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Returning to our mountain abode from jobs in the blistering
Mojave Desert, we’d often see PCT through-hikers, hot, dirty, and
beaten down, walking along Highway 58 to reach their next food drop
at the town’s post office. Curiosity eventually got the best of
us, and we began to offer rides to these unique trail creatures. We
found them to be innocuous and endearing folk, and offers of transportation
rapidly evolved to include meals and overnight accommodations at our
home. Without knowing it, we had officially become ‘trail angels’.
Word spreads quickly along even remote trails like the PCT, and phone
calls suddenly began en-masse from hikers and other ‘angels’
coordinating arrivals, transportation, and lodging. Although our newly acquired title was unintentional, we
certainly didn’t mind. We were fascinated by the people that we
met and the fabulous tales they told. We became particularly intrigued
with the way long-distance backpackers sustained themselves for months
on the trail. Since we hoped to someday complete our own through-hike
of the PCT, we began collecting recipes from our trail acquaintances.
These tried-and-true trail-tested recipes became the foundation for
Lipsmackin’ Backpackin’ and its recent sequel, Lipsmackin’
Vegetarian Backpackin’. Over the years, we learned a great deal about selecting
and preparing backpacking food from our expert visitors. We’ve
distilled these lessons down into the following key parameters that
we consider essential for properly planning an extended stay in the
backcountry: Weight: Because long-distance backpackers often travel many days between food drops, food weight is one of the key meal-planning parameters. While this may seem obvious, you’d be surprised at the amount of canned tuna, chicken, and the like discarded by novice through-hikers early in their ventures. Not all heavy foods are evil, of course, especially those that are calorically dense and offering a lot of nutritional bang for the ounce. Nutrition: Enormous stress
is placed upon the body during extended backpacking, and poor on-trail
nutrition is the eventual downfall of many hikers. It is critical that
backpackers include food that replenishes the body. Understand your
body’s own unique requirements, pack foods to support it, and prepare
for the dramatic increase in caloric intake that will likely require
you to carry more food per day than you are accustomed to on shorter
ventures. Taste and Variety: Six-months-worth of macaroni and cheese
might sound like a simple solution to the nightmare of food planning
for a long hike. In reality, though, it would likely form the foundation
for a psychological disaster once on the trail. Within days after leaving
the trailhead, food magically becomes a powerful motivator, controlling
the will of the backpacker. Tasteless or repetitious foods can quickly
undermine the goals of a sore and blistered backpacker. Food must taste
good to provide a psychological reward during a difficult day; and meals
must be varied enough to avoid becoming repulsive over time. Simplicity: It only takes one attempt at food preparation
in freezing rain and tent-flattening winds to acquire a strong preference
for simple trail-side food preparation. But to-be-sure, simplicity is
a welcome characteristic of a good tasting meal at the end of any exhausting
day on the trail, good weather or bad. ‘One-pot’ meals help
achieve this goal, making food preparation less arduous and clean-up
less challenging, especially in areas lacking nearby water sources.
Durability: The interior of a backpack can resemble that
of a vegematic, with lots of crushing, grinding, and friction all working
to tear your food apart. This extreme environment within a backpack
requires that food be durable enough to survive for extended periods
of time and without refrigeration. Food dehydration remains one of the
most ancient, and best, methods for prolonging the life and taste of
food. By removing water, food dehydration has the added benefit of reducing
pack weight. We’ve found at-home food dehydration using commercially
available appliances to be economical and easy, creating many wonderful
new food options for the trail - ones that you will not find in freeze-dried
pouches at the camping store. If you are nevertheless leery of this
form of food preparation, you’ll find many web-based suppliers
of dehydrated ingredients. We’ve included a list of sources at
the back of Lipsmackin’ Vegetarian Backpackin’. There will always be a time and place on the trail for
boxed macaroni and cheese, Snickers, and the prepackaged freeze-dried
stuff. But we believe that, for longer trips, home preparation of most
of your packed food is the most effective way for ensuring that the
above key criteria are met. The Lipsmackin’ Backpackin’
books were written to assist you in achieving this goal and, ultimately,
to help make your next backcountry experience more successful and enjoyable. ©
2005 Christine and Tim Conners |
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