[at-l] Trail Food, How do you carry 7 days

[sloetoe at yahoo.com (Sloetoe)]

--- Tim Woodworth <hiker_00@hotmail.com> wrote: <snip>
> I've cut a great deal from my pack and have a base 
> weight of 14lbs and by God I won't double it to 28 lbs in
> order to skip a drop in 3 or 4 days.
### That's your choice, Tim. My base weight (summer) is also ~14
lbs, but I have carried upwards of 40 pounds of food to allow
myself and my kids to be "out" up to 10 days at a time. That
would translate to about 3 weeks for me alone. When I did the
AT, I hit the post office 20 times -- about every 105 miles, or
about 6 days out, 1 day "down", per week. That evolved over
time, but the average is a useful figure.

> I don't think my pack will even carry 28lbs with any 
> comfort for me.
### Those that say things like "Gear doesn't matter." or "Gear
doesn't make the hiker." or "You can hike the AT with *any* gear
crack me up, because your gear is part of the total hiker's
SYSTEM -- which includes his/her brain and the style of hiking
to which they aspire. If the hiker's style and the hiker's gear
don't agree -- they're SCREWED. (Ask the Walasi-Yi folks if gear
doesn't matter.)

### Anywho, if your pack doesn't handle 28 lbs well, don't pack
28 lbs in it. But then too, don't deprecate those that do, who
then stay out of town longer and with whom you keep
leap-frogging. 'Dash & drop' applies to a lot of hikers who do
the 3-4 day thing, not just weekend warriors and children
spilling themselves onto the nearest uphill blaze.

### I just finished preliminary trip planning for my Christmas
hike (Yes, I'm "planning." No, disingenuous statements of
surprise are not needed or helpful.) My base will be ~18-20 lbs
(I'm a cold weenie). I will start with 
3 days food from Fontana->Wesser   (35? miles) [big meal]
5 days food from Wesser->Neels Gap (70? miles) [buy+ @ Neels?]
3 days food from Neels ->Springer  (35? miles) [slow down]
--                                 ----
11 hiking days to travel           140 miles in 7 hour days "+"

My original plan was to hike straight through to Springer, till
I remembered "Dote!" that the trail went right by the NOC and
Walasi-Yi facilities. (Thus, zero time wasted on a highway.) If
I *do* get off the trail (let's just sayyyyy, frin'stance, Goose
Creek cabins!), it'll be MY choice -- not my pack, the trail,
the weather, nuthin'. And look! the average time "out" is 3.7
days! Avoiding the Siren' song of towns doesn't mean you can't
somehow benefit -- even I can take advantage.

> This is said in the context of active packing mode in pre trip
> planning. There are boxes in the basement ready to be sent out
that weigh 8lbs. Are some of these comments from the rosy view
of hiking 10 years ago?
### My Wesser box will go 10 pounds; you're ok. But it's not 10
years ago to get "different" experiences, it's a lot longer. As
Weary noted, the "traditional" 6 month throughhike is now 7+,
with people freezing in Maine and fighting the closing of
Katahdin for the last 300 miles. And this, after having
weathered March sneaux. This is not good, IMO: 4-6 months
produces a better, more comfortable, more successful hike than
6-8 months (again, IMO).

> Or better, are they from folks who resupply from a cache
hidden
> at a trail head?
### Fear not: nobody's doing that.

> I've skimped on shelter, clothing, cooking, water filtration
> and pack.
### I hope you mean "gone light" and not skimped, or else you'll
end up like Weary's prototypical GoLite type who's freezing
their fanny waiting for the ride to town. Or with a pack that's
incapable of carrying 28 lbs.

> I walk a lot of miles per day.  Must I go on a starvation diet
> too or is this lightweight kick a bunch of bunk?
### My kids gain weight while hiking. I try *very hard* not to
gain weight. I LOVE food. [cue drooling sounds] "MMmmm,
fooooooooood."

Sloetoe
Lightweight,
but maybe not when headed out of town.

=====
Spatior! Nitor! Nitor! Tempero!
   Pro Pondera Et Meliora.

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