Looking to do Trail Magic around the NY/CT border the weekend of the Fourth

[BuckeyeBill]

Your profile says you hiked the PCT. In light of that, your question surprises me. Studies readily available on the Internet cite calorie burn for a hiker doing the miles thru hikers and section hikers do to be as much as 3,500 calories or more. Unless a hiker is stopping in a town each night to eat, how can any hiker consistently carry and then consume the calories he/she expends? His/her backpack would be impossibly heavy carrying all the food required to replace calories. Or a better way to look at it, where are all the overweight long distance thru and section hikers?

My hikes on the PCT taught me several things. There are going to be stretches where you are going to have to pack on the weight in order to carry enough food and water to reach a place to resupply. Make friends at your resupply points and give them some cash to stash some water and or food for you up the trail. A liter of water weighs 2.2 pounds, a gallon weighs 8.2 pounds. Having it stashed saves that weight for food. Buying or shipping yourself freeze dry foods eliminates a lot of wasted weight. There is a sign at the beginning of the 100 mile wilderness recommending you have a minimum 10 day supply of food before entering. Some people do what the sign says, others laugh and march forward.

I have been backpacking and hiking for 40 some years. I don't care to hear about any studies that say this or that, because as soon as it is written, another study says just the opposite. You look for things with a lot of carbs and load up on them. I usually start every hike I do with a few extra pounds around the gut. I can afford to drop these and keep on trekking. When I am in town, I eat very healthy and load up on my meats and potatoes while I am there. I also don't use my cell phone except in an emergency or calling home from a town. I only need a small charger instead of big power pack. I try to keep my pack weight down so I can carry more food or water.

Yeah, I did proclaim myself boss. Especially considering that there was a big sign on the coolers that said, "Thru hikers only, please."

Strange, I didn't read in your initial post about any sign that read "Thru hikers only please" or I would not have said what I said. I guess the facts changed? Oh well, moving on.

Very few hikers can carry the water needed to be sufficiently hydrated all the time. There are hydration calculators on the Internet that will calculate what a person doing an activity like hiking should consume in fluids. I ran one and it came up to over one liter of water per hour in hot, 90 degree weather, which it has been on the trail from Virginia south recently. There isn't always another stream or spring just .5 mile down the trail. Sometimes there is no water for miles.

Hydration Calculator

I can see now that you really like the Internet. Personally I don't need a calculator to tell how much water I need. I check my guide book and a map to see how far apart water sources are and what the terrain is going to be like between where I am and where I want to be at the end of the day. Then I make sure I start with enough water to hit my next good water source. I never rely on questionable or seasonal water sources. I also carry about an extra liter as a "just in case". Also I can't think of any stretch on the AT that requires carrying a enormous of water. If you can't carry 2-3 liters of water, even 4 liters, you have too much stuff in your pack. I am not considered an ultra light backpacker by any means, but I have trimmed my weight substantially.

Get out there again with the hikers, especially on the AT and see what's happening. I think you will change your mind about a few things. And while there are a lot of hikers out there who, as you say, "are on vacation," there are many who have nowhere else to go and choose to hike to sort through whatever issues they are trying to confront.

I get out every year for a couple of weeks three to four times a year so I know "What's happening." I won't take anything away from anyone that is trying to sort things out, the trail is one place to do it. Unfortunately it may not give them all the answers they may need. I don't understand it when you say "there are many who have nowhere else to go." Could you elaborate some more on that? If you are talking about people like Earl Shaffer who "walked the war out of his system" I do understand that can be difficult. But like I said earlier it may not give you all the answers you need or even the answers you wanted.