Our Food Plan
Variety
It's said to be the spice of life! Near Tyndall Creek, we met a young hiker who was very depressed about his food situation. He was eating some sort of grain meal as his sole diet. He had taken only one type of food, and now he couldn't stand it. He more or less begged us for food, and we each gave him something. In reality though, we couldn't solve his problem. We just had enough food for ourselves, and frankly he wasn't starving, he just hated what he had left. He had made two key mistakes: he didn't have any variety, and obviously he hadn't tested his food theories beforehand!
Experienced thru-hikers recommend preparing and eating all your camp recipes at home just as you would on the trail. Try it for a week, and don't eat anything but trail food, if possible! Plan for variety. Realize that your appetite will change as you travel.
For a little extra kick, bring along some spices and a few treats. Craig likes Tabasco sauce, and I'm partial to cayenne pepper and some Indian spices. I also carried some jellied ginger as an occasional treat.
Craig and I approached this differently. Craig, ever the scientist, planned his calories and recipes in detail. On the other hand, I did it more by the seat of the pants. While some other factors might have played a part, Craig's weight held up well over the hike, but mine did not. At first, I said good riddance to 8 or 9 excess pounds, but after that, I dropped below my ideal weight and finally lost some muscle mass! In all, I lost 20 pounds, and towards the end of the trip my energy level suffered as a result. So, learn from my mistake and plan your food carefully!
You might catch a few trout, but don't count on them as part of your food plan.
Meals on the Trail:
At the start of our hike, we ate the traditional camper way. We had breakfast, broke camp, and started snacking almost immediately as we hiked. We stopped at mid-day for lunch and snacked again until we made our camp destination in the evening. We then set up camp and had dinner. While this works, we spent too much time in the morning getting out of camp. It was generally cold, and we weren't moving very quickly. Somewhere along the way, we decided to wake up, quickly break camp, and start moving on the trail before dawn. This is how many thru-hikers do it. The advantage is that you get out of camp quickly, and warm up through walking. We'd walk until the sun came out, and then find a nice spot near water, and stop for breakfast. We prepared our breakfasts, the night before and packed them near the top of our packs. This turned out to be far preferable to having breakfast in camp.
We followed a common routine for lunch and snacks. Craig liked to stop each hour, pull off his pack and have a quick snack. This would be a 5-10 minute stop. This was not my preference, but I started doing it to stay together, and try it out. There are some advantages to this. It forces you to take little breaks. This is much better than walking until you're really tired. Since you're already stopped, you can easily make minor adjustments like getting rid of a stone in your shoe, or adjusting some items in your pack. Also, since you're stopped, you tend to really eat your snack and drink water.
For lunch, we varied things. Craig sometimes broke out his stove and had a hot meal. I had cold food, usually a tortilla with some cheese or a mixture of peanut-butter and honey. My preference was to rest a bit after lunch, or even take a short nap. Craig liked to eat, and then start moving before he felt sluggish. So we each adjusted our preferences a bit. I would have liked to nap for half an hour, but doing this regularly would have driven Craig crazy.
For the evening meal, experienced thru-hikers recommend that you eat, and then hike for another hour or so before setting up your camp. This is not only to make more mileage, but to avoid bear problems. By eating, and more importantly cleaning up, far from camp, you keep food smells away from where you sleep. Another advantage is that you can eat near water, replenish your water supply and then camp wherever you like. It isn't necessary to look for an "ideal" camp near water etc. While I agree with this in theory, it is not what we did. We tried to find camps near water; ones that were scenic. We'd lay out all our gear, set up camp; then cook our dinners and relax. Once you eat and get comfortable, it's hard to pull your packs on again, and hike some more. And no, we didn't have trouble with bears in camp; rodents yes, but not bears.
The specifics about when to eat, and how to hike and take breaks are up to the individual and what you work out with your partner(s). Try our breakfast strategy, though, and keep an open mind about breaks etc. Try not to walk too long without breaks, and don't get so goal oriented that you extend yourself excessively.
Food and Canisters