Advice for long-distance hikers, part three

food, training, shitting in the woods

this could be your morning view, if you sign up for one of my February trips

A cool thing! I just opened up registration for my February 2025 beginner guided backpacking trips, in southern Arizona. These trips are for women, trans and non-binary people who want to learn to backpack in the style of long-distance hiking in a super supportive environment while eating insanely good food. Full details are here! These trips are *amazing*, and sold out this year, so grab your spot soon if you want to join!

Now for the long-distance hiking advice!

Part one is here, part two is here

adding peanut butter to my oreos on the MRT

Food:

What to eat on a long trail is one of the hardest things for a hiker to figure out. It took me years! Now I feel like I have it pretty dialed for myself, and can quickly assemble my food bag without much thought and still be confident that I’ll have enough food (that I don’t hate) to be well fed without having so much extra that I roll into town at the end with several pounds left. What and how you end up eating on trail will be different from other hikers, but there are some general truths that apply to most people that can help you make informed decisions when packing your food bag. Here’s what I’ve learned on my own journey of eating in the outdoors!

Content warning: Food planning for a long trail requires a lot of calorie counting. This feels… some sort of way if you’ve ever had an eating disorder. There are several things about a long-distance hiker’s relationship with food that are lowkey eating-disordery (binging in town, for example). It’s a bummer, but I’ve learned that the better I get at packing my food bag with (enough) food that I actually want to eat, and making sure I include nutritious food alongside the junk, the less disordered my trail eating is- and once you really get it down to a science, you no longer need to actually count the calories- you can just eyeball it, so that’s nice.

First, let’s talk about hiker hunger: Hiker hunger is the bottomless pit that opens inside of you once you’ve been on trail for a certain amount of time- ten days is the average, but for some people it happens sooner, and for some people it happens later. It’s more likely to happen sooner if you’re on a trail with tons of elevation gain, or if it’s cold (these scenarios require more calories) and it might hold off for a bit on flat, gentle trail, in hot weather or if you’re hiking less than 15 miles a day. Generally people pack a certain number of calories per day before hiker hunger, and another number after. For example, if I was starting the PCT tomorrow, I would pack one number for the first week, and then I would plan for a higher number after, in case my hiker hunger has kicked in by then.

corn nuts, pistachios and prunes- my trail mix of choice on the AZT (it was fine)

How many calories per day do I pack? An excellent question! My rule of thumb is 3000 calories a day before hiker hunger (so if I was going on a five day trip this is what I would pack for the whole time, since I’m not out long enough for hiker hunger to set in [unless it’s cold or super steep, then I would pack the hiker hunger number even for five days]) and then 3,500 calories a day after hiker hunger sets in (if I was hiking the PCT, this is what I would carry for the entire thing, with the exception of the first week). This may sound like a lot of calories to you, but let’s break it down- as an estrogen person of a certain age, I burn 1200 calories/day just sitting still. To finish the PCT in one go, you need to average 18 miles a day, including rest days- so in order to have rest days, you’ll want to hike 20-25 miles/day (at least) once you get your trail legs. Hiking 20 miles on flat ground in warm weather burns about 2,000 calories, so I’ll burn 3,200 calories minimum on a 20 mile day- more if I go farther, more if there’s elevation gain or it’s cold (so most days I’m burning more). So I’ll have no problem using up those 3,500 calories a day, and in fact I can probably use more (and I will add more as needed, throwing some extra bars or chips or olive oil in on a resupply if I was hungry in the last section or if I know steep terrain or cold weather is coming up).

Does this number work for everyone? Yes and no. In my experience, 3,500 calories/day is a good number for estrogen people on a not-too-brutal trail like the PCT- over the course of five months I’ll lose maybe 5-10 lbs, which means I was in a bit of a deficit, yes, but it’s not so much weight loss that I become malnourished, and I’ll feel healthy and strong when I finish. In my experience, a bit of weight loss in unavoidable- you’re lowkey (highkey?) overtraining, and since so much of the day is spent walking/in motion, there’s just not enough rest time to eat enough to truly replenish everything that you’re burning. You’re wolfing down your food as fast as you can at breaks, lunch, and in camp while you’re trying not to fall asleep, and straight from your hipbelt pockets while walking. It’s rushed and you’re probably (definitely) not chewing your food enough and it’s kind of gross, but you’re doing your best to shove in as much as you can while also maintaining constant steady forward motion. And if you think you can do it differently on a trail like the PCT- you’ll be able to slow down and really eat with intention! You’re wrong. It’s hiker math- there are only so many hours in the day and you need to make it a certain number of miles. There’s just not time. So even eating as much as you possibly can, you’ll likely still lose a bit of weight- but the goal here is to not lose too much weight, to keep on as much weight as you possibly can. If you lose too much weight it’ll effect your energy, and your mood, and you might not be able to finish your hike. Also, as estrogen people we’re all socialized to want to be thinner (no matter our actual weight) and it’s tempting to look at the weight loss on a long trail as good (even subconsciously) but overtraining for 5 months with a calorie deficit shocks your metabolism super intensely- so whatever you lose on trail you’ll end up regaining within weeks of finishing, and then some extra on top of that, as your freaked-out metabolism tries to save you from the disaster/famine it thinks that you’re experiencing. (This has happened to me on every trail I’ve hiked.) So the thing to do is to try and keep your weight as stable as possible, so your body doesn’t do a big yo-yo, and you also don’t get malnourished and tired and have to quit your hike.

Is 3,500 calories a day enough for testosterone people? Often no- testosterone people need more calories generally because they often have more muscle mass (which means they burn more calories just sitting still), so 3,500 often falls short of their needs on a long trail like the PCT. However, carrying more food means a heavier food bag, so in my experience most people carry around 3,500, even if it’s not enough, although some people do carry more. This means that testosterone people on a trail like the PCT are often in a much higher calorie deficit and are more likely to suffer from malnutrition on trail. A good way to counter this is to try and bring up your calories/day without making your food bag too heavy by sneaking in as many high calorie density foods into your bag as you can stomach- olive oil for your dinner (and even in your breakfast oatmeal), peanut butter, etc. (We’ll talk about calorie density in a bit.)

instant coffee in cold spring water on the L2H- eww

Nutrition- You don’t just need double the calories you usually eat when you’re on trail, you need double everything- double the protein and fat, double the vitamins and minerals. On the other hand, when you’re in constant forward motion, the easiest thing for your body to digest and convert into energy to replenish what’s rapidly being burned is simple carbs. For this reason, inside of you are two wolves: one needs protein, calcium, vitamin C, fiber, etc- and one needs to eat a family-sized bag of wavy lays in one sitting. You need to feed both wolves. You’re no longer a regular person, living a regular life and exercising for a few hours a few times a week- on trail you’re an endurance athlete, and endurance athletes, whose days revolve entirely around movement, have very different nutritional needs than regular people. If you feed the nutritional wolf and not the trash wolf when you’re on trail you’ll bonk, and your hike will be over. If you feed the trash wolf and not the nutritional wolf you won’t have any energy and you’ll feel lowkey ill, and your hike may be over. You need to feed both wolves. This is totally doable! It just takes some planning and forethought, which we’ll get into.

Calories per ounce: calories per ounce is, IMO, the best way to start to figure out how to get your calorie needs met each day while keeping your food bag a manageable weight. Essentially, a gram of fat has 9 calories, while a gram of carbs or protein has 4 calories. This means that food you pack with fat in it will be lighter than food you pack without fat, because it has more calories per ounce. For example, 300 calories of oatmeal, which doesn’t have fat, is much heavier than 300 calories of peanut butter, which is almost entirely fat. A good rule of thumb is to try and average 120 calories/ounce with your entire days’ worth of food. To do this, you can combine foods that have lower calories/ounce with foods that have higher calories/ounce (since we’ll bonk if we just eat peanut butter). If everything in your food bag averages 120 calories/ounce, 2 lbs of food/day will be 3,840 calories/day, which should be plenty.

Some foods that have high calories/ounce:

·      Chips (like 140)

·      Granola (like 130) (unlike oatmeal, granola has fat in it)

·      Peanut butter (200)

·      Olive oil (200)

·      Top ramen (like 150)

·      Bars (like 120)

·      Chocolate (like 180)

·      Mayo (like 180)

·      Nuts (like 200)

Some foods that have low calories/ounce:

·      Instant mashed potatoes (like 90)

·      Gummy candy (or any fat free candy) (like 100)

·      Dried fruit (like 80)

·      Oatmeal (like 100)

·      Jerky (like 80)

·      Pastries and cookies (like 110)

·      Couscous (like 110)

·      Tortillas, bread, tuna packets, or anything else that’s not dehydrated (less than 100)

We like foods from both lists, so as we combine them we’ll just do fun hiker math to make sure that our average is still 120 calories/ounce- for example, if you want to bring tortillas and tuna packets for lunch (very common), you can also pack mayo packets from the gas station, and that will bring your average up. If you like oatmeal, you can add peanut butter to it. If you like jerky, you can also pack chips. My favorite hack for this is to bring a bottle of olive oil to pour in my dinner- when I’m on trail nighttime is the easiest time for me to digest a lot of calories, since it’s the one time of day I’m not walking- so adding a few oz of olive oil to my dinner brings my average way up, buying me space for more of the simple carbs (lower calories/ounce) that I crave during the day.

a giant salad *and* a giant basket of fries in town on the L2H- feed both wolves

Protein: While there are exceptions, most people feel better if they get some protein throughout the day while on trail. I like to make “milk” out of protein powder and water, and eat my breakfast granola in that. Jerky is one of my snacks during the day/at lunch, and there are instant refried beans in my dinner. People also like peanut butter, tuna/salmon packets, cheese, salami, meat sticks, and bars. Don’t go too hard though! Even though I eat protein on trail, and fat, the bulk of my diet each day is still carbs- gotta feed the carb wolf or it will NOT be happy.

A word on nuts: It’s tempting to lean hard on nuts as a food source on trail, as they have such high calories/ounce. Unfortunately, nuts are the first thing hikers go off of on the long trails, and hiker boxes are full of trail mix. The only nut I can stand at this point is pistachios, and only in small quantities, and I find all nut butters repulsive. It’s great to pack a bit of nuts, but keep in mind that they’ll likely become the least favorite thing in your food bag.

Salty vs. sweet: A common mistake hikers make is packing too much sweet food, and not enough salty. So many trail snacks are sweet, but you’ll likely get sick of your food faster if you don’t have a good balance. Chips are my favorite solution to this, ha.

Chips: Aside from my breakfast and dinner, chips are the only trail food that I’ve never gotten sick of. Simple carbs, fat, and salt- what more could you want?! Chips have great calories/ounce, and for some reason they taste incredible in the wilderness- better than almost anything! If you need more calories each day and you’re not sure what else to bring, I recommend adding more chips. (You can strap the bag to the top of your pack or put it in the outside stretchy pocket if you don’t want to squish it yet, or you can squish it a bit [or a lot] to fit it inside.)

both wolves!!!

Vitamins and minerals: getting enough vitamins and minerals during a 5 month hike is lowkey impossible, so the best approach is harm reduction: what can you add to your menu that will stave off malnutrition the longest? Here are some things I do:

·      The protein powder I eat with my granola in the morning has vitamins in it? It’s from Costco, I dunno

·      I buy kale chips when I find them on sale, or dehydrate kale in the oven/buy dried kale online to put in my dinners/if I’m only out for a few days I might pack some fresh kale for my dinners

·      I bring emergen-c or vitamin C gummies

·      At night I take Calm calcium/magnesium powder (this also gets rid of nighttime leg cramps, if you get those on trail)

·      My dried fruit has vitamins (and fiber!)

What I eat in a day

Here’s my daily menu. What you end up eating will be different than this, since preferences are so individual (and I can’t eat gluten, dairy or soy), but this is an example of 3500 calories/day while balancing salty/sweet, getting some protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals, only cooking (boiling water) at breakfast and dinner, and averaging around 120 calories/ounce.

Breakfast: protein powder mixed with water to make “milk”, with granola. Also black tea.

Snacks throughout the day: bars, jerky, chocolate, dried fruit, pistachios, chips

Lunch: snacks but in greater quantity

Dinner: taco soup- rice noodles with instant refried beans, olive oil, taco seasoning and dried kale (also bone broth powder if they have it at Costco). The recipe is here.

Cooking vs. cold soak: when long-distance hikers say they “cook”, what they mean is that they bring water to a boil at dinner (and sometimes at breakfast), and eat things that can be prepared that way- ramen, instant refriend beans, mac n’ cheese, freeze dried dinners, oatmeal, instant coffee, etc. Keeping kitchen prep this simple saves time, energy, and pack weight, all of which are in short supply on a five month trail. (Hikers generally do not heat water for lunch, in order to save time and fuel weight.) Some long-distance hikers choose not to cook at all- “cold soaking” their dinner instead (usually in a talenti gelato screw-top jar). This saves even more time and energy, and spares you the weight of fuel and a pot. It’s not for everyone but it really works for some people! A few things people like to cold-soak are ramen, couscous, instant mashed potatoes, or they just eat wraps or snacks for dinner. I cold-soaked for both hikes of the PCT and hated it, honestly- I wasn’t able to eat enough calories for dinner, and eating a hot dinner helps me sleep warm, so I was colder at night. But it is the most simple solution, and some people swear by it.

So how do you know, after all this info, that you have 3500 calories/day in your food bag? You count it. You literally count up the calories of everything in your food bag. And once you have more experience with this, you’ll be able to eyeball it, and won’t have to count anymore!

deserts are full of nice places to poop

Now let’s talk about shitting outside!

Some people love it! Some people hate it! I feel whatever about it. When I’m packing for a backpacking trip, I ask myself: are there specific rules around pooping where I’m going? For example, in the desert section of the PCT you pack out your toilet paper. In a narrow river canyon, you might pack out your poop and your toilet paper, in a wag bag. Whatever the specific rules are, the first thing to do is find out what they are so that you can follow them. If there aren’t any specific rules, the general guideline is to dig a cathole at least 6 inches deep, away from campsites and water sources. Some people always pack out their toilet paper. I like to ask myself if every hiker who comes through this area buried their toilet paper, would it be a problem? As in, how many hikers come through whatever area I’m in, and how long does it take toilet paper to break down here? Toilet paper does break down when buried, so long as there’s not hundreds of people hiking through in a short period of time adding new toilet paper to every single possible cathole spot (the desert section of the PCT or other popular trail). If you’re on a trail or route that not many people use, it’s probably fine to bury it.

My pooping kit has the lightest deuce of spades trowel (this helps with cathole digging), TP, hand sani, and wipes, plus a Ziploc to pack out the wipes. You always pack out wipes!

Training

Transitioning from regular life (exercise a few hours a day, max) to a long-distance trail (exercise ten hours a day) is incredibly painful. Your body will hurt in wild new ways you can’t even imagine. Lots of people start a long trail right off the couch, which is fine, but this method is almost unfathomably painful, and your chance of having to end your hike due to injury is much higher. There’s no way to avoid the pain of the first weeks on a long trail entirely, but training helps a lot. When I think back to how much pain I was in on the trails I didn’t train for, I shudder in fear.

The only training I have found that actually helps prepare me for a long-distance hike is to walk uphill on the treadmill while watching TV on my phone. You can sub an outside workout, sure, but there’s not always a perfect uphill trail near my house and the weather isn’t always good, so I always end up back at the treadmill. I walk on a 15% incline at a 3mph pace for one mile, switch to flat and jog a 10 minute mile, and then repeat. I start with four miles a few days a week and work up to eight miles five days a week. This workout will destroy you. And you will get to watch so many shows. And you will become very strong.

Why not just do strength training for my legs? While all the tedious walking? That’s because muscles get strong before tendons and ligaments do- and it’s the tendons and ligaments that matter most. You don’t just want to get your body strong so that you can walk uphill- you want your joints to get used to the pounding of hours of repetitive motion every day. This is what will help with the pain, because the overuse is what causes the pain. Strength training is probably good too, but if you can only do one thing I’d do the uphill distance walking.

If you do happen to have a perfect trail near your house with some incline, you can of course do this training outside.

(Also, I’m not like a sports professional? This is just what has worked for me.)

And that wraps up this edition of advice for long-distance hikers. Feel free to let me know in the comments if I forgot anything. And if you want me to yammer at you about hiking for six days, both in the beautiful low-elevation sonoran desert and while eating delicious meals at our rental house, sign up for one of my beginner guided trips in February! Deets are here. (These trips sold out this year, so grab your spot soon if you want to join.)

That’s all for now,

Carrot