[pct-l] Lingering with a question (redux)

[montypct]

> Hello Monty,
>
> 1 1/2 pounds or less per day?  Wow--I'm getting hungry just thinking 
> about it.  Yes, I'm curious--I've gone to thru-hiker.com and looked  at 
> some food recommendations there, and they seemed adequate to me.   In any 
> case, yes, I'd like your ideas as new information is always a  good thing.

> Ben


Food for one day (shoot toward zero moisture) 16-24 0unces:

Snacks (times three per day)
Nuts, trail mix, granola, dried pineapple, rasins, snickers, energy bar, 
licorice, jolly ranchers,
jello instant pudding with powdered milk (sugar free weighs much less).... 
.......................... 2- 3.5 ounces

Breakfast
Pop Tarts, granola (1/8 cup powdered milk to add water later optional),
anything multigrain (bread, breakfast and energy 
bars).........................................  ....................3-4 
ounces

Lunch
Tortillas, pita, rice cakes, crackers with peanut butter(prespread) 
.............................................3-4 ounces

Dinner
Lipton noodle sides, freeze dried backpacker food (chili mac 
etc)..............................................3.5-4 0zs

Repackage EVERYTHING (almost) in the bags you put your produce into in the 
grocery store then cut off excess for a few reasons:
Lighter, less trash volume, and foods pack down much, much smaller than in 
original packaging or ziplocks.  This is especially good for packing a bear 
canister.

I also carry 2-3 ounces of instant white rice as a backup for emergencies or 
an addition to a noodle side  I usually had food left over coming into the 
next town.  The three times in lots of miles I've run low is by misjudging 
the number of days travel between resupplies, but on a per day basis I've 
always had enough to get stuffed.

If my math is correct we're looking at 16-24 ounces per day.

On this diet, for example, I gained 2 lbs from the Canada to California 
section doing up to 35 mile days.  Also the lighter pack (5.5 lb. base 
weight) took much, much less energy to carry and would allow me to carry 
much more food (or anything) weight and/or volume if I wanted .

I don't know any thru-hiker who ate more than me.  I was NEVER hungry.

Warner Springs Monty




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "BLW" <ben at blowphoto.net>
To: "montypct" <montypct at gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 2:55 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Lingering with a question (redux)


> Hello Monty,
>
> 1 1/2 pounds or less per day?  Wow--I'm getting hungry just thinking 
> about it.  Yes, I'm curious--I've gone to thru-hiker.com and looked  at 
> some food recommendations there, and they seemed adequate to me.   In any 
> case, yes, I'd like your ideas as new information is always a  good thing.
> One problem with going ultra-lightweight is that I'm a photographer,  so 
> I'll need a little extra room and padding for camera gear.  And my  cousin 
> and I are planning to bring a tent between the two of us (so  that's 
> probably another pound or two apiece).  Your idea to custom  fit the pack 
> is right on, and a suggestion I plan to follow.  If  you've got any more 
> gems, please pass them on (in fact, if you have a  spare 24-105mm f/4 L 
> lens, you could pass that on, too ;)
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> On Feb 19, 2007, at 9:34 AM, montypct wrote:
>
>> Hi Ben
>>
>> It sounds like you've done a great job of reducing your base weight.
>> If you follow the same principles about food you can do a lot  better on 
>> food weight that what a previous post suggests.
>> My food is about 1 1/2 lbs or less per day and is more than most 
>> thru-hikers can eat.  There's also ways to pack it that greatly  reduce 
>> the volume.  If you're curious about these things, let me  know. But it 
>> looks like you are already pretty well educated with  the base weight you 
>> have.
>>
>> If you're not hiking until 2008, you might have even more changes.
>>
>> A pack is the last thing to buy if you're going to custom fit it to  your 
>> gear.  My main thru-hike packs are only 1800 cubic inches.
>>
>> Warner Springs Monty
>>
>