The Mc Donald Cheeseburger Diet

[Birthright]

My first thru-hike in 2018 always brings to mind that first night on Springer Mountain. We all gathered around the hiker TV and talked about food and calories. It was very cold. The kind of cold that makes a hiker dread taking his gloves off to light his stove. This is kind of like a tribute but I am not a good writer of stories. We all were talking about the calories we needed daily and the calorie content of the mountain house freeze dried meals. I will never forget the one hiker that claimed he had it all figured out. He proudly boasted that he was going to hike the entire trail by eating Mc Donald's cheeseburgers every day. He pulled out a soggy McDonald's cheeseburger that he had carried all the way up the approach trail. Everyone laughed at him and tried to kindly express concerns for his choices. This hiker's solution to cooking was no cooking at all. I would love to meet this hiker again just to ask him if he ever completed the entire trail on the McDonald's Cheeseburger Diet. Is it possible that any hiker could accomplish such a goal?

[Seatbelt]

I doubt that any thru-hiker ever completed the trail by eating just one type meal.

[Grampie]

i doubt that any thru-hiker ever completed the trail by eating just one type meal.

during my 2001 thru i met a couple of guys hiking together. They only ate corn pasta and caned tuna fish. One of them, trail name, tuna made it all the way. His partner left the trail somewhere along the way. At meal they would cook a pot of pasta and add a can of tuna fish. That is all they would eat.

[JNI64]

during my 2001 thru i met a couple of guys hiking together. They only ate corn pasta and caned tuna fish. One of them, trail name, tuna made it all the way. His partner left the trail somewhere along the way. At meal they would cook a pot of pasta and add a can of tuna fish. That is all they would eat.

I guess when you're young and healthy you can get through just about anything. But man that would be tough to get the calories even in olive oil there's only 200 calories per can and a box of corn pasta is 850 calories. Besides being gross and obnoxious.

[Seatbelt]

I guess when you're young and healthy you can get through just about anything. But man that would be tough to get the calories even in olive oil there's only 200 calories per can and a box of corn pasta is 850 calories. Besides being gross and obnoxious.

I would be willing to bet that they did not continue this for several months without ANY OTHER food.

[BillyGr]

during my 2001 thru i met a couple of guys hiking together. They only ate corn pasta and caned tuna fish. One of them, trail name, tuna made it all the way. His partner left the trail somewhere along the way. At meal they would cook a pot of pasta and add a can of tuna fish. That is all they would eat.

I guess when you're young and healthy you can get through just about anything. But man that would be tough to get the calories even in olive oil there's only 200 calories per can and a box of corn pasta is 850 calories. Besides being gross and obnoxious.

Maybe all the calories are in the cane (since, after all, it does say caned tuna fish, not canned)

[Slugg]

I’ve been known to carry up to 6 McDoubles at one time, they’re so processed they can last longer than that. I have a friend that’s carried 10+ at once. Don’t try that with a real hamburger.

[Slugg]

Now that I think about it it, my friend may be who you’re talking about.

That friend also just happened to start an attempted AT thru hike in 2018, his trail name is Trashalope. He didn’t finish that year but he has since gone on to thru hike 9000+ miles and is currently on the CDT. You could easily find him on Instagram. He continues to enjoy McDoubles on trail.

[Slugg]

Now that I think about it it, my friend may be who you’re talking about.

That friend also just happened to start an attempted AT thru hike in 2018, his trail name is Trashalope. He didn’t finish that year but he has since gone on to thru hike 9000+ miles and is currently on the CDT. You could easily find him on Instagram. He continues to enjoy McDoubles on trail.

Update: My buddy reports he did not hike the approach trail in ‘18 so sounds like it wasn’t him.

[Tipi Walter]

Reminds me of the couple times I went to Tomato Head restaurant in Maryville and got a burrito go order and took it out on a backpacking trip.

https://thetomatohead.com/

trip 96 034-L.jpg

I posted this pic on a 2010 trip in my journal and they reposted it on their blog---

https://thetomatohead.com/calling-all-hikers/

TRIP 104 022-L.jpg

The other time I took out one of their Jose Burritos.

And there's a bakery in Tellico Plains called Tellico Grains which supplied me with sandwiches on the first couple days of a trip---this one a shiitake mushroom thing---

Trip 103 004-L.jpg

[peakbagger]

Many years ago a friend met a thruhiker who bought cases of mountain house dehydrated beef stew. The hiker was on a tight budget and did not have a choice but to eat it for all his meals.

[Tim Rich]

Many years ago a friend met a thruhiker who bought cases of mountain house dehydrated beef stew. The hiker was on a tight budget and did not have a choice but to eat it for all his meals.

Seems like there's been more than a couple who only ate pop tarts.

[peakbagger]

I met a thru hiker in VA one year that claimed to be just living on whatever she found in hiker boxes.

[Birthright]

Yes this is possible but it is not very enjoyable. Also would make your hike have a lot of miserable days of hunger. I came across a hiker like this and I bought her a large pizza. She ate the entire pizza by herself. I felt very sorry for her. She hiked the trail with no money. I have met a lot more displaced women in this position due to the lack of opportunity. It is heart breaking when you hear the stories they tell about how they came to know this kind of poverty. It is terrible that many women find themselves in this position.

[Deadeye]

Yes this is possible but it is not very enjoyable. Also would make your hike have a lot of miserable days of hunger. I came across a hiker like this and I bought her a large pizza. She ate the entire pizza by herself. I felt very sorry for her. She hiked the trail with no money. I have met a lot more displaced women in this position due to the lack of opportunity. It is heart breaking when you hear the stories they tell about how they came to know this kind of poverty. It is terrible that many women find themselves in this position.

And their "cure" is to go for a hike? If I did that, I'd find myself in a bad position, too.

[zelph]

Yes this is possible but it is not very enjoyable. Also would make your hike have a lot of miserable days of hunger.

I find the best stove is my credit card. For most of the AT; if you can hike 30 miles a day then you can just swipe your card and eat as you go without carrying anything. The AT has resupplies every where. If you can even hike 15 miles a day then your chances of coming across a food supply are pretty good.

If you hiked 30 miles and stopped in town that had a McDonalds, used your credit card, you could have a nice juicy Big Mack and other goodies. You could do that every day

[BillyGr]

If you hiked 30 miles and stopped in town that had a McDonalds, used your credit card, you could have a nice juicy Big Mack and other goodies. You could do that every day

The question would be, is that possible? Seems there might be some areas that would be difficult with smaller towns and such.

[zelph]

The question would be, is that possible? Seems there might be some areas that would be difficult with smaller towns and such.

Well Birthright said:

I find the best stove is my credit card. For most of the AT; if you can hike 30 miles a day then you can just swipe your card and eat as you go without carrying anything. The AT has resupplies every where. If you can even hike 15 miles a day then your chances of coming across a food supply are pretty good.

I suspect a burger of some kind would be available in the smaller towns. The almighty credit card

[Birthright]

If you hiked 30 miles and stopped in town that had a McDonalds, used your credit card, you could have a nice juicy Big Mack and other goodies. You could do that every day

So you are combining two quotes from two opposite post that don't go together at all. The question posed in the Cheeseburger posting wasn't asked as a literal question but more like an inquiry from other hikers. The quote about my credit card was from a different post not to be confused with the posting about the cheeseburger experience. The two quotes are unrelated and were written in different postings in reference to different situations. One post being a story and the other being a reference to an opinion.

[JNI64]

You can put one of them McDonald's cheeseburgers on a shelf and come back a year later and it won't change whatsoever. Just a little stiff.