December Section Hike Food

It’s time to eat in the backcountry again.  And hike of course.

Food isn’t why I/we hike after all.  But if you don’t eat well, the hiking part won’t go well either.

The 3 big bags on the left are my share of the group meals for Mule and myself.  They come in right at 4 lbs.  The 4 bags on the right are Mule’s, and they come in at just under 7 lbs.  The difference is offset by me bringing the camp kitchen and the booze.  Wine is actually part of one of the meals.

My food bag with 7 days worth of breakfast and lunches plus the 3 dinners and liquid medicinals weighs a bit under 13 lbs.   I’ll be averaging 2 lbs./day, a little higher than normal, but then again it’s a winter hike.  My total pack weight will be 28 lbs. even with cold weather gear.

I’ve always struggled with breakfast.  I’ve learned from experience that I don’t like the time it takes to cook in the morning, nor do I like cleaning pots then.  And breakfast bars alone aren’t appealing.  So this time, I’m doing souped-up Carnation Breakfast Essentials using Milkman milk powder, with some Swift’s instant coffee thrown in for a kick.  And one granola bar per day.

As far as lunch snacks, we like to graze 3-4 times while we hike, trying to keep our energy levels fairly even.  To this end I’m bringing a mix of candy bars (Snickers, Payday, Almond Joy), savory junk food (Fritos, Combos, Lance crackers, peanut butter-filled pretzels and Slim Jims) and a few Babybels.

The dinners are a secret for now, but rest assured that most if not all will get posted upon my return.  I have some really special meals prepared for this trip.

We will pass right by a store on our 5th evening, so with a little luck we’ll get to toss a couple of brews in our packs to finish the hike with.

As far as the camp kitchen, since I’m making several large one pot meals, I’m bringing my 1.3L Evernew pot as well as the 0.6L, and I’m going to try the Soto WindMaster stove even though it might be too cold to operate efficiently on several nights.  We may cook with fire some.

I’ll also be trying my new Superior Wilderness Designs food bag for the first time.  Hopefully the bears will be hibernating!

I’ll be back a week from Sunday and will get some recipes up shortly thereafter.