[pct-l] Determining how much food to take

[-Mountain Goat-]

It depends on how many calories your burning, and how long the hike goes. If your
doing a full thru hike, or a long section hike, then weight loss becomes a real
factor. I did several pre-trips before the 2005 thru hike. You should know I was 
using mostly nuts and dried fruits for my meals, and the more normal dinners.

If you are hiking ~ 20-25 miles a day (thru hiker pace) then you will likely need
4500-6000 calories a day. This varies so much because we are all different. As such
your probably going to have to figure some of it out for yourself.

I needed closer to 2 LB's a day for the High Sierra, and about 1.5 pounds a day for the other sections of the hike. I lost about 10 LBs in the beginning of the trip. And it stayed for the most part, until I got off the trail in Canada.

I figured on average I needed about 4600 calories or about 1.75 Pounds a day...
in my case, I was 140LB's, and 5'8" Male. (now I am at 153 LBs)

If your not doing doing the whole trail, or a large section of it, or if your not hiking as fast, then the above doesn't really apply.

Enjoy.
-Mountain Goat-


Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com 
    diane at 
santabarbarahikes.com
       
  

On May 13, 2010, at 8:49 PM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
> Does any one know how I figure out how much dehydrated food to pack  
> if I need a pound of food a day?  I will be generally eating  
> oatmeal w/pwd milk for breakfast, soup for lunch, gorp and peanut  
> butter as needed throughout the day.
> Sherry