Thru Hike with Celiac Disease

[jj442434]

I am planning a thru hike for 2016, and the more I read, the more I think that buying food as I go will be the best strategy. Being able to adapt my meals as my tastes change seems much better than forcing down the same 10 meals for 5 months.

Unfortunately, I have Celiac Disease, meaning I can't eat gluten (a protein found in wheat, barley and rye), which I think might make this difficult. It's a tricky thing to manage, and so I doubt anyone who doesn't have Celiac or a gluten intolerance would have been aware enough on previous thru hikes to really give me a good answer on this specific issue. Is there anyone in this forum, or does anyone know anybody who may be able to answer this question? Any help would be appreciated.

[Fairway]

You can always buy stuff along the way then ship it ahead. Having Celiac Disease doesn't change your ability to use the postal service does it? You'll hit chain grocers in Big Bear, Mojave/Teachapee, Lone Pine/Bishop, Mammoth Lakes, South Lake Tahoe, Ashland, and Hood River. Buy stuff in big towns then ship it ahead, no worries.

[Zippy Morocco]

Fairway is right on. There are a lot of stores that will cater to your needs. Washington will be tougher but most people ship food to Washington anyway. California and Oregon are pretty hip to the gluten free diet.

[Ground Control]

Interestingly enough, I was asking WB the same question in October when blood-work told me I had Celiac disease and several food allergies. Ultimately, an upper endoscopy revealed that the blood test was incorrect: a false positive. Contrary to that initial bloodwork, I don't have Celiac, but I thought I did for a while and was planning accordingly.

I got several good answers, suggestions, and even recipes here:
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...Food-Allergies

Buying along the way sounds really tough, based on what I learned. Plus, recent research on potentially unsafe levels of arsenic in rice should be cause for pause in anyone using a gluten-free diet, as most GF carbohydrate options are rice-based.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/m...rice/index.htm

I was planning on making the following two products a big part of my hiking pantry:
1) Trader Joe's GF Oatmeal (surprised that Quaker & other brands were NOT GF)
2) Homemade Beef Jerky (allocate GF Soy sauce & Worcestershire and you are home-free)

Best of Luck - People that truly suffer from Celiac have a tough row to hoe.

[lilysafox]

I am planning a thru hike for 2016, and the more I read, the more I think that buying food as I go will be the best strategy. Being able to adapt my meals as my tastes change seems much better than forcing down the same 10 meals for 5 months.

Unfortunately, I have Celiac Disease, meaning I can't eat gluten (a protein found in wheat, barley and rye), which I think might make this difficult. It's a tricky thing to manage, and so I doubt anyone who doesn't have Celiac or a gluten intolerance would have been aware enough on previous thru hikes to really give me a good answer on this specific issue. Is there anyone in this forum, or does anyone know anybody who may be able to answer this question? Any help would be appreciated.

I am planning to thru hike in 2016 as well and have something similar. I do not have celiac disease but I do have a Gene Mutation of the MTHFR gene. I can't have gluten, Folic Acid (the inactive for of folate) Riboflavin, Niacin, etc. Most of these ingredients are found in foods that contain gluten. I have been doing a ton of research on foods that I can eat on the trail. I will post on here with a list of foods that you can prepare and send in your bounce boxes, if you decide to do them.

[Damn Yankee]

Since you have plenty of time before your hike, have you thought about using a dehydrator and making up your own meals at home and packaging them with a vacuum sealer? This way you have the food you need and can have someone mail drop them to you along the way. Demener has an excellent sight for this as well as other sites for tips and recipes.

[quasarr]

I agree that the best strategy is to buy food in the bigger towns and mail it to the smaller ones ahead. It will involve a little more planning, but that way you don't have to make a 5 month commitment. And there are only a few places in CA where you will have trouble. Even the smaller towns like Idylwild and Wrightwood have big enough grocery stores to meet your needs. So you will have plenty of big stores to stock up and prepare one or two boxes at a time.

Off the top of my head you might want food drops in Warner Springs, the Saufleys (Agua Dulce), Kennedy Meadows, either Lone Pine / Independence, Burney Falls, Seiad Valley. Use Yogi's book or another guide to see what kind of grocery store the towns have.

[jj442434]

Since you have plenty of time before your hike, have you thought about using a dehydrator

I did this on my JMT thru hike last year, made every dinner using a dehydrator. And I would do it again if I thought that I wouldn't get absolutely sick of the meals that I would make. I mean, deciding every dinner for 5 months ahead of time sounds crazy to me, and what I've read seems to support this.

If anyone with Celiac ends up reading this thread by the way, you should absolutely get a dehydrator and learn how to use it. It is an absolute godsend for trips from 1 night to about a month.

I like the idea of buying resupplies at the bigger towns and then mailing them ahead of me. Instant rice, instant potatoes, GORP, all that stuff is good to go for the most part. But there are some things that I would be concerned about getting my hands on, like gluten free protein bars (which I usually eat for breakfast) and dehydrated meats and veggies to put in the instant rice and potatoes. Though I guess most people wouldn't be able to get dehydrated meats and veggies along the way.

Wish I could ship my dehydrator in a bounce box...

[jj442434]

I will post on here with a list of foods that you can prepare and send in your bounce boxes, if you decide to do them.

I've thought about this sort of thing a lot, but I would love to hear another person's opinion. Much appreciated. And thanks to everyone who has posted to help me, the PCT has been one of my dreams for a long time, and I appreciate everyone who is helping me get over this minor obstacle.