[at-l] Light Weight Menu/food calories

[at2002@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Gary Wright)]

On Thursday, January 9, 2003, at 10:39  AM, Phil Heffington wrote:
> I'll have to echo some of the other comments that suggested that you
> not assume that you will like the same foods on the 30th day of your
> hike that you liked on the first day.

Just to clarify my original post.  I thru-hiked the AT in 2002, so I
feel pretty comfortable with what I'll want on the trail over time.  I
used maildrops and tried to stick to between 2 and 2.5 lbs of food/day
but other than that I wasn't very methodical about it.  Since I ended
up losing 50 pounds on my hike, I'm pretty sure I was burning more
calories than I was consuming.

I'm thinking about hiking the PCT and there are long stretches with
very few resupply options.  If you think the 100 Mile Wilderness is a
challenge for food planning, try Kennedy Meadows to Vermillion Valley
Resort: 174 miles. I wanted to see if I could come up with a light,
calorie-dense menu for that section to avoid walking out of Kennedy
Meadows with a 50lb pack.  For this section in particular, I'm more
interested in keeping it light than picking foods that I'll like for
five months.  Of course the first 700 miles of the PCT is mostly desert
where you need to be carrying up to 4 or 5 liters of water at times.
If I can cut down on food weight and keep the calories high I can
offset the extra water weight in this section.

Thanks to everyone who responded with information (including
spreadsheets!).

Radar
AT-2002: www.trailjournals.com/gwright
PCT-2004: ?