[pct-l] what does 2 pounds mean

Sun Dec 20 08:40:57 CST 2009

Good morning, Ellen,

My Calorie requirement comments were mostly intended for the younger bunch
of hikers, and particularly the guys.   The metabolism of individuals varies
greatly, but those young guys usually have the metabolism of a red-hot wood
stove.  When they go into the woods the bears hide their own food in trees.
Not only that, but they are the ones likely to book the most miles, further
increasing the fuel requirements.

I’m about Larry’s size:  I’m 68” tall and 160 lbs.  I’m also 68 years old –
almost – which, as you mention, somewhat reduces the Caloric needs.  I have
a pretty good idea of my fuel usage when I receive a resupply box from home.
When I call home from a trail town my next box will already be at – or on
the way to – the next stop, but I will tell my wife what I need for the
stop-after-next.  All I need to tell her is: 1) How many Calories/ day I
want, 2) how many days I project, and, 2) where to send it.

She then enters the daily Calorie target into an Excel food spreadsheet and
picks daily menu items from a long list of possibilities.  She continues to
select items until the displayed Calorie sum equals the target.  Those items
are then bagged for one day’s chow.  What I get in the resulting resupply
box is always a surprise, but she’s been feeding me for over 43 years so she
ought to know what works.  Also, I’m not too picky.

For the Calorie target, 2007 was a good example:  I was traveling fairly
lite – sub ten base weight -- and averaging 25 miles per hiking day.  Early
in that hike my target was 3,500 Calories/day, and I adjusted that number as
the trip progressed.  By Kennedy Meadows I was receiving 4,500 Calories/day.
When I resupplied at Independence via Kearsarge Pass I bought food locally
from a small store with limited selection of lite-weight foods.  I needed to
resupply for 150 miles and 8 days up to Tuolumne Meadows, and have all but a
half-day of it fit in my bear ‘can.  The result wasn’t my finest hours of
dining.  As I recall, I ended up with 3,000-3,100 Calories/day of limited
variety.  Essentially, I lived on 80 soft, mulit-grain tortillas and two
jars of peanut butter, with a few Snickers bars and raisins.  I ate peanut
butter and tortillas 6 meals a day for 8 days.  Before I got to Tuolumne
Meadows whenever I looked at a marmot all I saw was a giant pork chop on
four legs.

I did stop at VVR for a half-day and had lots to eat.  At that point
according to their scales I had lost about 17 pounds for the entire trip up
to that point -- not an unusual number.

In ’08 and ’09 I also used those same basic Calorie numbers and found it
sufficient.

Based upon experience – assuming I’m not limited by bear ‘can capacity
problems – I can troll through a food store and pretty much guess what I
need for a resupply segment and have it work out OK.  For a short segment
the food eaten they day I start and the day I arrive is a significant
percentage.  Those two admittedly-heavy eating days could be 20%-25% of all
that’s eaten for the segment.  For 7-10 day segments the town-food
percentage is necessarily proportionately lower.

I think Larry has a great deal.  My shelter weighs about 12 ounces while my
food may weigh 15-20 pounds.  I’d love to find some pigeon to carry all the
food while I carry the shelter.

Steel-Eye
Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965
http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye
http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09

On Sat, Dec 19, 2009 at 1:29 PM, Ellen Shopes <igellen at comcast.net> wrote:

>  Steel-Eye, I always love your intelligent, thought-out responses.  Larry
> (the highly intelligent husband) wants to know on what size individual you
> based your caloric calulations.  He's a little guy (67", 145 pounds) and
> older (=lower basal metabolic weight) and feels that 4900 calories would be
> alot for him.  I do know that we have lost weight on each of our JMT hikes,
> and will need to beef up the calories from what we took on those trips
> (about 1 pound/day/person).
> Of course, part of this is in my own self-interest!  Since he carries the
> tent, I usually carry the food.  If I plan a 8-day section out of Kennedy
> Meadows, 2 pounds x 2 people x 8 days = 32 pounds!  Yikes!  On top of my
> base pack weight, I think I will be groaning!
> Eldery Ellen
>
>  ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* CHUCK CHELIN <steeleye at wildblue.net>
> *To:* Ellen Shopes <igellen at comcast.net>
> *Cc:* pct-l at backcountry.net
> *Sent:* Saturday, December 19, 2009 12:42 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [pct-l] what does 2 pounds mean
>
>   Good morning, Ellen,
>
> A hiker’s preoccupation with food may not begin the first day, or fifth, or
> maybe even the fifteenth, but eventually eating becomes something much more
> than the obligatory and periodic function of on-loading fuel. This obsession
> probably begins at the point where most of the body’s fat reserves have been
> burned off, and from then on almost any activity will immediately turn on
> the appestat. Some hikers -- especially lean, young, men traveling fast --
> speak knowingly of 7,000 Calories per day on the trail, and the prodigious
> consumption of food in trail towns is legendary. All-you-can-eat (AYCE)
> buffets are particularly popular.
>
> What works for me after the first week or so is to start with a basic daily
> food requirement of 2,000-2,500 Calories, then add to that more Calories for
> the anticipated mileage. For normal walking or running exercise 90-100
> Calories per mile is about right, but for hiking with a pack in the
> mountains I allow 120 Calories per mile. That means a 20-mile day could
> require 4,400 - 4,900 Calories. My preferred fuel balance is 50%
> carbohydrate, 35% fat, and 15% protein. Any food should be Calorie-dense,
> meaning a high number of Calories per ounce of food weight. In this respect,
> foods high in fat are preferred because fat has 9 Calories per gram vs. the
> 4 Calories per gram of carbohydrate and protein.
>
> Using the percentages above, the 4,900 Calories per day would be 1,715
> Calories of fat, which equals 6.7 ounces; plus 3,185 Calories of
> carbohydrate and protein, which equals 28 ounces. The total is 2.18 lbs. of
> fuel for that day, but food weighs more than its fuel content. Add a bit of
> weight for residual water in the food, the indigestible stuff, plus the
> inevitable packaging, and this 4,900 Calories increases to 2.4 pounds. For
> the least weight the 4,900 Calories would be 1.2 lbs of pure fat, but who
> could eat that?  If the 4,900 Calories were only carbohydrate and protein
> it would weigh 2.7 lbs.
>
> Fat provides the most Calories for the least weight so hikers avoid low-fat
> items, and they look for ways to add high-fat things like peanut butter,
> olive oil, or mayonnaise.  In addition to having foods with a high number
> of Calories per weight, it is also preferable to have those Calories occupy
> the least volume. One puffed rice cake may have the same number of Calories
> as one hard cracker, but the rice cake takes up about 10 times more volume
> in the pack. Think about how big the food sack would be if all 3,185 of the
> day’s carbohydrate Calories were in the form of rice cakes. This can be
> important in the Sierras where hikers are required to use bear-resistant
> food storage containers. Most of the available containers hold about 650
> cubic inches, which is 2.8 gallons. Depending upon one’s resupply schedule,
> it may be necessary to pack most of the food for 10-12 days -- 20-25 pounds
> -- in that 650 cubic inch container. Doing so will require the greatest
> number of Calories with the least volume, packed as tightly as possible in
> the container. Every nook and corner has to be filled with something to eat.
> Steel-Eye
> Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965
> http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye
> http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09
>
>
>
> On Sat, Dec 19, 2009 at 6:40 AM, Ellen Shopes <igellen at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> OK, so my learned husband and I are having a debate, and we need an
>> answer.
>>
>> It is usually said that a thru hiker needs 2 pounds of food per day to
>> meet caloric needs.  I've always assumed that applied to typical dried hiker
>> food.  My husband thinks it means regular food.  Or is it a combo of the
>> two?
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>
>