Originally Posted by
Tipi Walter
I do ALOT of backpacking trips in the 18 to 24 day range---without resupply---and in fact I just pulled two 24 day trips back to back.
My food weight alone for each of these trips was around 50 lbs including stove fuel---and then you add the "accoutrements of idiocy" of all my other gear. In the end it results in sufficiently interesting food for the duration---which is what it's all about. If you don't carry food you really want to eat you'll be a very unhappy camper.
It doesn't really matter what diet kick you're on at the time---vegetarian, paleo, keto, vegan, omnivorous WHATEVER. Just bring enough of the food your really want to eat and don't worry about the total food weight---as long as you don't end up with 5 extra lbs of food at the end.
Carrying alot of food weight, along with your other gear---results in pulling lower mile days. On my heavy pack trips I feel good to pull 10 mile days and such days are not all that uncommon.
If my base weight is 30 lbs and then I add 55 or 60 lbs of food/fuel . . . well . . . I'm talking about starting a trip with an 85-90 lb pack. Initial daily mileages will be low as pulling 5 miles with such weight is like doing 15 or 20 miles with a 20 lb pack---but the heavy weight allows a person to stay out for as long as possible while also backpacking and moving every day---and we're NOT talking about basecamping in one spot for 3 weeks.