Being a casual hiker or a thru hiker on any long trail like
the Appalachian Trail (AT) at 2,190 miles or,
the Pacific CREST (PC) at 2,650 miles or
the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) at 3,100 miles or
others around the world takes a different kind of preparation then the casual weekend trekker. Mental preparations, physical conditioning, gear selection and how to fuel yourself to maintain a strong level of health for the duration. Without all these key categories successfully set up any hiker will not reach their completion goals in good shape or not complete at all. I was one of those many years back.
“Father Time” the A.T.2025 Chaplain did plan all these categories and in the early fall completed the trail in good health with a big smile on his face and a family celebrating his return home. He planned; he tested his gear selections; he prayed for wisdom in his planning, and he eat the very meals he was thinking of taking on his trek. Some meals were outright rejected; others were tweaked to improve, then evaluated to max out the calorie needs against the ingredient weight to have a strong weight to calorie ratio.
What this article aims to assist with is planning one’s nutrition and offer some guidelines in meal planning, hydrating and calorie awareness. I will be using Father time’s parameters as a baseline here.
Our bodies are about 60% water for an adult male and 50% for an adult female. These percentages vary based on age, sex & body composition. The point here is water is vital for health and stamina. After many were tested
o the Sawyer Squeeze earned the number one spot of water purifying systems with their 4+ rating and many systems later Father time carried the Sawyer squeeze. CLEAN WATER IS KEY. No dipping your cup in a “clean mountain stream” for a refreshing sip only to have giardia a few hours later. No bueno.
Water is weight, averaging “a pint a pond the world around” is how I have remembered it. Knowing where one can replenish aids in planning the amount to carry. There are several APs that provide locators to put your Sawyer Squeeze into action;
o app - FAROUT has a subscription that many hikers use, making it easy to carry as little water as possible and still staying hydrated. Father Time carried 1 liter for cooking & drinking at Breakfast and 1 liter for the same at dinner time.
If you don’t have a Sawyer Squeeze, use the ole fashion tablets. And remember to backflush ..ya can’t let the filter freeze, or it will be ruined. Sleep with it if you must.
Next let’s look at calorie needs. Hiking is strenuous and everyone’s machine “body” needs a lot of fuel to keep everything running at top condition. During my experience I did not calculate carb & protein needs well and gassed out on several mountains and lost way too much body mass; to an unhealthy level. Father Time broke it down like this:
o Breakfast 500-600 calories
o Every 90 minutes take in 200 calories in trail mix, protein/ granola bars, thru the entire day…this replaces a lunch stop and that post meal drag. We called” the droops”.
o Dinner 900-1100 calories with daily protein totals at 100g
All using the benchmark of 100 kcals per mile hiked at a minimum to maintain/ break even
In meal planning there are many factors:
o Pack it in ya gotta pack it out. You know this
o Recycle Ziplocs or Muesli bags …look for trash receptacles when in town
o Set up a 5-6 day meal rotation for Breakfasts & Dinner with short to zero cook-times
o Don’t go below your calorie averages and max out that Kcal to weight ratio
In planning breakfast rotate instant oatmeal with Carnation Instant breakfast (CIBs) Vanilla, Chocolate & Strawberry provides 13 g protein and 21 vitamins & minerals and it’s quick …Muesli, dried fruits, dried peanut butter and nuts are light, nutritious toppers for that soon to be bored with day starters. If Oatmeal isn’t your fav (like me) use Instant Cream of Wheat or Cream of Rice- same cook time and doesn’t rip your gut up thru the day.
See there is a 5-7 day breakfast meal cycle that is lite, nutritious, interesting & quick
Remember 200 kcals every 90 minutes to avoid the post meal droops. On today’s shelves there are loads of granola bars, trail mixes, protein bars, etc. mix it up, keep it lite
Then there is dinner with everyone’s preferences the top of the skies isn’t the limit. As the purest of hikers want to stay true to their vegan parameters options are improving
Vegetarian folks are on the rise and with greater ease of staying true to those parameters.
Combining ready to eat (RTE) and one’s desire to speed to eat some have dropped their stoves & subsequent weight for “Cold soaking”. After a day of trekking of hills, rocks and trails, there is a level of satisfaction of sitting down on a mountain vista with a flavor-filled meal that is HOT. Take the few extra minutes to reward yourself; savor the flavor
Father Time set this rotation up of
o 3 Knorr sides, on-line or at most groceries, as meals bases . They are many options that are inexpensive, lite and kcal a plenty.
o And 3 of Dottie Foods soup as meal bases. www.MyDottieFoods.com. The flavor options are Roasted Tomato Bisque, Onion P & Cream Spinach.
The carb & protein levels will give you peak nutrition, full flavor and a full belly. Now that is a combo for some good sleeping conditions.
His multiple-choice builds varied with Instant Rice, Ramen noodles (without the seasoning packet) & Teriyaki Noodles, Instant mashed potatoes or Cous-Cous.
With these 6 to cover the week variety is great, interesting and still offer short cook times. Never admitted that math was a strength. On the seventh day you rest by going into town to a local eatery and enjoy someone else’s cooking.
Some guidelines:
o use 25% more water in preparing all of these as the ramen, rice etc soak up a lot. The Saucy factor is key to enjoyment
o use a 750 ml pot it’s big enough, lite & versatile
o Freeze-dried rehydrates better than de-hydrated. It’s just a fact
o Mix up the aseptic (Foil Pak) proteins…chicken, jerky, salmon, tuna, spam, sloppy joe (Starkist), Vienna sausage… etc use the full packet approx. 2.5 oz
o Add 1-2 Tbsp Olive oil (it’s worth the weight) to each meal. increasing sauciness vs. pasty experience with some high-quality fats for your health.
o As most hikers are good, kindhearted that watch-out for each other, trade ingredients and make an episode of Chopped” to mix in some meal entertainment.
No sense chasing the day light in the late fall and winter. Start planning next year’s treks now by pulling in some of these ideas into your planning and testing for some successful and enjoyable hiking next season.