[pct-l] PCT Buy and Mail Resupply

[weathercarrot@hotmail.com (The Weathercarrot)]

Also, the dinners I'm
preparing are for a single pot with boil-only (alcohol stove). If I
need to re-think this (for simmering) and bring along my Snow Peak then
I'd like to know beforhand.

Here's what I'd like to know:

>1.) What types of meals were you able to concoct with a "well stocked" 
>store?

I eat pretty much the same stuff all the time. Have managed to not get 
overly tired of it. It's also a combination of stuff that I would find at 
both well-stocked and poorly stocked stores (poor in how I define it). This 
consists of your traditional granola bars, bagels, other bread, crackers, 
peanut butter, squeeze butter, mac-n-cheese, ramen, lipton, pop tarts, rice, 
and whatever I could find in hiker box that would add variety (although I 
never came into a location depending on hiker box food). Tried to avoid 
candy bars since they are expensive, I get tired of them more quickly and 
I'm already doing the pop-tarts which is almost as bad as candy bars. Yes, I 
fully recognize that my food preferences are far from healthy, but I'm not 
much of a cook, and I tend to stick with things when I find that it works. 
One thing to remember - it's entirely possible to eat more healthy than me 
and still do the buy as you go method. Yes, "poorly stocked" is a very 
relative phrase and it's very hard to pin down how a healthier diet would 
work for each store considered poor. perhaps you could give a list of 
desired foods that you'd like to eat while buying along the way, and I and 
others on this list could go store by store which ones could be compatible 
with that...

>3.) What was your base pack weight?

About 19-22 pounds - not at all ultralight, but better than I'd been before.

4.) What was your average pack weight with 4-5 days of store bought food?

I guess it was about 2 pounds of food per day, which would make a five-day 
pack coming out of town around 30 pounds. Then you add more weight for 
water. I found that it made a big difference to carry a liter of water in my 
hand as I walked. Noticeably cut down on pack weight, and had easy access to 
it. The hydration tube was nice for the desert but it was leaking by Lone 
Pine.

in responce to one other thing about out-going mail that was asked in 
another post - all the bounce box towns in my list are arranged for places 
where out-going mail is the most feasible, and I also made the no-out-going 
mail places ones in which you just need to pick up a food box with nothing 
needed to mail out.

wc

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