Why is it always SO FUN to read about the food of other hikers?! Loved this breakdown.
My goal is the same as yours: to lose as little weight as possible on trail. I had a bad experience with this on the AZT in 2017, when I was carrying 5-6 liters of water a day and just literally could not carry the weight of enough food and it really fucked me up afterward — body image wise, metabolism wise, all of it.
My calorie goals on trail are pretty much the same as yours, and the only things I've never gotten sick of are fruit snacks and those little cheese filled sandwich crackers from Trader Joe's. A+ could eat both all day long lol. My go-to cold-soak dinner (that I have eaten for thousands of miles v happily) is dehydrated refried beans, taco seasoning, instant mashed potatoes, olive oil, and with a bunch of crumbled tortilla chips or Cheez-its mixed in. Then last year I also started adding powdered lime to this meal (will link below) and omg it has changed my liiiiiife it is so good!
Other things I love to eat on trail: chocolate covered almonds, roasted & salted pistachios, chocolate collagen powder, whole wheat tortillas with cream cheese and avocado (or those little guac packets), almond butter smeared on dark chocolate, string cheese, and chips obviously. Always chips. I have also just learned that powdered butter and powdered heavy cream are a thing (for folks who eat dairy obv) and I am pumped to try adding those to mac & cheese when I bring a stove, or even to cold-soaked oatmeal.
I love the ingenuity of your cold soak dinner! And omg someone gave lime powder recently and I forgot abt it and this is a good reminder it exists bc I want some!
I think because there are so few fresh-tasting things to be eaten on a long-distance hike that the lime powder *really* makes the dinner sing. Literally every night that I ate it I was like, "HOW IS THIS SO GOOD WHAT IS HAPPENING" lol
I'll say as a person who also has an Estrogen Operating System (I love this phrase you used recently and have started using this + TOS with my patients) that if you have an EOS + a goofy metabolism (PCOS, insulin resistance) you might not get to the 3500 calorie mark, especially if you don't do insaneo miles (on trails like AT I do 15-20/day and less steep ones like PCT 20-30) and that's ok. I've hiked several long distance trails and the only time I've ever gotten anywhere near to 3500 calories a day was at the end of my PCT hike and it was getting cold at night (I flipped and did Sierras last which is a total pro move I recommend to anyone. No mozzies! No crazy rivers you can drown in! No people! Fall colors! End on Mt Whitney!).
I think what you recommended about eating to an amount where you don't loose massive weight is the key- I also only lost 5 or 10 lbs on each of my long hikes. I used to feel bad about this bc I wanted to lose more weight or I saw all these people eating twice as much as me, or people would say I needed to eat more but I'd feel sick when I did so- but in retrospect I think I just did what worked for me.
I didn't hijack my metabolism, it was pretty normal in between hikes. I didn't get injured. I kinda just kept going on my moderate pace.
Also as an aside I found doing qigong and taichi especially to be really helpful for strengthening tendons and ligaments. I used to be uncoordinated and literally fall a lot when I was hiking- very easy for me to twist an ankle. The subtle rotating type and balancing moves you do in tai chi especially seemed to fix this problem for me- also key since trail runners are the way to go rather than high boots (which I think locked my ankle in and made me fall any time I got off balance). I was lucky in that I was in school for acupuncture before I got into hiking and we were required to take a course every semester but there's vids on youtube these days. I'm not sure if there are other disciplines that have a similar function of strengthening tendies (yoga didn't do the trick for me, tho it's awesome) but check it out!
It is a universal truth that Fritos and Cheetos taste the best when eaten in the backcountry !! !! I couldn’t dream it was possible to improve such masterpieces but I believe it’s true. Chips forever and ever amen
Food on trail is my favorite topic and I really like how you wrote about it with sensitivity to gender diversity AND eating disorders. Thank you for that. Also, do you ever make Andrew Skurka's recipes? I like his beans and rice thing.
I woke up late today and didn’t get to go on my training hike, so I did your workout (modified) with a little strength training instead! Gotta work on the jog, my knees don’t like that 😂
Otherwise, this is super useful for all sorts of reasons. Excited to try your trail dinner on my upcoming weekend trip
VERY helpful article! Thank you! Recently I've been making my own meals with a dehydrator at home. Mostly ground beef or chicken together with a mix of lentils and quinoa. I've tried it out on an overnight trip or two and have an idea of how much fills me up, but I don't have any idea what the calorie count or macro ratios would be. Do you happen to know of any on line resources to help estimate it?
You could look up the calorie counts/macros for the diff ingredients before you dehydrate them, and do the math that way- and if you want more cals u can always add olive oil!
A pound of body fat is between 3,400 to 3,700 calories. It doesn’t take long at 1700 calories per day (I added up the calories a friend was getting from his expensive freeze dried meals) for hiker hunger to set in, and since he is a big guy, he probably burns at least 4000 calories a day. Spare tires go away pretty quickly at that rate.
Generally not recommended bc you can start a fire on accident (I've heard of it happening on the PCT), and also not allowed in places w fire bans (like the PCT) but if yr in a damp environ w no fire ban then one could hypothetically make that choice
A wild fire burned the Boise, Idaho foothills a few years ago when a hiker burned his bog paper after he dropped a deuce. Dry and windy is not the time to started a fire in the western grasslands.
Why is it always SO FUN to read about the food of other hikers?! Loved this breakdown.
My goal is the same as yours: to lose as little weight as possible on trail. I had a bad experience with this on the AZT in 2017, when I was carrying 5-6 liters of water a day and just literally could not carry the weight of enough food and it really fucked me up afterward — body image wise, metabolism wise, all of it.
My calorie goals on trail are pretty much the same as yours, and the only things I've never gotten sick of are fruit snacks and those little cheese filled sandwich crackers from Trader Joe's. A+ could eat both all day long lol. My go-to cold-soak dinner (that I have eaten for thousands of miles v happily) is dehydrated refried beans, taco seasoning, instant mashed potatoes, olive oil, and with a bunch of crumbled tortilla chips or Cheez-its mixed in. Then last year I also started adding powdered lime to this meal (will link below) and omg it has changed my liiiiiife it is so good!
Other things I love to eat on trail: chocolate covered almonds, roasted & salted pistachios, chocolate collagen powder, whole wheat tortillas with cream cheese and avocado (or those little guac packets), almond butter smeared on dark chocolate, string cheese, and chips obviously. Always chips. I have also just learned that powdered butter and powdered heavy cream are a thing (for folks who eat dairy obv) and I am pumped to try adding those to mac & cheese when I bring a stove, or even to cold-soaked oatmeal.
**
Lime powder: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005ECLIUA
I love the ingenuity of your cold soak dinner! And omg someone gave lime powder recently and I forgot abt it and this is a good reminder it exists bc I want some!
I think because there are so few fresh-tasting things to be eaten on a long-distance hike that the lime powder *really* makes the dinner sing. Literally every night that I ate it I was like, "HOW IS THIS SO GOOD WHAT IS HAPPENING" lol
Ha ha ha the bar is lowwww 🫠
I'll say as a person who also has an Estrogen Operating System (I love this phrase you used recently and have started using this + TOS with my patients) that if you have an EOS + a goofy metabolism (PCOS, insulin resistance) you might not get to the 3500 calorie mark, especially if you don't do insaneo miles (on trails like AT I do 15-20/day and less steep ones like PCT 20-30) and that's ok. I've hiked several long distance trails and the only time I've ever gotten anywhere near to 3500 calories a day was at the end of my PCT hike and it was getting cold at night (I flipped and did Sierras last which is a total pro move I recommend to anyone. No mozzies! No crazy rivers you can drown in! No people! Fall colors! End on Mt Whitney!).
I think what you recommended about eating to an amount where you don't loose massive weight is the key- I also only lost 5 or 10 lbs on each of my long hikes. I used to feel bad about this bc I wanted to lose more weight or I saw all these people eating twice as much as me, or people would say I needed to eat more but I'd feel sick when I did so- but in retrospect I think I just did what worked for me.
I didn't hijack my metabolism, it was pretty normal in between hikes. I didn't get injured. I kinda just kept going on my moderate pace.
Also as an aside I found doing qigong and taichi especially to be really helpful for strengthening tendons and ligaments. I used to be uncoordinated and literally fall a lot when I was hiking- very easy for me to twist an ankle. The subtle rotating type and balancing moves you do in tai chi especially seemed to fix this problem for me- also key since trail runners are the way to go rather than high boots (which I think locked my ankle in and made me fall any time I got off balance). I was lucky in that I was in school for acupuncture before I got into hiking and we were required to take a course every semester but there's vids on youtube these days. I'm not sure if there are other disciplines that have a similar function of strengthening tendies (yoga didn't do the trick for me, tho it's awesome) but check it out!
I love reading all this detail
It is a universal truth that Fritos and Cheetos taste the best when eaten in the backcountry !! !! I couldn’t dream it was possible to improve such masterpieces but I believe it’s true. Chips forever and ever amen
🙏
Thank you for sharing so much detail and doing in a way that is actually enjoyable to read! I look forward to hiking with you on February.
Food on trail is my favorite topic and I really like how you wrote about it with sensitivity to gender diversity AND eating disorders. Thank you for that. Also, do you ever make Andrew Skurka's recipes? I like his beans and rice thing.
I woke up late today and didn’t get to go on my training hike, so I did your workout (modified) with a little strength training instead! Gotta work on the jog, my knees don’t like that 😂
Otherwise, this is super useful for all sorts of reasons. Excited to try your trail dinner on my upcoming weekend trip
If you don't want to jog u can do more walking! The workout will just take longer
that's so interesting that people consistently get sick of nuts first! any theories on why that is?
VERY helpful article! Thank you! Recently I've been making my own meals with a dehydrator at home. Mostly ground beef or chicken together with a mix of lentils and quinoa. I've tried it out on an overnight trip or two and have an idea of how much fills me up, but I don't have any idea what the calorie count or macro ratios would be. Do you happen to know of any on line resources to help estimate it?
You could look up the calorie counts/macros for the diff ingredients before you dehydrate them, and do the math that way- and if you want more cals u can always add olive oil!
Yeah, good call. What do you carry the olive oil in?
I use a small plastic soda bottle (or any small plastic bottle) and put that in a ziploc in case of oil drips
Awesome! Thanks! 🙏🏻
Another option for olive oil if you're going on a shorter trip from home or mailing resupply boxes is to get these little packets: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F8LW2CM/
Ooo! That looks like a really convenient option. Thanks!
very interesting
Wonderful! Thank you.
A pound of body fat is between 3,400 to 3,700 calories. It doesn’t take long at 1700 calories per day (I added up the calories a friend was getting from his expensive freeze dried meals) for hiker hunger to set in, and since he is a big guy, he probably burns at least 4000 calories a day. Spare tires go away pretty quickly at that rate.
What about burning toilet paper instead of burying or carrying out? Works for me.
Generally not recommended bc you can start a fire on accident (I've heard of it happening on the PCT), and also not allowed in places w fire bans (like the PCT) but if yr in a damp environ w no fire ban then one could hypothetically make that choice
A wild fire burned the Boise, Idaho foothills a few years ago when a hiker burned his bog paper after he dropped a deuce. Dry and windy is not the time to started a fire in the western grasslands.