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  1. #41
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    I agree... these numbers are not out of line at all for UL. I have friends who use Exos 48s and their weights are similar to mine (with Arc Blast) because the shelter/food/cook kit weight is split. We recently did a 4-day trip and all our pack weights were well under 20 lb (15-16 in fact) which included 1 liter of water each for them, 20 oz for me.

    I too rarely carry more than 1 liter, although there can be some significant dry stretches here in the NE in the summer and fall that require carrying more.

  2. #42
    Registered User Crossup's Avatar
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    I'm with colorado rob, nice pockets on Ospreys but one consequence of the Airspeed suspension is it moves the pack backwards. In my case I can easily reach back that far but as soon as you throw the height of a bottle it puts the part above the pocket where you want to grab it totally out of reach. So I carry an insulated sling/pouch for my in use bottle. If I want to get a bottle out of the pockets I push it up from the bottom and it pops out...on to the ground of course. So if I want to swap bottles for example, I generally just do it while taking a pack break. That was no issue carrying a 40+ lb pack as the breaks were numerous but as I get closer to 30 lbs I'm sure I'll be stopping a lot less often.

    Some might say, why not use a bladder? In my case from my mountain biking experience I learned the key for me to not have cramps was electrolytes...so I DO use a bladder for plain water and my bottles have fruit punch gatorade. I ration the gatorade to last the day but drink all the water I want. This is one reason my pack weight is up there- I start with a 1.25lb tub of gatorade powder for a week. I hate artificial sweetners and dont have issues with crashing from sugar energy etc so its helpful and one of my guilty pleasures on the trail.

  3. #43

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    Quote Originally Posted by hipbone View Post
    1.25 lbs of dehydrated super high calorie food per day is 10 lb total, 6 liters of water is 13.2 lbs...7 lb summer base weight. I did 1.35 lbs a day of high quality food on the Long Trail and couldn't eat it all but I'm kinda small guy. I can't imagine too many places you need to carry 6 liters of water though
    1.25lbs, even of pure fat, is only about 5000 calories. What's your daily calorie count?

  4. #44
    Registered User colorado_rob's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AllDownhillFromHere View Post
    1.25lbs, even of pure fat, is only about 5000 calories. What's your daily calorie count?
    I see lots of folks disputing low food weight, but I see it in person all the time. Lots of folks I hike with get by with barely over a pound of food a day on long hikes, my wife, another lady friend, and even a guy I hike with all the time (yes, he is skinny, maybe 140 lb). Basically, they have high 2000-calorie trail diets, and they don't lose weight, at least not much. It's relatively easy to get 130 cal/ounce for trail food, so 1.25 lb = 2600 calories. Of course much calorie deficit is made up in towns.

    I never quite understood the high calorie requirements mentioned all the time on here (5000+/day), I thought it might be from those bogus "calorie requirement" calculators online, which are super high estimates. Or folks that really don't keep track and make a guess for themselves.

    Then I finally realized that overweight and/or out of shape folks do indeed require more calories than the more fit folks, even at the same weight.

    Sorry, just rambling.

  5. #45

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    Quote Originally Posted by colorado_rob View Post
    I see lots of folks disputing low food weight, but I see it in person all the time. Lots of folks I hike with get by with barely over a pound of food a day on long hikes, my wife, another lady friend, and even a guy I hike with all the time (yes, he is skinny, maybe 140 lb). Basically, they have high 2000-calorie trail diets, and they don't lose weight, at least not much. It's relatively easy to get 130 cal/ounce for trail food, so 1.25 lb = 2600 calories. Of course much calorie deficit is made up in towns. I never quite understood the high calorie requirements mentioned all the time on here (5000+/day), I thought it might be from those bogus "calorie requirement" calculators online, which are super high estimates. Or folks that really don't keep track and make a guess for themselves.Then I finally realized that overweight and/or out of shape folks do indeed require more calories than the more fit folks, even at the same weight.
    Sorry, just rambling.
    I've seen it in person that people get skinnier and skinnier, so despite making up calorie deficits in towns they're burning more than they eat. Or are you saying that anyone who has a daily requirement of 3000 while doing a long distance hike is simply too fat?

    If you're planning on camelling up in a town, that's one thing, but to say that 1lb per day @ 130 cal/oz is all you need to carry is disingenuous.

  6. #46
    Registered User colorado_rob's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AllDownhillFromHere View Post
    I've seen it in person that people get skinnier and skinnier, so despite making up calorie deficits in towns they're burning more than they eat. Or are you saying that anyone who has a daily requirement of 3000 while doing a long distance hike is simply too fat?

    If you're planning on camelling up in a town, that's one thing, but to say that 1lb per day @ 130 cal/oz is all you need to carry is disingenuous.
    I was saying that people who claim 4000-6000 or whatever a day are either way off or way out of shape. Not at 3000, which is very reasonable, though I use right about 3500 (1.75 pounds) to lose no weight, and 1.5 to allow a bit of loss.

    And I said 1.25 lb, not 1 lb/day at 130 cal/ounce is reasonable for some smaller folks and not lose much, if any weight.

  7. #47
    Registered User Venchka's Avatar
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    2 pounds of food per day.
    5,000 calories per day.
    1 gallon of water per day.
    Generalizations. Averages for the masses. CYA from the medical and nutrition professionals. Internet myth.
    Has anyone actually tried to eat 2 pounds dry weight of freeze dried or dehydrated food?
    I see a lot of food lists online. Much of it is off the shelf ready to eat wet food. Peanut butter. Tuna in foil. Logs of summer sausage. Cheese. Carried by folks with a total of 5 pounds of stuff before food and water. Go figure.
    So when Colorado Rob says he hikes with people who are happy and healthy on considerably less than 2 pounds of DRY food per day why is it so hard for Y’all to believe it?
    My Ursack Major packed for a week is in the 6.5 to 7 pound range. I could probably get it down to 6 pounds if I put my mind to it.
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  8. #48
    Leonidas
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    Just to throw some more numbers out there.

    In 2016 for our first AT section, I normally ate 3200 cal a day lifting weights 5x per week. I figured with the added activity of hiking from Springer to wherever we hoped to end up I would need 4500 cal per day. I packed food to meet that and ended up only eating maybe 2k cal a day because it was so hot. I ended up sending a ton of crap to the box at Neel Gap.

    2017 I carried 2600 cal a day on average. Some days I ate all more, others less. Never was "hungry" but I have been using intermittent fasting for 10 years or so, that has affected my feeling of hunger apparently. I did supplement at Standing Bear, we ate a metric ton of stuff when we got there. Partly because it was different than what we had been eating.

    For 2018 I may go down to 2k, just have to see what works out in testing.

    In case I didn't mention it before: This is what I do for 8-10 day AT section hikes. On a thru, I am aware that calorie needs will have to increase as you go.
    AT: 695.7 mi
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  9. #49

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    Quote Originally Posted by AllDownhillFromHere View Post
    1.25lbs, even of pure fat, is only about 5000 calories. What's your daily calorie count?
    I have calorie density in some spreadsheet but it wasn't exact. We do dehydrated food and high quality mixed nuts, promeal bars and dehydrated fruits...then, for the past few years we've been dialing in our food (probably been dialing it in since we did some of the Colorado Trail in 2014). This year on the Long Trail after 3 weeks were were still just finishing all of our food. We packed 1.35 lbs per day. I can put up a spreadsheet with the exact (to the gram) food we took with us if you're interested. It also has the cost per item broken down so you can see if mail drops are worth the cost also...

    Basically our approach to food was to buy the highest quality food and carry just enough...

  10. #50
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    Quote Originally Posted by hipbone View Post
    I have calorie density in some spreadsheet but it wasn't exact. We do dehydrated food and high quality mixed nuts, promeal bars and dehydrated fruits...then, for the past few years we've been dialing in our food (probably been dialing it in since we did some of the Colorado Trail in 2014). This year on the Long Trail after 3 weeks were were still just finishing all of our food. We packed 1.35 lbs per day. I can put up a spreadsheet with the exact (to the gram) food we took with us if you're interested. It also has the cost per item broken down so you can see if mail drops are worth the cost also...

    Basically our approach to food was to buy the highest quality food and carry just enough...
    I eat about 4K a day or more on section hikes and generally lose a little weight each time.

    But I have taken to using freeze dried chicken for protein and buying butter and cream cheese at resupply points for dense calories. A stick of butter added to stuffing mix and chicken gets a lot of calories in a small weight.

    The same is true of some other foods. Trail mix made of nuts, raisins and yogurt covers stuff runs 350 calories every two ounces. And resupply usually is available every three days.

  11. #51

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ethesis View Post
    I eat about 4K a day or more on section hikes and generally lose a little weight each time.

    But I have taken to using freeze dried chicken for protein and buying butter and cream cheese at resupply points for dense calories. A stick of butter added to stuffing mix and chicken gets a lot of calories in a small weight.

    The same is true of some other foods. Trail mix made of nuts, raisins and yogurt covers stuff runs 350 calories every two ounces. And resupply usually is available every three days.
    nice tip about the cream cheese. I should also mention that my hiking weight is around 128 lbs, my hiking partner is about 20 lbs less, so our calorie intake is probably much less than average sized hikers...

  12. #52

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    I like the butter/cream cheese idea, but worry about it going liquid on me. Coconut oil the same way. I saw someone carrying olive oil in a platypus, has anyone done that and had it explode?

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