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[pct-l] Re: Calories
>couldn't get enough to eat. He said he was carrying four pounds a day of
>food, and still was hungry much of the time.
>Those of you that have hiked for more than a couple months in a row have you
>had this problem? As mentioned in an earlier post, my experience was not
>enough food/calories, the less fun the trip was. Just curious...
4 pounds per day?? How could anyone move under such a load? I carried 1.5
pounds per day, which wasn't enough, so I supplemented from stores along the
way, thus ending up around 2 pounds per day. Personally, I think the secret is
to pig out in town as much as possible, rather than try to carry the amount
that "science" tells you to carry; there are plenty of towns along the way,
plus lodges, etc., that you can plan on. You'll spend more money, but, hey,
this is a once in a lifetime trip anyway (at least for me it was). Even on a
long winter ski trip, I only carried 2 pounds per day and did just fine (one
month of night-time temps of -20 to 25); the difference was that I added butter
to ALL my hot meals, breakfast and supper, you do not need to do this on the
PCT. If you have ever read any books from early Antarctic exploration
(Amundsen especially), you will see that even in the early 1900's, they only
allowed about 2 - 3 pounds per day (this does not include fuel). During the
warmer parts of the PCT (Lassen thru Oregon for me), I was not as hungry and
did not supplement my 1.5 as much. Of course, what worked for me may not work
for you: I consumed 12 gallons of ice cream between Mexico and Canada.
Alan
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