-2011, 18:19
By far the HMW is the most scenic section of the AT -like someone else said dont rush through it enjoy it -you can resupply at Whitehouse landing -they had a fairly good variety of items when I went thru last year- a bit pricy but its a pretty cool place to spend the night- look for the moose he usually hangs out around the point on the lake right up from whitehouse landing
Hillbilly

SouthMark
06-09-2011, 20:37
If you stop at WHL you do not have the mile off the trail walk back. You are dropped of very near the trail. In 2009 they did not charge extra for credit card. I did not think that it was expensive. After all it cost them extra just to get food way out there. Also it was for sale earlier this year. Better check before planning a stop to make sure it is still open. If it is STOP. You will not regret it. BTW, they have a great veggie burger. They have their own garden where they grow fresh vegetables. As others have said take your time through this section and smell the roses.